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4/5
“When people see tears, they stop listening to your hands or your words or anything else you have to say. And it doesn’t matter if the tears are angry or sad, frightened or frustrated. All they see is a girl crying.”
Gallant follows mute orphan Olivia Prior who has spent all of her life at Merilance School of Girls. One day she receives a mysterious letter from a long lost relative who invites her to live with them at Gallant; a sinister stately manor.
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Gallant is a spooky stand alone that manages to offer the creepy nostalgia of classic gothic literature. If nothing else, Schwab is a poet and it is the use of language that makes this novel prosper.
The story is an intriguing one and with outcasts, found family and a parallel world, Schwab demonstrates how to fill a story with popular tropes in the most natural of ways.
In regards to characters, Olivia is the perfect lead for such a story and has the morbid curiosity and fearlessness that disappears with age.
It is also interesting to read from the point of view of someone who cannot speak and must find other ways to communicate. Her point of view builds the world around you in ways you don’t usually see in novels.
The side characters are sweet additions and the villain is a menacing vision straight out of a child’s nightmare.
Gallant is an atmospheric stand alone that supports the theory that Schwab is one of the decades most talented writers.
The novel is sensory overload in the most fantastic way; you can feel the fear, taste the uncertainty and sense the ominous foreshadowing.
👻For fans of City of Ghosts and The Ravens👻
Emily xo
Emily Vierke 