Why do we desire, above all other things, that which has the greatest power to destroy us?
I had been worried for An Enchantment of Ravens because it sounded a lot like A Court of Thorns and Roses. The fact that I kept seeing mixed reviews on it didn’t help at all. But in the end I read it and found it very much a copy and disappointing.
Book Review: An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Rating:
Title & Author: An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Release date: September 26 2017
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Synopsis
A skilled painter must stand up to the ancient power of the faerie courts—even as she falls in love with a faerie prince—in this gorgeous debut novel.
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.
I give An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson three out of five hearts because I found it was not very original and this kept bothering me. The story is enjoyable, but not very original.
Isobel felt to me like a one on one copy of Feyre from A Court of Thorns and Roses. An unwilling victim of the faeries. Another girl who is perfect at this one thing the faeries want. The only difference here is that here the faeries live already with the humans.
Rook is the mysterious fae, angry with Isobel because she has painted a human emotion on his portrait and with it humiliated him. He takes her to the fairy lands to stand trail. We don’t learn much about why there is sorrow in his eyes except for that he has fallen in love with a human before and now he does it again.
It felt a bit like Margaret desperately searched for a reason why these two should go on a road trip together and came of with this one. I wondered a lot why Rook hadn’t send some servant to collect Isobel. Except maybe because she wanted to force a romance between the two. Its a very predictable romance. It was beautifully written but had nothing more than the romance in it.
Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.
For now, let books enrich your life!