Gallant

This is my first time reading one of this author's books and I think I chose very well when I decided to buy a copy of Gallant. This was a fabulous gothic-style mystery that did have similarities to another wonderful book, The Secret Garden, but Schwab does go darker.The story is of an orphan, abandoned and unwanted. Olivia doesn't speak, this means she doesn't have friends but what she does do is watch. When she is coming to the end of her time at the Merilance School for Girls a strange message arrives saying that Olivia does indeed have family and they have been searching for her.When she arrives at her home she discovers a place that has very few people there. It seems that the family and quite possibly the house is cursed. There is a wonderful eerie presence throughout this story and the author increases this as it goes on.Rather than having the warm welcome she expected, she is received with some shock and surprise. Why on earth would anyone want to come to this house. Why would they want to stay?I love the mystery in this story and it just oozes that eerie-ness and wonderful gothic thriller/ horror feel. There are many strange things that happen in this story, yes it is a fantasy but one that I adored, but then I do also like fantasy.This story may be about Olivia, but it is also about the family and what originally brought them there, and why they remain. It provides some interesting and unexpected twists.Fabulous reading, wonderful characters, and a great storyline. I really enjoyed this and I look forward to reading more. I would definitely recommend this one.

Olivia Prior is alone. Her mother died, seemingly to escape the horrifying disturbances of her mind and her father followed not long after out of grief. Olivia was sent to Merilance, a home for children and left there to fade away. She is physically alone as the other children avoid her as she is mute and behaves oddly. Olivia will not seek company because she can see ghosts who are her companions.As Olivia approaches the end of her time at Merilance, she receives a letter from an uncle, whom she never even knew existed, telling her he had been searching for her. Her uncle also said he wants her to come to live with him in the family home called Gallant. Olivia is beyond happy by this news and the possibility of a family and determinedly heads to Gallant. After she arrives at the house, Olivia learns her uncle is dead. Her cousin Matthew, a stern boy, wants her to leave but reluctantly allows her to stay. He gives her two rules: never leave the house after dusk and remain on the right side of the crumbling wall at the end of the garden surrounding Gallant.The longer Olivia stays in the mysterious house, the more she realises that its holds secrets which connect to her and her dead mother. As Olivia reads her mother's journal, she starts a journey into the past that will bring a sinister presence into her life that will lead to dangerous consequences for her, her cousin and those trying to protect them from what lies behind the walls of Gallant.🌟🌟🌟🌟 This was an eerily atmospheric and beautifully created story. The stunning artwork that accompanied the story helped portray the visuals and ideas of the plot and made you feel immersed within Gallant. Olivia and Matthew were complex and intriguing characters that were easy to connect to, and I worried for them throughout the book. The story did not quite come together as I had hoped, and the darker aspects did not fully hit the mark for me. Overall, another imaginative and unique story from VE Schwab that unfolds slowly as the Gallant decays.

Gallant by VE Schwab is another slice of an author at their peak. From the A Gathering of Magic series on, VE has become an essential author for me.She had great success in the pandemic with The Invisible Life of Addy LaRue, a standalone (for now anyway) novel spanning hundreds of years.She can seemingly turn her pen to any genre. Gallant belongs in the Gothic classic genre, with Secret Garden vibes and that darkness you'd expect with a Gothic story.Olivia is a non-verbal teenager, brought up with little knowledge of her parents, save a journal from her mother, much of it incomprehensible. She is shunned by her peers in the orphanage, but has her own rich inner life. When she is summoned to go to the family home at Gallant, she hopes to find out more about her family. From there the story takes on the character of the house of Gallant and whatever is on the other side of an ancient wall in the garden.The main selling point of Gallant is the beautiful prose. VE Schwab already excels at writing characters that feel alive, and here the descriptions of the house and the minutiae of an old building feel both alive and ancient.Another masterclass in writing from one of the star authors of our time.Check out any other VE Schwab work - there's something for everyone, from superheroes to multi-dimensional to time-spanning to ghost stories.

No sabía que la portada de enfrente estaba un poco más corta h me sorprendió en un inicio pero llegó bien sin estar maltratado ni nada

Veio antes do prazo, em perfeito estado

First of all, this book was excellent. It was beautifully written. The story feels like a classic gothic novel with an orphan, ghosts, a haunted mansion, mysterious journals, plenty of time spent in old libraries and music rooms, a melancholy garden and a creepy garden wall.But all these things are written so beautifully and vividly that I really found myself absorbed into the story, and afraid to look under my bed.The creepy aspect was perfect. Just enough to make for a great gothic story without being TOO scary that you can’t sleep (unless you can’t sleep because you’re staying up reading this!)Second. It absolutely drives me crazy when people complain that an author is “just writing this for the money”. What an absolutely idiotic take. I HOPE authors are writing for money! Making money means they get to keep writing books. And especially when a writer as diverse as V.E. Schwab tries something a little diffident for them. I love to see those things succeed so they can keep trying new things.I hate it when people read one book they love and then complain that every other book isn’t that book. (ever notice how this is mostly done to women and minority authors?)VE Schwab writes a lot of different styles and kinds of books. But their writing is so vivid and beautiful and their story telling is so captivating. That’s what makes them such a fun author to read.Anyway. This book is really good and a perfect October, creepy season, read. It is a younger YA to upper Middle Grade novel so it’s not as complex as some of their other, more adult, books.The physical book is gorgeous with beautiful illustrations that really help the story come to life. I also listened to the audio book, Narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt, which really well done. I am happy I own both.I definitely recommend this book, especially if you’re in the mood for a gothic book or as an introduction to gothic style literature.

I really love books and i read this one also with full expectations but its not upto the mark

𝔉𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔰 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔫 - 𝕽𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖜𝖘𝕽𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌: ★★★★★──────𝔖𝔭𝔬𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔯 𝔉𝔯𝔢𝔢 ℜ𝔢𝔳𝔦𝔢𝔴──────WOW. Totally a 5 stars read!To be honest, when I first started reading this book, I wasn’t expecting any of this.This was my first book written by V.E. Schwab and even though I was expecting to enjoy it, I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did.For some reason, I never felt the urge to buy a book by this author, maybe because I always have this bad feeling when everyone loves too much a certain author... because I'm always expecting to be disappointed. BUT, that's actually a good thing, you know? If you already think you're going to be disappointed with something, the disappointment will never come in the way you were expecting it to come.Everything about this book was just amazing. The way the story was “told”, the characters, the vibes…A dark, mysterious fantasy, really easy to read and to love if you enjoy ghosts/ghouls.I'm going to tell you what this book is about as well as I can without giving you spoilers since this is a spoiler free review, so bare with me.This book is about a girl, named Olivia, who doesn't have parents and lives in a kind of orphanage. Her life is not good because, as you can imagine, not having parents and leaving in a School for Girls who don't have families is not the dream of any young adult girl. All her life, the only thing she had that kept her connected to her mom were some "letters" written by her. Olivia never understood what these letters were about or for whom they were written, but she knew that they were her mother's, so she couldn't lose them. One day, Olivia is minding her own business when she's called to go to the director's office, and there she is told that they received a letter from someone from her family and since life isn't looking bright for her anyway she should just read the letter and follow what the words said, that was "going to Gallant", her families house.It's really hard to give you a synopsis of this book from the point of view of someone who read it without giving you any spoilers, so I'll stop right here.What I think you must know: this is indeed a fantasy book, I don't consider it horror because from my point of view this is not scary even though some parts are a tiny bit dark. I don't think it is a children's book (IT'S NOT AT ALL) but the type of writing is pretty simple, the book is really easy to read, and the plot is fast-paced.There are images/drawings in the book, at least in this version, and they are totally amazing and important for the context of the story, just as Olivia's mom letters are.Totally one of those books that you’ll find yourself reading in just one sitting and loving every second of it, always wanting to know more and more.100% recommend this book. I could write about it all day to be honest.