Book review: Violet Made Thorns by Gina Chen

𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳, 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 - 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 - 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘩-𝘴𝘰-𝘯𝘰𝘵-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘊𝘺𝘳𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘺 𝘊𝘺𝘳𝘶𝘴'𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦'𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘦 - 𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 . . .

Violet Made Thorns is a ya fantasy novel with an enemies-to-lovers subplot between a morally grey witch and a cursed prince. This is one of those books which I throughly enjoyed reading but don’t remember too much about afterwards. It was a good, entertaining read with interesting take on magic and likable characters. It was pretty much what I hoped for, neither more nor less. I wasn’t completely captivated by the story or felt this huge loss when the book ended. But I enjoyed reading it and that’s pretty much what I want from a book.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘳 & 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘈𝘳𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸!

This was honestly one of my fav reads of this year. The heroine, the fierceness of her, I want her to be my best friend. LOVE LOVE LOVE!! Please write book 2 right now I need it.

From the first page, this book is incredibly magical and mystical. It feels like stepping into a fairytale and the writing style is very reminiscent of Holly Black's Folk of the Air Trilogy.

Violet's voice is really strong from the start and she also describes the other characters really well so you have a good idea of who the main cast are, and how they fit into Violet's life, really early on.

This book is on the younger end of YA in writing style which, for my personal taste, didn't work well. However, the writing is beautiful and sets up the atmosphere really well, it just didn't work for my personal taste.

I would really recommend this book for anyone who enjoys Fairytale-esque stories and retellings, and fans of Holly Black and Margaret Rogerson.

Thank you so much Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest and unbiased review of Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen.

The protagonist Violet is a beautifully crafted anti-hero, from her background to her characteristics, she is portrayed with such depth of character, portraying multi-facets of depth and determination, with full recognition of her whole character, ugly and beautiful.

The world building is crafted with a deft touch, from the decaying and destroyed fairy forests to Violet’s fairy tower and the kingdom it sits in, all are illustrated beautifully with no need for a droning lecture on landscape or layout.

The magic system is understandable, but complex enough to be intriguing and Violet's Sight is beautifully tactile. Never mind the fairies and fates, who are so well woven into the plot.

Yes there are a number of tropes, enemies to lovers, Prince and witch, but they are handled with care and consideration and woven into the whole fairytale structure of the story.

This book was crafted with care, thought and serious consideration and it kept me captivated from start to end.

This was an anticipated read and I’m very grateful to have received an early copy through NetGalley.

The premise of the book intrigued me a lot, a morally grey witch and a cursed prince is exactly what I was looking for to read about.
This story is very fairytale like, which I enjoyed - the typical tropes like a witch, prince and curse are there.

I think the writing was what didn’t convinced me at the end, it’s very YA and didn’t delivered the “morally grey” character traits the way I wished it had. The romance was also a bit too much in my opinion and most of all the way it’s advertised being perfect for fans of the cruel prince is not exactly helping the book since it sets very high expectations.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Gina Chen for writing one HECK of a book. This was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2022... and it did NOT disappoint. My gosh, am I obsessed with this book.

Violet is potentially my new favourite anti-hero. She is such a beautifully crafted character with so much depth and determination. She has ugly sides, ones she refuses to shy away from and I LOVE her for it.

I love, love, love the magic in this novel. I love how the different magic works and all of the rules around Violet's Sight are just wonderful. I love how it works and how it's woven into the plot. It's just so wonderfully done.

The world! Yes, yes, yes. I just love it. I want to see more of it - more of the court, more of the grounds. Show me all of the fairywood and all that lurks within it. I would genuinely read a book just showcasing all of the places in this world.

Now my favourite thing about this book... The romance. This is how you write enemies to lovers. I have so many emotions about this romance & all of them good. Many of them can be translated as excited screeches and a void of sadness because I neeeeed another book already. I need more of these characters and this world and this magic.

Basically, I'm just in love with this book.

Beautifully vicious. Filled with court machinations and cunning characters, Violet Made of Thorns is a fantasy you won’t soon forget. Perfect for the fairytale reader who has always wanted the heroine to grow sharp teeth and bite Prince Charming—as a gesture of affection, of course.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved Violet's character and the aspect that she was a seer who had to constantly lie. She's a strong character and she clearly speaks her mind. I loved especially that even though she was employed by the king and had a high status, she didn't care about it. I also loved her hate-love relationship with Cyrus. It was sooo good. I can't wait for more by this author.

A perfect enemy to lovers YA fantasy. The love hate relationship between Violet and Cyrus , the likes I haven’t seen since Jude and Cardan. Beautifully written I really hope there is a second book to this because I need more now.

Perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince and Serpent and Dove. Witches, romance, love/hate relationships and a mystery, Violet made of thorns has it all.

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased--and not always true--divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he's crowned at the end of the summer--unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus's love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom--all depending on the prince's choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that's growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet's wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can't change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom--or doom them all.

From the moment I heard about Violet Made of Thorns, I knew this would be one book that I would enjoy. And like many of Violet’s prophecies, that came true. (sorry I had to say this hehe)

Reading Violet Made of Thorns was the most fun I’ve had reading a fantasy lately. I loved how high-intensity the book felt. It kept me on its toes and second-guessing so many of the character’s motives. Gina Chen has spun a brilliant world and magic system, giving us just the perfect amount of information that helps make sense of what is happening. Violet Made of Thorns fees like a dark, vicious fairy tale; one that you don’t want to stop reading.

Our main character Violet is the Seer in the Court of Auveny, with the ability to see threads and visions of the future by holding someone’s hands. She is so well-written and well-rounded; I greatly enjoyed Violet as the protagonist. She’s selfish and ambitious and looks out for herself as she navigates the Court. I loved how she remained true to herself and her own goals till the end and never backed down from what she wanted. Characters like her are my favourite.

Prince Cyrus is interesting for sure; he despises Violet and you can clearly see it in the way they interact with each other. But there is an underlying current of something there and as the story progresses, we slowly get to see what that ‘something’ is. Even though we just got to view Cyrus through Violet’s perspective, I loved his character development too. Their romantic interactions…*chef’s kiss*

THAT ENDING MADE ME SCREAM. And it only made me want Book 2 asap.

As I said above, Violet Made of Thorns is a brutally vicious fairytale, with selfish characters, uncertain prophecies and a cursed prince. This is one fantasy tale that is unputdownable.

This book is extremely binge-able. I breezed through it in a couple of hours, and it was so much fun! It's every fairy-tale lovers' dream come true with a swoony romance, a curse, and a prophecy, but better, because it's also dark and gory in parts, along with some court intrigue thrown in for good measure.

I won't say that it was all fun because it did get boring at points, but every time when I thought, hey, maybe I should take a break and read later because this isn't as much fun anymore, something would happen that would suck me right back in. There were a lot of twists in this one, and I didn't see all of them coming, which made the reading experience much better.

I think the author could cut down on descriptions. There were a lot of them and I really didn't need to know so much. But, I loved the setting and how it was used in the story. I loved the prophecy and how it was used in the story, giving way to more prophecies, and how they all inevitably tied together in one fate.

The side characters didn't have as much of screen time as I'd like in this, and what they did have, fell flat in the sense that all side characters felt one dimensional without a lot of depth. I hope that changes in the next book because they have a lot of potential if used right.

The main characters were great, though. I loved Violet & Cyrus and their relationship so much! It was a tug of war right from the start, the push & pull of hatred and desire done extremely well. I loved all their interactions and how they grew, individually and together. I am very excited to read more of them in the next book, especially with how this book ended.

Overall, this book seemed to be a promising start, with as many pros as it has cons, and has the potential to make a great series, if developed well.

i really liked the writing, it drew me in instantly. i liked the story but i feel like the plot was also kind of hazy and looking back i’m not sure a lot happened at all. the characters also could’ve had more depth. like, if you’re gonna do a betrayal trope you should at least make sure your readers get attached to a character first. but overall it was a fun read!

i received the arc from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Whilst I enjoyed the way this book starts and thought Violet was a really great cynical, morally grey character, I just didn't love it and had a few issues with it.

I did feel like the plot was slightly all over the place and giving me whiplash, although it was in a good way at the beginning. It was also just political enough not to be too boring.

But eventually it all just became too much - all the build up for everything to seem rushed and so much suddenly happening in the very last moment. And I do mean absolutely EVERYTHING - without giving too much away, this includes so many fairytales - Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, even a hint of vampires! The plot overall just didn't seem plausible to me and I wasn't a fan of the ending.

I also didn't quite like the way the enemies to lovers was portrayed - I was uncomfortable during Violet and Cyrus's encounters.

The writing itself was lovely though and this is a great debut, although it just doesn't seem polished enough for me.

Wickedly sharp prose and witty dialogue make for a darkly captivating read in Violet Made of Thorns. A fairy tale for those who have grown out of fairy tales!

4.0/5

{AD|GIFTED} I admit I was a little put off by the mixed reviews I saw on here but I absolutely adored this YA fantasy romance. THIS is how you write a fleshed-out, ambitious character with questionable morals. Whether you agree with Violet's choices or not, they are always true to her character and entirely believable.

An enemies-to-lovers romance can sometimes be a miss if the focus leans heavily towards the romance element but the dynamic between Violet and Cyrus was perfectly balanced between hate and love. There are no major cliffhangers which I liked, yet the story is set up for book 2, and I can't wait to find out what Violet does next. I'd highly recommend this one!

Violet Made of Thorns is a promising debut, I can see this book being popular with a lot of people!

I found the story slow to get going, I didn't really feel pulled in until around halfway through. There wasn't a lot of world-building and after finishing the book, I'm still confused about how the magic system works.

There are a lot of elements which are added in without any explanation and I think a lot of this comes down to the main character, Violet, being a revered Seer and already knowing a lot about the world. Because she's not experiencing the magic and world for the first time there's no need for basic dialogue explanations which usually help explain to the reader too.

Once it gets going, the general plot is very fairytale like and has lots of twists and turns to keep things moving, One scene I liked was the Cinderella style ball - I thought I knew what was going to happen but it went a totally different way.

The main characters are interesting but they didn't seem fully fleshed out, I enjoyed the banter between Violet and Cyrus but I didn't really feel an emotional connection between them. Generally, I think the whole book needed more depth and feeling but I am intrigued to see where the story goes next because the overall concept is good!

Thank you for my copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t finish this.I loved the premise but found the pace lacking and I wanted more from the interactions between the characters.

Omg.
I think this might be my new favourite upcoming book.

The world building and character creations within this were just captivating. I loved that our main character female had a bit of a grey area and I'm not going to spoil it here but yep, loved the slight redemption arc.
I tore through this in a day, I just couldn't put it down.
The ending definitely left space for a sequel but the small short story gives some closure as well, it's so open ended and closed at the same time.

I can't wait for my finished copy to arrive.

Violet is a Seer, able to tell someone’s future through touch, for the King of Auveny. Her cleverly phrased prophecies help the King to sway the royal court but when asked to lie about a prophecy involving Prince Cyrus, she gets more than she bargained for.

As my first reading of a fantasy book, I absolutely loved this book. I read it in about two days because I couldn’t put it down.

Violet, the main character, is cynical, selfish and kind of mean and yet she is incredibly lovable and as relatable as a fantasy character can possibly be. All of the characters are well written and Violet’s friendships with Princess Camilla and Dante work just as well as her enemies to lovers journey with Cyrus.

One of the best things about Violet Made of Thorns is just how stunning the imagery and worldbuilding is and how Gina Chen weaves fairytale elements into the story; the beautiful fairytale-like prose at the end has me hoping for a sequel.

Also, I want, more than anything, to get my hands on Violet’s cloak that changes to match the sky.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for letting me read this arc.

The plot of Violet Made of Thorns is simple enough. In public, we've got one prophecy - Prince Cyrus has to choose a wife in order to save his kingdom. However, there is another one, a secret one that only Violet knows about - Prince Cyrus needs to die, or Violet will die in his place.

Prophecies aren't exactly my favourite plot point, but Violet is a seer after all. And I gotta say, this is a cruel one. Kill the prince who you might hate but still depend on? That seems like the perfect start for a fast-paced and heart-wrenching novel.

And the first part of the book is truly great. The stakes are rising, we get to know the characters and they are fun!

"He hates when I bring up how we met. I love bringing up how we met." This quote from the very beginning of the book really just explains the whole relationship between Violet and Cyrus. Violet is thorny and rude, Cyrus is charming and sweet.
Sadly, Violet suffers from quite the case of "not like other girls"-syndrome. She's grumpy, doesn't swoon in front of the prince (who she calls "Princey" which I really do hate), hates fancy dresses, dancing and other people and prefers food.
She's from the streets. Without her gift and the kindness of the king she has nothing. You'd think that she'd either be extremely grateful and do anything for them, or that she'd try to scheme her way into being indispensable. But she just bosses Cyrus around and whines about everything. It's true that she lies and is quite good at it, but the second someone notices, she just blames it on someone else instead of being proud of it. If I were the king... well, I might have just kicked her out already.

After the first halt of the book, it started to get boring. Not because there was nothing going on - the pace is speeding up, we are getting to know more and more about the plot. No, it's starting to get boring because of the characters. First, there aren't many and especially not many important ones. And the ones we have are starting to get seriously boring.
There is no character development at all. Violet's snarky mood is starting to get on my nerves. Her feud with Cyrus seems more and more childish and their relationship has stopped making sense. The whole prophecy-business is starting to go into a direction I didn't really enjoy.
In the end I just stopped caring about the plot and the characters.

There were also some things about the setting that seemed useless to me. Fairies exist in this world - but they are just there and make people look fancy. Why are they there? What's the point? There was also the mention of dragons, but they also didn't play a role. It seemed as if these fantastical creatures were just there so we would realise that it's a fantasy world.

Overall, started out nice, but didn't hold up to the beginning.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder&Stoughton for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.