Sorcery of Thorns

Elisabeth has been taught since childhood that every sorcerer is evil. She is a foundling raised in one of the Great Libraries of Austermeer, where grimoires whisper from the shelves and rattle against their iron chains. Provoked, these books turn into monsters made of ink and leather.

Then someone sabotages the library and frees its most dangerous grimoire, and suspicion falls on Elisabeth. Her only option is to turn to the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, a man she has been trained to despise, and to the demonic servant who stays at his side. Together they uncover a conspiracy that is centuries old and threatens both the libraries and the wider world.

This is a fantasy novel built around a wary alliance between two people who start out as enemies. The setting is bookish and a little eerie, with living books as the main source of danger, and the plot moves from a sudden crime to a larger hunt for those behind it.

As Elisabeth works beside Nathaniel, the lessons she grew up with start to look doubtful. She questions what she was told about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, and about herself. She may hold a power she has never suspected, which opens a future she did not expect.