Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source.
Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.
Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.
Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?
Well that was pretty bad.
I think I’m just going to stick with Schwab’s fantasy books because this??? This was not it.
There was no plot whatsoever (until like over halfway), but in general I don’t even care 99% if there isn’t one as long as I’m invested in the characters. Which wasn’t the case at all here.
“Safe does not mean happy, does not mean well, does not mean kind.”
For so long, Olivia has longed to be wanted, especially in a place like Merilance… until one day she receives a note from her uncle, Arthur Prior, about coming to live in Gallant–a mysterious, large estate. However, once she gets there Olivia realizes Gallant is not all what it seems to be and there was a reason her mother warned her away from it…
And then goes the page descriptions of the house for almost 200 pages yay! Honestly who doesnt love reading about how a house looks like?? If you don’t, you have no taste.
In all seriousness, if you asked me what happened in this book I couldn’t tell you. It literally feels like nothing happened at all the first half. I almost fell ASLEEP reading it and that never happens to me?? Never in my life have I ever almost fallen asleep reading a book. Gallant is the first to ever do this to me.
Just why.
Why did it take until the 60% mark for the villain to appear and something to happen LIKE WHAT💀 There was so little page time of the *villain* so of course I didnt feel spooked or rather anything towards them.
This book really is the definition of pretty writing, bland story. Like sure the writing was very descriptive and fancy but??? I was bored out of mind?? I could care less about the characters, story, plot (haha what plot) and everything else. I don’t care if you have the most beautiful writing in the world. If the story doesn’t capture my attention, then I don’t like it.
I genuinely do not see the point of this book and I’ve never said this about any book before but really do not see it here.
I will say though that it was very interesting to have a main character who couldnt speak! This is my first book seeing that and it was pretty interesting. I also saw some similarities between this book and Coraline so maybe some may love that a lot.
Other than that, nothing about Gallant appealed to me. It’s considered horror but??? What horror, there was literally nothing spooky about this. Gallant felt like it was written by a completely different person but maybe it’s because of the shift in genre?? I don’t know but I literally adored Schwab’s Shades of Magic series and Addie Larue so I was really hoping to love this too. Instead, I was dying of boredom.
Nothing hurts more than having one of your most anticipated reads by your favourite author be a disappointment. This is probably a just me thing, so to anyone reading this don’t let my review deter you from reading this! i have many super unpopular opinions sooo
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