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A review by corallydeer
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
adventurous
dark
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
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
5.0
This was a great read! I had heard that Rogerson was a phenomenal writer and I heavily agree after this first foray into her works. I loved her writing style and thought it was a great blend of fairly direct writing with prose-y styles. I loved the characters and the world so much; the banter between the revenant and Artemisia was always a great time and the world they existed in felt so unique and fresh. The beginning felt a bit slow to me, so I was sitting more at a four-star rating for a while, but the second half of the book really picked up and suddenly I felt like I couldn't put it down and now I even want to reread it! The second half quickly shot the book up to a full five-star rating for me and I can't wait to read more of Rogerson's works now!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood
Moderate: Violence, Child death, and Self harm
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, and Suicide
Death (the book is about spirits and ghosts so death is a huge part of the overall world and plot) | Blood (blood is brought up on multiple occasions and used for things) | Fire/Fire Injury (Artemisia has extensive burn scars on her hands that come up frequently through the story) | Child Death (some of the spirits depicted in the book are dead children) | Violence (there are a number of battles throughout the book) | Confinement (Artemisia is confined on multiple occasions when arrested) | Animal Death (some animals die here and there as minor details) | Self Harm (Artemisia has to cut herself to acquire blood for runes and is depicted throughout the novel not being afraid to singe/burn herself for a purpose) | Suicide (Leander's brother committed suicide which is explained in passing)