Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Gallant

Felt very flat, while the premise is enticing the writing and plot heavy story with lack of character development made it feel on the young end of YA. I can understand some people thinking it could be shelved as middle grade- I just don’t think the addition of suicide was necessary for the story but besides that the writing felt incredibly simplistic and juvenile. The atmosphere could be fun but a large portion of the book was slow until the end. I was left disappointed after the climax and wanting more of a resolution. Glad to cross it off the tbr, though I won’t be revisiting this one.

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sambiina's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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singalana's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I accidentally picked two very similar books to read at the same time: this and the audiobook In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant. Both have young protagonists trying to figure out the mystery of a weird house. The main character of this story is a girl called Olivia - a girl with no voice. At the beginning of the story she lives in an orphanage, and the only thing she has from her family is her mother’s journal. She receives a letter from her uncle, inviting her to return to their family home - a house called Gallant. When Olivia arrives at the house, she realises there is much she doesn’t know about her family and the house.

The book has an interesting layout: spread throughout the book are illustrations and pages from her mother's journal. And the cover design and the end sheets are absolutely gorgeous. The content, however… I don’t know whether I was somehow distracted or if the writing style was not for me, but I noticed that I had to constantly reread pages and parts of the text because I realised my mind had just drifted and I hadn’t internalized anything I had read.

The reading experience felt heavy, I didn’t much care for the main character and the plot raised a lot of questions.

I didn’t feel too connected to the characters, and somehow the mystery of the house was not explored enough for my taste. I didn’t understand the logic behind the plot: why were the Priors so determined to guard the secret? Why was the big bad dying? What would have happened if all of the Priors were to disappear? And my biggest pet peeve of them all: the main character falls into a trap that causes the death of another character. I don’t like this trope at all.

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