Gallant

Perhaps you are haunting me.What a comforting thought.Maybe it's you in the darkness. I swear I've seen it move.

Let me begin by breaking one of my own rules: I very rarely compare one book to another, but Gallant reminded me of the eerie, atmospheric melancholy and overwhelming familial love that Neil Gaiman brought us with The Graveyard Book, and knowing that V is a big fan of Gaiman's, I don't think they would mind me saying that any fan of The Graveyard Book NEEDS a copy of Gallant in their lives. (Except, honestly, I liked Gallant even more than TGB.) I adored the mixture of tragedy and homecoming, the helpful ghouls and sinister forces, and our lonely, lovable protagonist. Most of all, I loved the prose and how V let their poetic nature positively shine in this story. One of my copies of this book is absolutely full of page tabs to mark so many of the quotes that resonated with me.

Last night I went beyond the wall. And I met Death.

But there are lower powers, stranger ones, and there in the dark, behind the door, she prays to them.

Representation:

Content warnings

parent loss, grief, sibling loss, death, ableism

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.