eBook Review - Gallant

This is a bit of an impulse read. I saw it on NetGalley and went "Oh, this sounds like a creepy Secret Garden" and everyone seems to love V.E. Schwab and I've only read two books of her (I still have one or two titles on my TBR so, of course, I will be reading them in the future), but I thought this might be a nice way to ease myself into her writing again as it's been a while. Plus, this had vibes of a gothic fairy tale type story, similar to her debut, The Near Witch. 

Title and Author: Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Publisher: Titan Books

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction.

Olivia Pryor is missing three things. Her mother who died when she was young, her father who she doesn't remember and her voice, which was she was never born with. But when she gets a mysterious letter from an uncle she never knew she had, begging her to come home to the estate, Gallant. 

But when she gets there, her uncle has been dead for several years and no one remembers him writing the letter. Though Olivia is allowed to stay, there are two rules: don't leave the house after dark and don't go near the wall at the end of the garden...

Ok, let me be honest: this was very meh for me. It just... well, meh. 

Maybe I had too high hopes on this. Everyone seems to love V.E. Schwab and this was sold as a gothic, whimsical fairy tale. And it has a whimsical writing-style, and it had a nice gothic feel at the start. But the gothicness I craved vanished very quickly. Plus, this is meant to be a YA/teen fairy tale with crossover appeal, but it didn't really feel very crossover. It felt more on the younger side of YA and I can't explain why I feel like that. 

I loved the writing, but at times, it did drag with the details and, though the story did move at a pace (this takes over the course of three or four nights), this felt slow. Plus, quite predictable. 

Maybe I should have enjoyed it more if I didn't have high expectations. Or maybe it I was reading this more leisurely and the world isn't... well, haven't you seen the news over the past few years (Brexit, Covid and now Russia/Ukraine) and I think this is affecting everyone's mental health of late. 

I'm not giving up with V.E. Schwab. I have The Invisible Life on Addie LaRue audiobook and I am thinking of trying this out over the course of the summer. But this, sadly, didn't work for me.