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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars rounded up. When I heard this was a retelling of The Secret Garden I was sold. Seeing as how that is my all time favorite books I had high expectations. I would say overall it was met but fell a bit flat. The beginning was very strong and I was very interested to see what would happen. However the rest of the book was not nearly as strong. We follow orphan Olivia who has an unhappy life at the orphanage. She has learned how to survive among the viciousness of others by becoming one of the most horrid girls there. One day she is sent to Live with her uncle at his vast estate called Gallent. However once she arrives it becomes evident that no one knows why she is there and her uncle could not have written the letter requesting her arrival. Olivia must come to terms with who she is and also discover the mysterious nature of the estate that she is at.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I love VE Schwab, but this one is a dud. It was slow paced and too much back story building. Too gloomy and fell flat for me. Don't let this stop you from reading any of her other books, they are all great.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
This was absolutely lovely. It was beautifully written and I found myself rooting for Olivia from the very beginning. I absolutely wasn’t expecting the ink blots in the journal to be entries from her father. The idea of a mirror reality, of Death, and of the ash world was wonderful. Not all stories are happy endings and I was pleased that I didn’t necessarily find one.
V. E. Schwab’s writing continues to leave me in awe! An absorbing story, Gallant will haunt my memories for years to come. “The Story Girl” by L.M. Montgomery had to be Schwab’s foreshadowing, because Victoria is a masterful story weaver. While she claims that each story is mean to be different and impact different readers, all of her works share a commonality: I think each book I read if my new favorite until I read the next one!
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4.5 stars rounded up
So I loved this, and I did love The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which I think shares elements with Gallant. However, I frankly don't get why it's been so popular, and I'm not surprised to see some really low ratings here on GR. This is a really weird book. It's nothing like your standard YA fantasy. If that's what you're looking for, maybe take a pass or else change your expectations.
I did a blended read with a printed book and an audiobook (fantastically narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt), and as I worked my way through the story, I kept thinking that it all reminded me of nothing so much as a narrative poem. There is a plot, yes, but thin and only there as a vehicle for the delivery of crystalline moments brought to life by beautiful language. There is a compelling, well-realized character, and we sometimes hear what she's thinking, but we are not IN her head. There is repetition, yes, but it contributes to a beautiful, driving rhythm, like that of a storyteller or poet (another reason the audiobook was so good). But, this is not formatted and marketed like narrative poetry, so I suppose it must not be. In that case though, I still would call this literary fantasy/YA. Not sure if that's a thing, but that's what this read like. It reminded of Neil Gaiman's writing, and I LOVED it.
My only criticism is that I wish the literary or lyrical or poetic, whatever you want to call it, nature of this book was embraced fully. Edited into and published as stanzas or a novella length (keeping all the wonderful art of course), I think this could be a shorter book but perhaps all the more powerful for it. I also think then people would know what they are getting into, instead of picking up what they think is your run-of-the-mill YA fantasy and becoming frustrated because nothing about it is what they were expecting.
In the afterword, Schwab thanks her agent, editor, and publishing team "for their confidence and belief when the story I finally found proved to be strange and wild, and it was clear it wouldn't sit easily on any one shelf, that my readers would still find it." I'm also grateful, that despite being weird and hard to categorize, this book got published, and I did find it. I'd love to see more literary/poetic books like this, aimed at a YA audience, maybe it will bring back the love of poetry we've lost. I think that's a wonderful idea. I just wish the marketing at least had committed more to the weirdness of this book and included that as a selling point (because it could be!) instead of apparently hoping no one would notice.
So I loved this, and I did love The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which I think shares elements with Gallant. However, I frankly don't get why it's been so popular, and I'm not surprised to see some really low ratings here on GR. This is a really weird book. It's nothing like your standard YA fantasy. If that's what you're looking for, maybe take a pass or else change your expectations.
I did a blended read with a printed book and an audiobook (fantastically narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt), and as I worked my way through the story, I kept thinking that it all reminded me of nothing so much as a narrative poem. There is a plot, yes, but thin and only there as a vehicle for the delivery of crystalline moments brought to life by beautiful language. There is a compelling, well-realized character, and we sometimes hear what she's thinking, but we are not IN her head. There is repetition, yes, but it contributes to a beautiful, driving rhythm, like that of a storyteller or poet (another reason the audiobook was so good). But, this is not formatted and marketed like narrative poetry, so I suppose it must not be. In that case though, I still would call this literary fantasy/YA. Not sure if that's a thing, but that's what this read like. It reminded of Neil Gaiman's writing, and I LOVED it.
My only criticism is that I wish the literary or lyrical or poetic, whatever you want to call it, nature of this book was embraced fully. Edited into and published as stanzas or a novella length (keeping all the wonderful art of course), I think this could be a shorter book but perhaps all the more powerful for it. I also think then people would know what they are getting into, instead of picking up what they think is your run-of-the-mill YA fantasy and becoming frustrated because nothing about it is what they were expecting.
In the afterword, Schwab thanks her agent, editor, and publishing team "for their confidence and belief when the story I finally found proved to be strange and wild, and it was clear it wouldn't sit easily on any one shelf, that my readers would still find it." I'm also grateful, that despite being weird and hard to categorize, this book got published, and I did find it. I'd love to see more literary/poetic books like this, aimed at a YA audience, maybe it will bring back the love of poetry we've lost. I think that's a wonderful idea. I just wish the marketing at least had committed more to the weirdness of this book and included that as a selling point (because it could be!) instead of apparently hoping no one would notice.