Thorn season by Kiera Azar

Alissa Paine (Lady Alissa) and her friend Tari narrowly avoid capture when washing the Hunter’s mark from the door of their latest victim.  Marge, the outlawed Wielder along with her magical spector (power) was their friend destroyed by the Hunters – the monarchy’s sanctioned death squad in Vereen, the capital of Daradon. There’s even a Copycat squad searching for Wielders to make matters worse.

The nice thing about narrator protagonists is that we know immediately that Alissa is secretly a Wielder herself (on her mother’s side) and only her father Lord Heron Paine and a couple of close friends - namely Garret (himself a Hunter) – know the truth. So begins the age old tale of the establishment (Wholeborns) against the threat of the  ‘others’ (Wielders) originally from across the strait in Ansora – the Western Continent. 

The persecution of ‘talented’ people, is the central theme of this thriller set in a medieval fantasy world of status, castles and dungeons. Think again!  In Alissa’s first season at court, the escalation of Wielder executions makes court particularly thorny for Alissa - kidnapped, rescued, betrothed, betrayed, imprisoned, finally exiled -  whilst fighting the level of corruption necessary to normalise sustained systemic discrimination.  

Each puzzle piece is foreshadowed brilliantly and resolved with admirable skill. Alissa’s survival is a strip tease to unfrock the scars of both personal and population manipulation. She is devastated to learn her own father was complicit and it seems nearly every character in the book has a backstory of personal vendettas and motivations - even mousy Perla is thankfully not who she seems.

Who fails and who triumphs?  A sociogram of the characters to complement the author’s map of the physical  landscape would have been useful! Every historic secret pieces together a perfect resolution to this plot.   Highly recommended for readers of high Fantasy and Thrillers.  406p.

Themes: High Fantasy, Corruption, Intrigue, Suspense, Discrimination, Belonging.

Deborah Robins