Certainly.  I'm referring to the Sorcery tech that opens access to a series of tomes.  My apologies if I wasn't clear about this.  Where I wrote "books," above, read "tomes."

No, you weren't snappy.  I wasn't clear. As for the picture, it's not reflecting what I see.  Presumably because I'm playing Pariden, so I show all you do, plus four elemental elemental tomes--which give apprentice ability. But as my sovereign is also being offered apprenticeship in those elements as level ups, it seems like a raw deal for Pariden, since their leader, Procipinee, starts with all four elements at apprentice.  In other words, one of the benefits of Pariden, those four tomes under Sorcery, isn't a benefit to their leader, since she already has it.  All you can do is trade them, which means they're usefulness lies not in their magical selves, but in what they can bring in gold.  Not exactly...exciting.  Also a tradeoff.  Nor seemingly worth much as a racial benefit.

I think I'm beginning to realize that the issue I have with Sorcery is an issue with how it's implemented for Pariden.

I think Pariden is the only one that gets those books. The benefit is that every hero you hire will have all the elements. That is a huge power. You should try getting all the hero techs right away and doing quests to get lots of gildar. You can buy a level 5 hero and make him a right nasty mage. Having every element means you have access to many more spells than other factions. But it does seem like a good idea to make a custom Sov and just use the books on her, instead of wasting points.

Personal, I would like a life bood add and more rank of book than one level, since there is no way start damage spell till fire 2 level and some spell like air 3 level to start out battle.