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    Between Two Thorns: The Split Worlds - Book 1
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    Between Two Thorns: The Split Worlds - Book 1
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    Between Two Thorns: The Split Worlds - Book 1
    Ebook401 pages5 hours

    Between Two Thorns: The Split Worlds - Book 1

    By Emma Newman

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Something is wrong in Aquae Sulis, Bath's secret mirror city. The new season is starting and the Master of Ceremonies is missing.

    Max, an Arbiter of the Split Worlds Treaty, is assigned with the task of finding him with no one to help but a dislocated soul and a mad sorcerer. There is a witness but his memories have been bound by magical chains only the enemy can break. A rebellious woman trying to escape her family may prove to be the ally Max needs.

    But can she be trusted? And why does she want to give up eternal youth and the life of privilege she's been born into?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOsprey Publishing Ltd
    Release dateFeb 26, 2013
    ISBN9780857663214
    Author

    Emma Newman

    Emma Newman was born in a tiny coastal village in Cornwall during one of the hottest summers on record. Four years later she started to write stories and never stopped until she penned a short story that secured her a place at Oxford University to read Experimental Psychology. In 2011 Emma embarked on an ambitious project to write and distribute one short story per week – all of them set in her Split Worlds milieu – completely free to her mailing list subscribers. A debut short-story collection, From Dark Places, was published in 2011 and her debut post-apocalyptic novel for young adults, 20 Years Later, was published just one year later – presumably Emma didn’t want to wait another nineteen… Emma is also a professional audiobook narrator. She now lives in Somerset with her husband, son and far too many books.

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    Reviews for Between Two Thorns

    3.5/5

    95 ratings14 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Introduces the Split Worlds, with Fae and magically-touched humans living in the Nether, unknown to the mundanes. There are four central characters: Cathy fled her physically and mentally abusive family, but a Fae lord catches her and forces her to return; Max is a soulless Arbiter trying to enforce the rules against an apparently massive conspiracy; Will is Cathy’s intended (women have no formal rights in her world) and determined to do a good job for his family while preserving his own freedoms; and Sam is a mundane accidentally sucked into all the Nether’s maneuvering. I liked this much better than Brother’s Ruin, but I didn’t like the misogynist society of the Nether, which everyone in the story but Cathy (and the long-disappeared tutor who instilled a spirit of rebellion in her) apparently thinks is just fine. Newman is very clear that oppression often produces just suffering, not nobility; Cathy is small and scared and can’t stop most of what happens to her, and Will was completely convinced that he was a good man doing good things by ignoring Cathy’s opinions even though he also disapproved of the physical abuse, which was realistic within the scenario given but hard to read and not what I’m going to fantasy for right now. Newman’s sf features many of the same dynamics, centering on a person who can only decide how much they’re going to give in to a horrible system, but in her future sexism doesn’t play a big role and that matters to me as a reader.
    • 5/5
      Sam was just seeking a sufficiently private place to relieve himself after getting excessively drunk after work because his wife was working late again. Instead, he witnesses a body being carried out of the Museum, and becomes entirely too interesting to some of the Fae-touched who want to keep him quiet.

      Cathy was just trying to remain out of sight of the Fae and her Fae-touched family so she can continue her university studies in Mundanus. Instead she's trapped and brought home by her brother Tom, and informed that she's now betrothed to William.

      William has his own ideas, including a preference for Cathy's sister Elizabeth initially, and then for new arrival in Aquae Sulis, Amerlia.

      And with the Fae having little interest in humans except to show off their own power, and the Great Families among the Fae-touched (including Cathy's and William's) being mostly almost as sociopathic as the Fae, surely nothing can go wrong, right?

      The story unfolds slowly, in intriguing layers. What seems simple at first is revealed as tangled and complicated. Newman's language and style match the story beautifully, and the Split Worlds, Mundanus, Exilium, and the Nether, the land in between where the Fae-touched live, is an interesting take on the relations between Fae and humans.

      Recommended.
    • 2/5
      2.5/5 starsThis story was okay, but going in I didn't know that fae were an aspect of it. I just am not really into fae, and find the politics involved and how they influence plots kind of annoying. The plot was interesting, but I found some of the characters bland and just uninteresting. They didn't really have any personality. Cathy just let the plot happen to her, she never really did anything for herself. I wasn't really interested in the world created or the magic, the "Nether" was a cool concept, but again, fae things just annoy me. Overall, not a bad book, but just not for me.
    • 4/5
      The general premise has been done before but the plot and characters were pretty good.
    • 4/5
      When I finished this I breathed a sigh of relief. I really enjoy Emma Newman's Tea and Jeopardy podcast and desperately hoped that I would also like her book, and I did.The story opens with Sam, trying to find somewhere to relieve his bladder after a night involving too much alcohol, which ends up with him losing some of his memories.Catherine Rhoeas-Papaver (the Rhoeas Poppy is the common red poppy of remembrance, something that made me smile) is living in the Mundanus, the mundane world, hiding from her family with the help of a charm and is enjoying studying. She knows that her life in the dangerous politics of the Nether will be not what she wants, but she is dragged by the patron of her house the Fae Lord Poppy back into it. He has plans for her and he will not be gainsaid. She resists as best as she can but her family is determined to put her life back on their course, including her advantageous marriage.Max is an arbiter of the Split Worlds treaty, investigating missing women, out of his normal space, when everything goes wrong, saving his life, but leaving him without his usual supports.When they all end in Bath, or Aquae Sulis, they will all be important in a complicated plot that includes the Master of Ceremonies of Aquae Sulis and will resonate through the season.I liked it, it really resonated with me and I enjoyed the read and the politics and the characters. Cathy is constrained by her fear of not having agency which both restricts her and makes her interesting to me.Really want to read the sequel now.
    • 3/5
      Technically, I've both received this to review on Netgalley and received a copy as a competition prize from Angry Robot, so it's high time I got round to it. My review will, of course, be an honest one.In fact, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. I enjoyed reading it, but it didn't seem to pull together at the end -- instead of the first book of a trilogy, it felt like the first part of a book. It's not even exactly a cliffhanger ending, it's just... some things wrap up, but most things don't, leaving several plot threads dangling and a major mystery unsolved. I'm interested in reading the rest of the trilogy, but this way of ending the book didn't feel right.Anyway, the most interesting thing about this book is the world-building, the Fae world and our world, and Exilium. There were times when that felt rather like other books (Daughter of Smoke and Bone came to mind pretty strongly during the Shopkeeper chapters, and Tad Williams' War of the Flowers comes to mind as a comparison too), but it was intriguing enough to keep my attention. The characters, less so -- Cathy is made a bit too average, I think, and Will a bit too perfect, but in that cocky self-assured way that never fails to irritate. I want to know what happens to them, but I'm not convinced I care.There's nothing about this book (other than the ending issues I mentioned above) that makes me dislike it, but I think my feelings on it will alter (or not) depending on what the other two books of the trilogy are like. Unfortunately, I don't have Any Other Name, so that might be a while from now.
    • 3/5
      An alternate reality exits, mirrored cities, called the 'Nether' for Faerie families. Opposite of the Nether is the Mundane, where humans live. Cat, daughter of a powerful Faerie family in the Nether, wants desperately to live out her life in the Mundane city of Bath, rather than the rather Victorian-era mirror in the Nether, Aquae Sulis. She has succeeded in hiding in Bath for three years while going to school and even having a boyfriend by using powerful Charms. Cat's life in the Mundane comes crashing down when the head of her family finds her and lifts her Charms, saying she is needed in the Nether. Cat is carted off to the Nether by her brother. only to be forced into an arranged marriage with Will, from another powerful family and to be used by a Sorcerer to take a Charm off a human who can help figure out what has happened to her kidnapped uncle.I don't know quite where to begin with this book. There was a lot going on and a lot of characters to keep track of, with the point of view switching from character to character. Being the first book in a series, the plot took me a little while to get into but really got me hooked about half way through when all of the different characters stories started to come together and some action started happening. Between Two Thorns also ends on a cliffhanger, leaving the main character, Cat, in quite a bind. This definitely makes me want to read the second book, Any Other Name.This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Quite all right, although the deliberate pacing is not for some.
    • 2/5
      The summary makes it seem that this book is only about Max and it’s not. There are four main characters, the book takes us through four different points of view, the most of which seem to be Cathy, the “rebellious woman”.

      Max is an Arbiter, which is some kind of law enforcement? I’m not entirely sure, it’s never clearly explained what his role is. If I could take a guess he is someone that keeps the “fae-touched and the fae” out of our world.....

      Read full review HERE
    • 3/5
      This is an original and entertaining urban / cross-over fantasy of manners. I enjoyed it for skimming the angst in favour of dipping into poisonous social interactions, and I very much enjoyed the arbitrary viciousness of the Fae. That said, I didn't really warm to any of the core characters. I found Cathy frustrating, Sam infuriating and Max under-used - so I was reading for fun rather than fully engaged. Still - hats off to Emma Newman for leaving me conflicted about Will Reticulata-Iris, who I wanted to like much more than I think I really should. Overall, this is a good set-up / introductory novel (although not great as a stand-alone read - expect a lot of loose ends).Full review
    • 4/5
      Cathy comes from the Nether, the space between the Fae’s Exilium and the human’s Mundanus. While she had escaped the strict and hidebound society of the Nether, she’s now being dragged back in to face an arranged marriage. Meanwhile, Max, an Arbitrator who prevents Fae from entangling with Mundanus, is investigating a series of kidnappings and murders.I really love how the use of the split worlds is able to merge different settings and genres. The world of the Nether is like something out of the 1800s, Regency or perhaps Victorian. Arranged marriages, balls, high society, constrained roles for women… yet right across the divide is our own, modern world, in which Cathy was able to escape for a time. The result is urban fantasy crossed with a sort of historical fantasy with a dash of fantasy of manners thrown in.I enjoyed Cathy’s sections the most. She’s determined to find a way to gain her independence in spite of the world she was born into and her abusive family. Cathy also has the virtue of having a somewhat different story line for an urban fantasy novel. The mystery investigations of Max’s plot line were far more familiar than Cathy’s social drama. Max, as an Arbitrator, also has had his soul severed from his body, to prevent him from becoming emotionally involved and to make him incapable of corruption. While the idea is interesting, I think it made Max’s narration suffer by being much less personal.The story also contains two more POV characters beyond the two I mentioned in the summary. Sam is a ordinary man who has an encounter with the Fae at the very beginning of the story. Will is prominent bachelor of Nether society and Cathy’s intended. I found these two characters much more ambiguous than Cathy or Max. I had sympathies for Sam’s sudden encounters with the magical but was frustrated by him beyond that. Will is often unaware as to the extent of his privilege, and while he may gain some sympathy for Cathy as the story goes on, he never comes close to understanding her. Yet I find Will’s moral ambiguity interesting enough that he’s my second favorite, after Cathy.Although there are many different POV characters and plot threads, Between Two Thorns maintains a fast pace that pushed me to end up reading it beyond the designated pages for the read along. I was disappointed that so many plot threads were left hanging for book two, but I will certainly be continuing with the series. If you have an interest in the fae or fantasy of manners, I suggest you take a look at the Split Worlds series.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.I received a free ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Really good. A little hard to get into the swing of the characters and the worlds at first, but after that, awesome. I like Cathy as a character, and am so curious to find out what happens with her and Will. I love the gargoyle, and the scene with Cathy and the gargoyle. The Arbiters are a really interesting idea. The whole system is really interesting. I don’t blame Cathy for wanting to live in Mundanus!
    • 4/5
      The subject of a Big Idea post over on Whatever. Newman doesn't actually describe the book at all, but this paragraph caught my attention:"At first it disguised itself as a short story about a shopkeeper and a woman returning one of his products; a faerie trapped in a bell jar. The woman thinks it’s a frivolous gadget sent by her husband abroad, with no idea that she’s in possession of a real faerie which could destroy her life. The shopkeeper, feeling merciful, sends her away with a fruit cake recipe after casting a memory loss charm on her."I wanted to know more about a world where you could accidentally wind up with a faerie in a bell jar, and I definitely wanted to know why it could have destroyed her life. From the very first page I couldn't put this book down. The characters are awesome, the setting is really really cool - the world of Faery has been split from the Mundane world, and in between the two lies the Nether where only those mortals sponsored by the Fae may live, and time does not pass (or at least, doesn't affect those living in the Nether). The Victorian society of the Nether juxtaposed with modern society in the Mundane world was a lot of fun. The little glimpses we get of Exillium, the Faery realm, are very intriguing and more than a little scary. The story itself is great - embedded in the setting, and well wrapped-up within a single novel.I can't wait to read more. I'm already reading the short stories set in the Split Worlds, and I'm anxiously awaiting the next book!
    • 3/5
      This is the first book in the Split Worlds series. I got an eGalley to review through NetGalley(dot)com; thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the chance to review this book.The book follows three main characters. The first is a Mundane who is a drunk named Sam who stumbles into some faeries and Arbitrators. The second is a young woman named Cathy who is on the run in the Mundane world trying to escape her noble family who lives in the Nether. The third story focuses around Max who is an Arbitrator that is trying to unravel mysterious crimes involving disappearing blonde women. All of the stories end up being somewhat tied to one another.To be honest this story is kind of all over the place. There are hints of a bigger story behind the events being focused on in this one, but those storylines are dropped and ignored later in the book. So, at times I was left wondering why these storylines had been started in the first place. My guess is everything will tie together better in future books, but in this book all the little bits lead to some confusion for the reader.For me the most engaging story to follow was Cathy’s. She’s run away from the Nether (a world that parallels ours but is run by Faerie) to Mundanus (our world) to go to college and attempt to lead her own life. She’s run away from an abusive father and a male-dominated society that expects her to do no more than be a proper wife. Early on in the story she is found again and forced back into the privileged Nether society she was trying to flee. Cathy was an engaging character and her story was one that is easy to follow and understand. I thought she was a bit naive at times though and wondered why Cathy didn’t work harder to ally with those who wanted to help her. She was just extremely stubborn and it made her come off as a bit dumb throughout the story.Sam isn’t in the story a ton, but he does play a vital role at parts. As a character he comes across as a smart man who can’t make his marriage work and likes to drink too much.Max is probably the most interesting of the characters, but his story is the hardest to follow. Max is an Arbitrator and his job is to make sure that the Nether isn’t messing with Mundanus. The job of an Arbitrator is never explained all that well, and Max deals with a lot of things that aren’t explained well to the reader. So his parts of the story are the most intriguing but also the most confusing to follow.There are a number of other odd and interesting characters that flit in and out of the story. We don’t get to really meet any of them all that long or really understand them. I had a hard trouble really engaging with the majority of the characters. At times I also had trouble following what was going on plot wise...the different point sof view didn’t help this confusion. It is obvious from the plot that something bad is happening between Mundanus and the Nether. While some of that is resolved a lot of the mysteries presented remain unresolved.Still the above being said, Newman has created an interesting world and has a lot of creative and intriguing ideas in here. The problem is that the story is so complex that in this first book, as a reader, I had trouble seeing how a lot of the events that happened tied in with the overall story. Overall this was an okay read. The world is interesting and the plot is intriguing. There are a number of odd and entertaining characters presented throughout. However I also found the plot hard to follow and confusing, had trouble engaging with these characters and didn’t really enjoy all the different POVs. I don’t plan on continuing reading this series.