Notes from the Shelf

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Gallant by V.E. Schwab is a 338-page YA horror novel. Olivia Prior grew up in Merilance School for girls as an orphan. All she has left of her past is her mother’s journal, which seems to unravel into madness. Then Olivia receives a letter inviting her to come to Gallant, her home. However, when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her and it doesn’t seem like she’s quite wanted there. Olivia isn’t going to leave the first place that feels like an actual home though, no matter her cousin Matthew’s hostility or if she sees ghosts in the hallways.

Olivia knows Gallant is hiding secrets and she’s determined to find answers. When she crosses over a ruined wall at just the right time, she finds herself in a place that is Gallant but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over them all. Now Olivia knows what has unraveled generations of her family and where her father may have come from. She has always wanted to belong, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting the world against the Master of the House, or will she take her place beside him?

This book was deliciously creepy; V.E. Schwab’s writing leaves you unsettled in the best way possible. It was much scarier than I was expecting from a YA book. Olivia finds herself having to defeat the God of Death basically, an entity that kills whatever it touches, and prevent him from reaching our world. It reminded me a little bit of Stranger Things, where there is a world like ours but somehow off. The world Olivia unwittingly enters has nothing but decay and ghouls and a monster ruling it all, who would love to enter the real world and devour it as well.

I give Gallant 5 stars.

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