Sep 30

Sep 30 Gallant

Author: Victoria Schwab
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source.

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?

New York Times bestselling author Victoria Schwab crafts a vivid and lush novel that grapples with the demons that are often locked behind closed doors. An eerie, standalone saga about life, death, and the young woman beckoned by both. Readers of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Melissa Albert, and Garth Nix will quickly lose themselves in this novel with crossover appeal for all ages.

TL;DR Review

Gallant is relatively straightforward, but beautiful and also unexpected in delightful ways. Victoria Schwab will sweep you up into dark YA fairytale land with her storyteller voice.

For you if: You like fairytale vibes, but with a twist.

Full Review

“Rain drums it fingers on the garden shed.”

OK, so Gallant doesn’t come out until March, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on an early review copy thanks to a truly wonderful bookseller friend. It’s a standalone, early-YA novel billed as The Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak (!). If you’re into dark (but not too dark) fairytales written in an atmospheric storyteller voice, this is the one. for. you. I enjoyed every minute.

The main character, Olivia, grew up in a school for girls, sort of like an orphanage. It’s gray and miserable, and she’s bullied and outcast (for reasons I loved discovering on my own so won’t name here). All she has is her mother’s last journal, which starts fine but descends into seeming madness. Until one day the school gets a letter from her long-lost uncle, and she’s brought to Gallant, the family estate. Enter: ghouls and curses and doors in mysterious walls. Olivia just wants is to belong; to finally have a family and a home.

The story is relatively simple and straightforward, but it was also beautiful, sad, curious, lovely, and very atmospheric. I think people of all ages will love this one, especially if you’re a fan of magical books that sweep you up into what can only be described as a *story.* And while the plot isn’t very complex, it definitely surprised me several times, which was both delightful and contemplative.

I also think that Olivia is one of the most impressive characters I’ve ever read, for that secret reason I alluded to above. Writing her must have been such a unique challenge, but if anyone could do it, it was our girl Victoria. And she nailed it.

Preorder this one!