Being an orphan and having no friends means Olivia has been starving to know what it’s like to have a family. That’s what Gallant did.īut what took me by surprise, and the part I wanted to highlight most in this Gallant book review, was the familial element of the book. I have always loved light fantasy and magical realism-stories that made me believe the supernatural could exist in our world, if only I looked hard enough. The mystical elements of this book were the least surprising part for me. We have Olivia’s desire to belong, her cousin Matthew’s desire to protect, and Hannah and Edgar’s desire to comfort them both, even when they’re at odds. The magic in this book is subtle-real and omnipresent, but it takes a backseat to the human story. Those of us who fell in love with stories like The Secret Garden will find something cut from the same cloth, but perhaps darker, cast in shadow. As I grew older, I lost that key, but I began collecting others-real antique skeleton keys that have been separated from their locks. Or, more specifically, I have loved the keys that have belonged to those doors.Īs a child, I had a pink plastic toy skeleton key necklace, and I would pretend to open doorways into another universe. I love the very premise of this book because I, like Victoria, have loved doors my whole life. But when she steps over that threshold, she finds herself in another world, one in which Gallant is in disrepair and the master of the house commands a sinister presence. This is what Olivia discovers upon crossing the border between Gallant and the open field beyond the wall. A seam, where the shadow meets its source.” And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. And though the answers seem impossible, she soon discovers that they’re all too real. Her uncle, she finds, had died a year ago.Įvery chapter in Gallant is a soldier’s march toward solving the mystery of Olivia’s abilities, her mother’s fate, her father’s identity, and her family’s purpose. This is the chance for her to start over, to be someone new, but when she arrives, no one knows who she is. One day, a letter shows up from an uncle she didn’t know existed, inviting her to come home to Gallant, the Prior family estate. More importantly, however, is the fact that Olivia can see ghouls-half-formed ghosts who haunt the school and shrink under her gaze. She was left at the school with her mother’s journal, which is seemingly filled with the ramblings of woman gone mad. She is ostracized primarily for the fact that she was born mute, but instead of shrinking in on herself, she has learned to make the first move to ensure everyone knows she will not be an easy target. We first meet Olivia Prior at the Merilance School for girls, where she has no friends in her fellow students and no allies in the matrons that run the institution.
#Magic lasso fantasy art full#
Every moment we experience from Olivia’s point of view has a purpose and seemingly comes full circle by the end of the book.
Suffice it to say, she never misses a single detail, and each one is there to elicit a reaction from the reader. I’m going to tell you right now, this Gallant book review is not going to do Victoria’s prose justice. The way she describes colors and smells and tastes and feelings had me stepping into Olivia’s shoes as though they were made for my feet. Each and every sentence was carefully crafted by an artist’s hand. And chances are, I’m also gonna love it.Īnd that’s exactly what happened here, though I was less prepared for how stunningly beautiful V.E. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If you describe a book as Gothic in any way, shape, or form, I’m gonna pick it up. But I’m a little mad they didn’t tell me she was this good.įortunately, Gallant was the perfect book for me to start with. I knew there was a reason why she was popular, why some people-whose book opinions I trust above most others-count her as one of their favorite authors. Now, I’m kicking myself that “some day” wasn’t years ago. And it’s not because I didn’t want to! Some of my friends are massive fans, and I even have a few of her books lining my shelves that I promised I’d get to some day. Schwab/Victoria Schwab prior to picking up Gallant. This Gallant book review is a spoiler-free look at the way the shadows move across V.E.
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