Review: A Lesson in Thorns

A Lesson in Thorns by Sierra Simone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sierra Simone is a writer with an exceptional way with words. She creates a complex and curious world within this new series. Slightly paranormal exceptionally kinky, 6 childhood friends reunited as adults and strangely drawn in by the power of Thornchapel. 

Having read some of Sierra Simone's other work I was not surprised to see the religious undertones woven throughout this novel. She finds comparison between pagan rituals and catholic scripture and rites that seems natural in this context. This seems to be a theme with her writing and while it did add some mystery to the story, I did find parts to be a little slow.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sara Ormenyi, who is a new to me narrator. I initially found her narration very abrasive. The first chapter was read very fast, very monotone and I was very concerned this was going to be a DNF. What I found, was that there were 2 different kinds of chapters in this book. There was a 3rd person narrative scattered throughout the main first person POV of Poe. Once she started narrating from Poe's perspective, I noticed an increase in performance, characters had their own accents which were relatively easy to discern, and I was able to enjoy the book more. For anyone considering this book on audio, give yourself a few chapters to decide. If you are like me I think it will be worth it. This is the first book in a series and not a standalone, it ends in a cliffhanger.


View all my reviews