Interested in a spoiler free summary? Check out my Annotation of this book.

Review

Author: V. E. Schwab

Title: Gallant

Category/Type: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy

Subgenre: Legends/Myths/Fairy Tales

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Number of Pages: 335 pages of story text; 2 pages of acknowledgements; includes full page images and a "diary" section.

Series (if applicable): This book is not a part of a series

There’s a new story of darkness and hope from V.E. Schwab whose tales are always laced with magic.

Olivia Prior is an outcast at Merilance School for Girls. She can see ghouls and she cannot speak even though she has a lot to say. The other girls at the school and the teachers make her life difficult or act as if she doesn't exist. All that Olivia knows of her family is what she’s learned from the strange writings and drawings in the journal her mother left when Olivia was dropped on the Merilance doorstep as an infant. But Olivia's life might just change for the better when a letter arrives from an uncle she didn't know she had inviting her to live at the Prior family estate, Gallant. Eager for a home and a family, Olivia is about to discover that secrets and darkness abound in her past and in her blood. But she should be OK, just as long as she doesn't go to the other side of the garden wall... With echoes of Persephone and Hades and Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There, Schwab weaves a new fairy tale that reads like a lullaby tinged with horror. This is a tale that ponders how the things we lack might turn out to be our greatest strength and leaves readers questioning the choices we all must make about creating home and happiness.

Personal Thoughts

WARNING: May contain spoilers

Full disclosure: I’m a big V.E. Schwab fan, this is the fifth book of hers I’ve read (Shades of Magic trilogy & The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue). I am consistently amazed at how she can recreate her writing style for every new story yet you can always identify her tales because her magical storytelling remains uniquely her own. Schwab’s morally grey characters have relatively clear good and bad guys but you can’t help but disagree with some of the decisions of the good ones and can’t help but cheer for the bad ones sometimes (c’mon, if you weren’t hoping for some sort of resolution for Holland then I’m not sure if you have a heart).

This is a dreamy lullaby embroidered with horror and I adored it to pieces. There are elements of Persephone and Hades and the common trope of another world beyond the garden wall but Schwab still manages to create something entirely original with this tale that may have you dabbing your eyes at the end. I am rarely moved to tears by anything but I was swallowing a lump in my throat when I finished this book.

The images were delightfully interwoven which I felt enhanced the storytelling. Olivia was a compelling protagonist and I loved how loud she was despite the lack of a voice. She was easy to identify with and root for despite her unique condition (no voice). I think some might find the ending rough but I felt like it was a good conclusion, wrapping up the tale while the lack of utter happiness kept the story firmly realistic. I’m definitely here for whatever Schwab creates next.

Final resting place: In the Fantasy Fiction section of my personal library between A Darker Shade of Magic (I don’t own the other two yet…) and Meet Me In Another Life.