An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Blurb:
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.
My Review:
Isobel is the most sought after portrait artist in all of Whimsy and the faerie courts. When she lands her most important client to date, the Autumn Prince she sees a side of him that shouldn't be there, human emotion lurking in his eyes. Rook is unlike any other fair one she's ever worked with before but when she accidentally paints sorrow in his eyes in his portrait it puts them both in danger.
Whisked away to the faerie lands to stand trial Isobel enters a world she never imagined she'd see, but there's a wrongness to the faerie lands, the world and its' inhabitants are becoming corrupt and rotting. Isobel and Rook must work together to save themselves from the Alder King, the Wild Hunt, and the punishment for breaking the Great Law.
This book was amazing and definitely worth the wait. I was hooked immediately because even though I've read other books about faeries and humans the plot was uniquely different. I liked how Isobel could see through the glamours the faeries put around themselves and the descriptions of their true selves reminded me of goblins almost; grotesque and rotting. But after how long they've lived why wouldn't they be rotting.
The world building in An Enchantment of Ravens is fantastic, I could see everything so well like I was part of the story. I loved the characters, especially Gadfly and Lark, and liked the spin on the Green Well and how if Isobel chose to become fae she would lose her ability to paint, or create Craft as the fae called it. While other books show the glamorous sides of becoming the mythical fae, An Enchantment of Ravens showed that not everyone wants to be fae and that things aren't always greener on the other side.
Fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Cruel Prince will enjoy this book, although if I'm being truly honest I loved this book more than either. Overall, I highly recommend this book and I'll definitely reread it again and again.
My Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 of 5 Stars!
