Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Vespertine

margaret rogerson truly loves her fearsome powerful and petty demons with a weakness for humans and you know what? So do i.

it was a little predictable but that didn’t really dampen my enjoyment of the whole thing i was giddily waiting for everything i assumed was going to happen to happen and it delivered every time 😌

Content Warnings

aas's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

lilifane's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I think I just love Margaret Rogerson stories and characters.
This one is much darker than Sorcery of Thorns, but I loved the atmosphere so much. The story takes place in a France inspired fantasy world that reminded me a lot of the atmosphere in A Plague Tale (just with ghosts/demons instead of rats). I also loved the characters with all my heart. Artemisia, the traumatized nun with social anxiety and a penchant for self sabotaging, and the Revenant, an ancient, grumpy demon that wants to kill everyone, are just a great pair. Their banter is the best and the way their "relationship" develops is so wholesome. Also, amazing side characters, character dynamics and character development in general. And it never gets boring, the plot progresses at a constant pace and although you see a lot of things coming, there are still some unexpected twists.
There was some really interesting discussion about the masses idolizing/worshiping a person and basically making them a symbol for their religion and how this affects this person.
I'm actually sad to leave this world behind.

Content Warnings

squid_sunfish's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was life ruiningly good and I am so devastated this isn't a series I'm gonna miss Artemisa and Rathanel 😭

Content Warnings

anniereads221's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

natsbooknook's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Possessed as a child, successfully exorcised, and subsequently sent to train with the Gray Sisters as an individual with 'the Sight,' Artemisia would prefer to fade into the background, left alone with the corpses she must cleanse. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, by a twist of fate - or perhaps divine intervention - she finds herself in possession of a reliquary, a holy relic containing a spirit. This particular reliquary contains a revenant, considered one of the post powerful and evil spirits.

Artemisia is untrained and bound to a spirit of great power, but she must fight the forces threatening humanity all while preventing her revenant from betraying her.

~~

The first chapter or so wasn't of great interest to me, in fact, I had actually almost paused reading it in favor of something else that has been sitting on my shelf for a few months. I'm incredibly pleased that I kept reading though because after that initial chapter or two, the story picks up and I was hooked. Although the story is very mission oriented and character driven, the world Margaret Rogerson created is a very interesting one and I would love to read more about it.

I think one of my favorite aspects was the Revenant itself and just this tense feeling that neither we as the reader nor our main protagonist really know what it's motives are, which really adds to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Vespertine

Content Warnings

chamaeleontis's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

wurblywombat's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I loved this book even more than Sorcery of Thorns. Margaret truly has a gift for writing loveable and interesting characters. The side characters are fantastic but in a way that doesn't diminish the main character. There was no love interest or romance and I think the book was better for it as we could focus on the great friendships, development and plot. Through this book Margaret has become an instant buy!!

Content Warnings

More...