An Enchantment of Ravens
Ratings109
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings109
Average rating3.5
Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel's paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron--Rook, the autumn prince--she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes--a weakness that could cost him his life. Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt's ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love--and that love violates the fair folks' ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.
Reviews with the most likes.
i don't know why, but this was giving me the vibes of a regency romance meets lord of the rings and i absolutely LOVED IT
first of all? the main character? once again, chef's kiss. isobel is smart, calculated, and stubborn and we loved to see every trait of that throughout the story
the plot twist? fire. i didn't see it coming (though i should have in retrospect)
ugh. the exploration of the immense power of human emotion and creativity. that was incredible to witness on both the human and fair folk side. as book lovers, i'm sure we can all cringe at the idea of not ever being able to read again, even if it meant living forever. why live forever if you can't read every book in existence?
it got a little silly goofy ok let's stop wasting ink and trees y'all at some points but otherwise, had a smashingly good time
It grieves me that I couldn't give this a higher personal rating. I loved the beginning – it started out so strongly and interestingly, but then devolved into Yet Another Typical Tale where a very talented, very smart young woman becomes achingly boring after falling in love almost instantly with (who else) a prince. The ending was also quite rushed, I feel, and ... well, apart from the first ~20% of the book, the story was sadly disappointing.
This book was entertaining but I had a few issues with it. Rogerson seems to be making up her own rules of Faerie instead of sticking with what's pretty well established. For one, you should never thank fae or apologize as they're empty words and can be twisted - the characters in this book say ‘thank you' or ‘sorry' constantly, even the fae. Also the obligatory curtseying by the faeries and the fact that they couldn't create a single thing, even holding a hunk of meat on a stick over fire, or they would DIE was weird and new. However, the lack of true emotion and glamour was more “accurate”. It's hard to argue about what should and shouldn't be done in an imaginary world but to completely go off the path from what's an established baseline was hard for someone who reads so many books based in or on Faerie. Besides that, the obvious and predictable romance following the fish out of water and forbidden love tropes to a tee are a little old. Overall, it was an easy, diverting read.
I read Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson and it was WAY better. This is her debut novel so I guess this explain that. But you can already discover how she has the capacity to reinvent the classical magical worlds and rules . Really inventive but it felt quite long and a bit underwhelming.
