Though several reviews – and very credible reviewers – compared it to Diana Wynne Jones' works, we did not see it; and we should know having read them all. But the real shock is less the Jones comparison so much as that it was not compared to Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Sequence. Set in a rich Victorian-based world where old books of magic are no less and arguably much more dangerous than post-Reform sorcerers, apprentice librarian and sorcerer-hater Elisabeth Scrivener unravels a centuries old conspiracy that threatens not only the Austermeer’s Great Libraries but literally everything else as well. With help from one somewhat traumatized and very wry sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn and his unfailingly polite demon servant of course. Nothing against School Library Journal, or Margaret Rogerson herself for that matter, but claiming Sorcery of Thorns makes Rogerson the heir of Jones is a fundamental mischaracterization. Say rather, again and quite accurately, that Sorcery of Thorns is the heir of the Bartimaeus Sequence. I mean come on: Nathaniel, political plots, and summoned demons. Seriously.
Farewell for now Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas. I will be seeing you again in the sequel whether or not Dad agrees with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment