Review: Heart of Thorns

Heart of Thorns 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

In the ancient river kingdom, touch is a battlefield, bodies the instruments of war. Seventeen-year-old Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood.

Not women. Demons. The same demons who killed her mother without a single scratch.

But when Mia's father suddenly announces her marriage to the prince, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Only after the wedding goes disastrously wrong does she discover she has dark, forbidden magic—the very magic she has sworn to destroy. 

Well....what an opening line. My attention was officially grabbed and I pretty much read this in one sitting because I was so hooked on what was happening! I have to put it out there....at the start of the book a few things where mentioned and I could see the whole book unfolding in my head, but I was surprised at every turn. It didn't do anything I thought it was going to! 

There are a few chuckles provided thanks to Mia and Prince Quin. They had some of the most awkward conversations in the beginning, good lord. "Your buckles are very shiny". Bless them. Mia is a very practical and intelligent character, she knows a lot about science and anatomy and she's determined in her goal. She kept trying to relate her magic to science and a process which was an interesting approach. I couldn't really blame her for hating the Gwyrach, when one of them killed her mother and at some points it felt like no-one was on her side. As for her sister...well she's not very likeable and I'll leave it at that. I thought she was quite selfish actually. I don't think my opinion of her will improve in the next book! 

Quin is quite cold and taciturn, at least in the beginning. But I liked watching the two of them warm up to each other, and grow closer. The romance developed at a perfect pace to match the plot without overshadowing the plot itself. Although I was a bit disappointed in him at the end but I could also understand his reaction. 

I was completely fascinated by the various different mystery elements and had a lot of theories throughout the book. I enjoyed putting the pieces together yet still being surprised! Mia's journey was so interesting to me, as she comes to terms with the fact she is the thing she hates most, as well as the fact she's very science minded and magic isn't something she believes in as such. 

The magic system was brilliant, and I really enjoyed the background to it. How it came about and grew and developed and a lot of things the Dujia mention and talk about in this book are so true and really resonate and I think they will with any female. 

Heart of Thorns has a fast pace, and plenty of mystery elements presented at the beginning and throughout, with a nice amount of action and some romance sprinkled throughout. Mia was a brilliant main character, I admired her a lot, she's intelligent and her scientific mind was at odds with magic. There are also some mind blowing plot twists towards the end of the book that I definitely didn't see coming and I'm incredibly excited to see things continue in the next book!