Reviewing An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

“Why do we desire, above all other things, that which has the greatest power to destroy us?”

Woohoooooooo I have officially found a book that got me back into the YA world (disconnected for about a few weeks, given the scheduled posts that you’ve been seeing (actually this is scheduled too :3 buttt at least this book actually came about by one of my passions and not just another rant review although this might turn out to be a fangirl rant review)) Also I am officially awesome at making run-on sentences haha.

Like Wintersong, An Enchantment of Ravens was another book set in the mortal/faerie world, and it was so amazing that it completely sucked me into its world. I couldn’t put it down after the book was officially underway~

*This review may actually contain spoilers~ (I say actually because the reviews written prior to this, besides one or two didn’t actually contain any spoilers)

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Title: An Enchantment of Ravens
Author: Margaret Rogerson
Series: None
Rating: ★★ (2.5 stars)
Re-readability: –

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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.

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Thoughts:

First of all: PRETTY cover. Here’s the complete source image for the cover~ SO SO PRETTY and the contrast is unbelievable. Artist signature is in the bottom left corner in case you guys didn’t notice~

Okay now going into the book!

An Enchantment of Ravens was a little similar to Wintersong in that the female lead is also extremely skilled in one particular area and tends to focus all of her attention on it. It just so happens that I really love it when authors describe something that seems “useless” in current society as something beautiful, and something that really can make a difference, despite what most people think. I feel that a lot of people nowadays place a high emphasis on STEM and while that’s important, there are other focuses in life too besides just innovation- and it might even be wrong to completely separate art and science, but anyways I think you get the point. SO long story short, I loved that part of the book lol.

“When the world failed me, I could always lose myself in my work.”

“The day stretched on. Each portrait was a single stepping-stone, the sum of which would form a path home. I lost count of how many portraits I did, marking them only by the emotions I used: curiosity, surprise, amusement, bliss. The pigments dwindled in their teacups.”

Besides the artsy side of things, the novel was also pretty funny to me. Okay, it wasn’t an outright comedy but the arrogance of the fair folk as well as our female lead’s sarcasm just makes for some snort-worthy moments. The male lead Rook was amazing!!! And so was Gatfly (I spelled that without consultation SOOO don’t bash me if it’s wrong).

Just the way the book was written created a completely different world and allowed the reader to dwell inside of it. After I finished reading the book, it felt like I snapped back into reality because I was so engrossed with the book that I just got lost inside of it. That was an amazing feeling that I seriously can’t believe I’ve only just experienced with this book.

“I wondered if my head and heart would ever reconcile, or whether I’d just cursed myself to relive this moment for the rest of my years, half assured I’d made the only choice available to me, half always whispering if only, the whole of me filled with bitter regret.”

But while the book was super great, here are some of the things that DID NOT BLOW ME AWAY.

First: Rook kidnaps Isobel (the female lead) because she apparently drew a portrait to intentionally sabotage him AND he’s mad because he unveiled in court in front of all the fae.

WELL. That is so unreasonable. WHY WOULD YOU LITERALLY UNVEIL A PAINTING IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE WORLD BEFORE LOOKING AT IT FIRST? And then get mad at someone else for apparently intentionally ruining your reputation? From how I see it, it was Rook’s fault for even showing it without unveiling it. And, I did not understand anything about why Rook was bringing Isobel to the faery world besides the fact that Isobel had to go to a trial of some sort 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 Still don’t see how a trial can automatically fix your reputation 100%, but okay. Also, WHAT VIBES did you get from Isobel from all the days that you met with her that would even make you think she would sabotage you? I might be someone who tends to think the best of people, but I don’t really think that’s reasonable, unless you have a justifiable excuse for why you’re thinking badly of someone, especially when that person didn’t treat you badly. Like COME ON dude.

Second of all, (I guess something that I’m always complaining about) apparently it doesn’t take much to make people want to kiss, even when apparently the female lead doesn’t even like the male lead until after the kiss? Seriously do not understand hoomans even though I may be one myself.

I was looking at some reviews, and they were saying they didn’t understand why Isobel even fell in love with Rook after such a short period of time- I mean, I don’t think she fell in love with him “in 5 minutes”. It was more of like, Rook left a very favorable impression on her ever since the first time they met, and her feelings about him continued to deepen over time. I don’t think she fell in love with him at first sight; I think she just liked him at first encounter, and from then on, proceeded to describe Rook extremely positively. It wasn’t really that big of a deal for me.

Overall, I feel like fae are really immature despite their age. You would think people who are super old would actually learn something, but apparently they’re just as young as a teenager. I had this issue with the “celestials” in Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Thousand Miles of Peach Blossoms too because literally Xuan Nu tricks Bai Qian (or whatever her name is in that particular lifetime) into giving Xuan Nu her face. WELL WHY DID IT TAKE YOU LIKE TEN THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE YOU REALIZED XUAN NU WAS NOT A TRUE FRIEND. Seriously. I feel like unless someone actually looks old, they aren’t actually old, because these types of novels and dramas tend to immortalize these people, until even parts of their personalities stay immature. I guess that’s part of what people want when they say they want to stay eighteen forever, but still, I would rather be aware of the world around me than be immature like that for my entire life, even if I could live forever.

Final Thoughts:

In general, after the book was underway, I got extremely hooked- as in literally couldn’t stop reading and thought I was living in that world (might be a slight exaggeration but y’know). I definitely did like the ride that the book brought me on, but some of the initial parts before the ride and maybe a few events on the journey were a little like “wut” or like “why”.

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Recommendations!

This is a column that I have severely neglected in my past two posts lol. OOPS.

• Wintersong by S. Jae Jones
  • Actually read this book, and feel like it’s a little similar to An Enchantment of Ravens, especially how the female leads both have something art-based that they lean back on and love. The prose when describing art (in An Enchantment) and music (in Wintersong) is just wonderful to me, given that I’m more of a music/art person lol.
• C-Drama Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Thousand Miles of Peach Blossoms
  • Just because it was mentioned in the post and you might like it if you liked this
• A Crown of Thorns and Roses by Sarah Maas
  • Was browsing on Goodreads and it seems to be another book people really liked if they liked this book.

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See you next Thursday again~ 🙂

I will feature more comments again so KEEP THOSE BABIES COMING LOL.