I am delighted to share my review today for Gallant by V.E. Schwab. This is the first book I have read by this author and I decided to give it a go after seeing other reviewers enjoying it.

This is book 5/20 in the #20booksofsummer reading challenge.

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had to start with.

She grew up at Merilance School for Girls. Now, nearing the end of her time there, Olivia receives a letter from an uncle she’s never met, her father’s older brother, summoning her to his estate, a place called Gallant. But when she arrives, she discovers that the letter she received was several years old. Her uncle is dead. The estate is empty, save for the servants. Olivia is permitted to remain, but must follow two rules: don’t go out after dusk, and always stay on the right side of a wall that runs along the estate’s western edge.

Beyond it is another realm, ancient and magical, which calls to Olivia through her blood…

MY REVIEW

This is my first time reading one of this author’s books and I think I chose very well when I decided to buy a copy of Gallant. This was a fabulous gothic-style mystery that did have similarities to another wonderful book, The Secret Garden, but Schwab does go darker.

The story is of an orphan, abandoned and unwanted. Olivia doesn’t speak, this means she doesn’t have friends but what she does do is watch. When she is coming to the end of her time at the Merilance School for Girls a strange message arrives saying that Olivia does indeed have family and they have been searching for her.

When she arrives at her home she discovers a place that has very few people there. It seems that the family and quite possibly the house is cursed. There is a wonderful eerie presence throughout this story and the author increases this as it goes on.

Rather than having the warm welcome she expected, she is received with some shock and surprise. Why on earth would anyone want to come to this house. Why would they want to stay?

I love the mystery in this story and it just oozes that eerie-ness and wonderful gothic thriller/ horror feel. There are many strange things that happen in this story, yes it is a fantasy but one that I adored, but then I do also like fantasy.

This story may be about Olivia, but it is also about the family and what originally brought them there, and why they remain. It provides some interesting and unexpected twists.

Fabulous reading, wonderful characters, and a great storyline. I really enjoyed this and I look forward to reading more. I would definitely recommend this one. 

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx