A transcriptor caught in a book written in an unknown language of thorns. A queen not ready to rule and with unnoticed, unknown mage talent. A magician whose uncle draws him unwilling into his uprising against his lawful ruler. Two legendary figures of the past who conquered their world. These four strands weave together in two intertwined stories where past, present, and future collide to determine the fate of the empire of the Twelve Crowns and two people long separated by time.
Impression: While not as well written as previous books, Alphabet of Thorn is an intriguing story, a story that shows how past and present combine and can make or unmake a moment in time. How the two stories intertwine is both expected and unexpected, and her writing still draws you along and even leaves you breathless in places. But there's more awkwardness in this novel than in the previous books. The opening itself stumbles, though the writing does pick up in quality and smoothness as the story goes along, and the plot is a bit slower to make sense of the fragments. The story is still worth reading, and quite enjoyable, and the ending is one, just like the rest of the book, both expected and unexpected, and a very satisfying ending indeed.
