Between Two Thorns Split Worlds #1) by Emma Newman
9 May 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Between Two Thorns, Emma Newman, readalong week 1
Today is week one of our readalong of Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman. The schedule is below and a link to the Goodread’s page here. Feel free to jump on board and if you haven’t read the book please be aware of spoilers below.
Part 1 – Monday 9th May: Chapters 1-9, hosted by Over The Effing Rainbow
Part 2 – Monday 16th May: Chapters 10-18, hosted by On Starships and Dragonwings
Part 3 – Monday 23rd May: Chapters 19-25, hosted by x + 1
Part 4 – Monday 30th May: Chapters 26-End, hosted by Lynn’s Books
1. Let’s tackle the setup, first of all. The world of the Nether is caught between the Fae world and ours, and is also apparently too old-fashioned for Cathy, our escaping protagonist, to want to live in. What were your first impressions given her views on her home and family?
I’m not surprised she wanted to leave home to be honest. It sounds incredibly old fashioned and on top of that her father sounds a bit abusive (punishing her with a beating and burning her books! – I’m not happy with that guy!) Plus, no technology, which doesn’t really surprise me too much. Difficult to say too much more at this point.
2. There appears to be corruption and murder afoot among the Arbiters, a sort of supernatural police, and it doesn’t lead to good times for Max. What do you make of the magical soul surgery that the Arbiters undergo to do their jobs?
It feels really original to be honest – not sure I’d want to undergo a procedure to remove my soul – or, for that matter, how you would go about such a thing – it makes me want a bit more information on how it affects the arbiters themselves – one thing we already know of course is that it isn’t a failsafe against corruption. I like Max – but I love his partner the gargoyle! Who wouldn’t want a gargoyle as a companion? Come on!
3. Even more mysterious is Sam’s accidental involvement in the mystery. Any thoughts on the hapless mortal and what might become of him?
You can’t help having a sneaky snigger at Sam’s involvement – all down to taking a pee in the wrong place at the wrong time! At the moment he seems to have had his memory tampered with and can’t remember anything but it will be interesting to see if his memories come back. I do have a few queries – why was he protected (or how) from his attackers – what were they up to, and who was this person who came to question him and then fell down in a heap???
See you all next week where hopefully I will have more answers than questions!
Books and travelling with Lynn 
Regarding Cathy’s father, I know, right?! Burning her books? That earns the guy a one way ticket to my blacklist.
And I think the Arbiters are cool too, but I’m also a bit exasperated with them to be honest. Every magical police thinks they know the way to prevent corruption, often going to extremes, but they still never work, *snicker*
Yeah – no wonder Cathy ran away! I love the gargoyle – funny thing is I have a gargoyle image running through my head, even the voice – and I love it. I want a gargoyle too.
Lynn 😀
Cathy’s father sounds like a dick. I’m not surprised at all that she wanted to leave either! I found the technology comments pretty funny, especially Cathy’s desire for a laptop.
A gargoyle companion would be awesome!! I really hope this gargoyle gets a name soon though, because calling it “the gargoyle” is not going to work for me long term. Oooh, good point about the Arbiter who came to question Sam! He died because his soul was destroyed…but what was he doing there in the first place? So many questions!
I have so many questions – which is utterly ridiculous because I’ve read the book! The gargoyle needs a name for sure!
Lynn 😀
I love this series I hope you all enjoy it 🙂
I have read the first one – but ages ago and I can’t remember the detail so I’m glad to have a reread and move to the 2nd and 3rd.
Lynn 😀
Well I hope you enjoy them, and I look forward to seeing your reviews
🙂
I’ll get to it eventually! Well, now we’re having a readalong I dare say we’ll read the whole set.
Lynn 😀
I feel sort of bad that I hadn’t really considered Cathy’s father as abusive, because I expect that sort of thing within that sort of society *sigh* but of course it is! That’s precisely the point. I must read with my usual snippy head on this week 🙂
To be honest, I’m surprised I thought of that aspect because Cathy does come from a different era where parents were probably a lot stricter and probably harsh – and I usually tend to feel it’s part of the era/setting – but I think it stood out more with this because of Cathy moving between the worlds/times.
Lynn 😀
[…] The Split Worlds series by Emma Newman – a very interesting concept which involves a combination of a fae world, a world of mundanes and a world that is neither one or the other known as the Nether. […]