Thorn Season by Kiera Azar

Title: Thorn Season

Author: Kiera Azar

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Thorn Season # 1

Publication: September 11, 2025

464 pages

Source: Libby Library

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In the Kingdom of Daradon, a persecuted few are Wielders, in possession of a magical Spectre–a shimmering thread that can extend beyond their visible body to give a loving caress, pick a lock . . . even kill. Feared for this ability, Wielders have always been Hunted.

Alissa Paine, heiress and daughter of a Hunter family . . . is also a Wielder. At eighteen, Alissa knows she’s escaped execution thus far only due to painful self-control and the efforts of her beloved father.

Summoned to the harsh and glittering royal court for the debutante season, Alissa finds herself caught in a web of intrigue and betrayal—and caught between two equally dangerous one a brutal ruler with the handsome face of a fairy-tale prince, who would destroy her if he knew the truth—and the other a beguiling foreign ambassador with secret agendas of his own.

With the threat of discovery lurking around every corner—and romance becoming an increasingly dangerous temptation—Alissa will find that she has more to lose than her secrets. It’s Rose Season at the palace, but to survive she’ll need to become the most vicious of thorns. . . .

MY THOUGHTS

I had such high hopes for The Thorn Season. The synopsis sounded intriguing, with court politics and an heiress hiding her ability as a wielder but unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

It took quite a while for the story to grab my attention. The world-building felt underdeveloped, and the concept of wielding was barely explained. As I began writing this review, I actually had to reread the synopsis just to remind myself what the ability even was. It turns out, it’s exactly what the main heroine, Alissa, uses it for, which I found poorly executed and lazy. Readers are never told why some people are born with this power or how it came to exist in the first place. If the author mentioned it, I must have missed it, because I finished the book only a few hours ago and still couldn’t tell you. Which goes to show, this book is not memorable at all.

I’m not sure if this book is meant to be Young Adult or Adult fantasy. Alissa is eighteen, while the male characters are in their early to mid-twenties but they all acted immature. I didn’t care for Alissa and never felt connected to her character. Throughout the story, she tries to act tough but ends up getting kidnapped and thrown into a cell, twice, and both times needs rescuing. She even unalives a man, yet I still didn’t feel anything for her. She came across as all talk and no substance. By the halfway point, I was just trying to finish the book out of obligation since I had already invested so much time.

The romance aspect was also frustrating. Three potential love interests were far too many. Two would’ve been excessive, but three was overkill. None of them were likable or distinct enough to stand out. The characters overall, main and secondary alike felt flat and two-dimensional, including Alissa’s friend, father, and even her enemies.

If I had to sum up The Thorn Season in one word, it would be meh. The story isn’t original, the characters are dull, the plot is boring, and the writing is subpar. I didn’t enjoy any part of this book and am simply glad I made it to the end.