Violet Made of Thorns

By: Gina Chen

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A darkly enchanting fantasy about a lying witch, a cursed prince, and a sinister prophecy that ignites their doomed destinies—perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince.

“Everything you want from an enemies-to-lovers fantasy starring morally gray characters.”—BuzzFeed

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.

©2022 Gina Chen (P)2022 Listening Library

Critic reviews

“Gina Chen delivers a biting fantastical twist on fairy tales.”—POPSUGAR

“A rare YA fantasy with a difficult, prickly and nigh-on unlikeable heroine, Violet Made of Thorns feels like a breath of fresh air from its first pages.”—Paste Magazine

"Beautifully vicious. Perfect for the fairytale reader who has always wanted the heroine to grow sharp teeth and bite Prince Charming."—Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights

read this now!

Overview: After saving the prince’s life when they were both children, Violet finds herself at the King’s right hand, his trusted seer whose sole job it is to stop the curse set on the Prince by the last royal seer that says he will destroy them all. When you grow up on the streets and then have to duke it out in the political arena, Violet knows how to fight for survival. Too bad the Prince has a plan of his own and doesn’t want anything to do with his prophecy, his father’s wishes to see him married, or Violet’s tiny-white-lies (ahem, prophecies) that keep the kingdom at peace. It also doesn’t help that they high-key hate each other and low-key…kinda…like each other.

Things to look forward to: curses and prophecies, all the fairytales smashes together, morally gray mc, true hate/love relationship, so much action and political intrigue, an amazing cast of characters (including a BA lesbian princess!)

CW: arranged marriage, abusive parent, gore, body horror (not mc, on page), sexual content (consensual)

I cannot recommend this book enough!!!!! While this is the first in a series, I think the ending does a good job of wrapping things up so that it’s not a cliffhanger and could possibly (although i hope it doesn’t!) stand alone. Not exactly a HEA or even a HFN, but that’s super on brand for our mcs so I am here for it.

Such a Great First Book

This is my second time reading this one this year. It is that good! I cannot wait for the next one. I adored Violet and Cyrus! I need more! I highly recommend this one! The narrator is fabulous!

Good idea, bad follow.

This book had a good idea and plot that was terribly carried out. The characters were not consistent within the story and were pretty dry for it to be a fantasy story with magic. Far as the idea and storyline, beasts and briers is a better read.

started off good but went downhill...

i loved the first 4 hours and then out of nowhere the story switched up, not even the romance was interesting.

Fun cozy fantasy

I really liked this book. It is a very typical fantasy story, but for me I find that quite cozy and these type of books become rereads easily. The relationship between the MC and love interest did feel a little repetitive, but their band was entertaining and their relationship was a bit complicated regardless.

Awesome

The storyline is amazing! Love hate love hate relationship, ( you’ll get it if your read it or if you can infer)

charming/vicious enemy->lovers fairytale

Fairytales oh fairytales how I love a good fairytale! And you know what?? This was a really charming fairytale that I experienced via Audible over the course of a single day turned night. This was so evocative that I often found myself angrily/fruitlessly screaming and shaking my head at all of the mean/spiteful/selfish and all around infuriating things our MC, Violet, did. I was exasperated but I was also hooked... I couldn't put the (audio)book down.... sleep is for the weak right??

This tale was rife with well worn tropes such as:
- enemies to (oft times reluctant) lovers
- a prophecy/curse binding our vicious star-crossed lovers to one another
- poor girl plucked from the streets & raised up to a position of power
- spiky marshmallow prince... prickly on the outside, mushy on the inside
- courtly machinations
- Cinderella(esque) tale- although there were shout outs to various fairytales peppered throughout. Ie: " spin me gold"- Cyrus
- masquerade ball to find the prince a bride
- BETRAYAL!!
- wickity wicked witches doing nefarious, questionable deeds

-- There are probably more but I'm tired of wracking my brain, trying to remember them all with a sleep deprived noggin.

Anyway...


Although I appreciate the fact that to have an enemies--> lovers trope there must be hate and vileness at the start but Violet was truly hard to cheer for the entire time. I really wanted to get behind her and have her end up with the prince but why?? She was an ass at every turn and to be honest... he deserved SOOO much better. Not liking/respecting/caring for an MC is a literary injustice that's hard to ignore. It is lucky that Gina Chen made up for that faux pas by making her other MC, Cyrus plus her secondary and even tertiary characters much more likeable/relateable.

And then there was the chemistry (or lack thereof) between the two MCs. Again, I get that the enemies to lovers trope needs to have bouts of mean malicious interactions BUT it takes finesse to craft this trope in order to make it believable. At some point we should eventually get to the part where they are... you know... no longer enemies... now lovers... you know, like kind of civil/amorous or even plain old nice to one another. Because this never fully materialized, the few sexual collisions they had felt off/disingenuous... yet another literary flaw.


Comparing this to The Cruel Prince was an extremely bold declaration... one of which this book had no right to claim. Yes the writing was solid, the background building was decent and the character development was the highlight. BUT it's the venerated Mrs. Holly Black's Folk Of The Air series we're talking about... books whose characters were so on point, redolent, and endearing that they stick in your head (and heart) WAAAY past the time the book covers finally kiss once more.


Overall:
This book started out strong but the end was flat and felt rushed. I'm really not a fan of:
- forced chemistry between MCs
- unrelateable/unlikeable MC
- poor pacing
- an overhyped book that falls short of its boasting claims

Although my review points out a few major issues that normally niggle and irk me, the overall truth is that I did really enjoy my time in this unique world with these decently crafted characters (minus Violet, she could take a long walk off a short pier, never to be seen again... no search party necessary). What was this fable's ultimate flaw you might be wondering?? Well... it shot itself in the foot by likening itself to an immensely popular, highly acclaimed book written by an undeniably esteemed author who can (seemingly) do no wrong AND then failing to come through with the goods in the end. I was (not so) patiently awaiting this book's release AND when it came up shy of the claims, I was bummed and the rating reflects that. That being said, this still turned out to be an addictive listen where the orator performed admirably and I found myself needing to know what happened next which is the penultimate sign of the book's worth. The ending was a little lackluster and ho-hum but it did wrap up some of the major plot points while leaving some wiggle room for another book to jump off from.

In the end I will definitely be looking out for book #2 and I think that if you are a fan of trope heavy, Magically Realistic Fantasy and most importantly, a lover of Fairytales, then this is one that should be on your radar and put on top of your teetering TBR... just don't hold your breath expecting to see Cardan and Jude.

~ Enjoy

❤️

Such a beautiful story and full of magic. It kept me listening to the story for hours and in the middle of the night.

Epic!

One of the best enemies to lovers I've read in a little bit. the characters are wonderfully done and the story is enrapturing. The slow burn motivation and intense emotions fit perfectly within the plot without ever detracting from the story or becoming the focus.

it was ok at best

I felt the story was average. I also didn't care for the narrator. The voices she makes for the male characters is a bit odd. I wish they would've just had two narrators instead. This title was recommended because I listened to Once Upon A Broken Heart and the Carival series. Those are amazing series. this not so much