Thorn Season

Gr 9 Up–Azar’s romantasy debut takes risks and promises rewarding answers in the next two volumes of this trilogy. Readers first meet narrator Alissa desperately scrubbing a blood-red Hunters’ Mark off the door of a now-missing friend. With an olive-brown complexion, brown hair, and a rebellious spirit, she’s accosted by royal guards who quickly drop their chase when they realize she is Lady Alissa Paine. But Alissa harbors a dangerous secret: she’s a Wielder with magical abilities in a society where Wholeborns (people without magic) rule and even kill her kind. Azar’s prose is densely packed with descriptors and sensory images that occasionally require rereading, but not one word is extraneous. The stakes are established early when Alissa describes the “Spellmade compass”—an object that could expose Wielders like herself. After a seasonal gala, Alissa is kidnapped before she can investigate why Wielders are dying at alarming rates. Three potential love interests orbit Alissa: Garret, whose parents died in a Wielder rebellion; King Erik Vard of Daradon; and Keil, a visiting ambassador who is also a Wielder. This thoroughly diverse cast navigates political intrigue as well as adventure in a well-developed fantasy world.