Book Review: Gallant

Title: Gallant
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publication Date: 2022
Publishing House: Greenwillow Books

I really enjoy V.E. Schwab’s books and have read a number of them. She has also published books under the name Victoria Schwab. This book I listened to as an audiobook from the library. Make sure to support your local library.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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?

Olivia is an interesting protagonist, she is mute. She can speak but only in sign language, it makes for an interesting read because not all of the other characters can understand sign language. A first person point of view with a main character that can’t ask questions or converse with others easily makes the story wonderfully frustrating due to answers being harder to find.

Merilance School for girls is a dreary world and in contrast Gallant is beautiful and bright and Olivia is shocked by the contrast. Upon first glance Gallant seems a paradise but there is a darkness creeping over it that must be kept at bay. Bright roses wrapped with creeping gray roots.

I suggest this book for fans of V.E, Schwab, for fans of horror, and fans of young adult literature. Have you read this book, if so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments. Happy reading.

Other Book Reviews by V.E. Schwab

• A Darker Shade of Magic
• A Gathering if Shadows
• A Conjuring of Light
• This Savage Song
• Our Dark Duet
• The Near Witch
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
• City of Ghosts

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