"Sometimes, if you want to save other people, you need to remember to save yourself first."

An autistic nun gets possessed by a revenant. THIS IS WHY I READ. Who comes up with this stuff? I didn't know I needed this book until I read the first chapter. As a person who struggles with neurodivergence I so rarely relate to a character SO HARD.

I think Margaret Rogerson handled the representation of neurodivergence SO WELL. And not in a "I am a white woman who stands on a soap box for things I don't understand" way, but a very careful, plot driven, intentional way that not only doesn't glorify the condition, but increases the reader's understanding of it, while making it wholly central to the plot and character development. It's not representation for representations sake.

Now onto plot. I was enthralled from the very first chapter. While the galley was one of the worst in terms of formatting I've received so close to a release date, it didn't distract me much (which is saying something because I usually cannot handle a ton of formatting errors and still maintain focus on the story.) The story was just that good. I was team Artemisia from the beginning, there was no question I HAD to stay to see what happened to her. To me that's the most important quality of a five-star read - do I care what will happen to the protagonist? Yes yes YES. I will be begging the publisher for the galley of book 2 as SOON as it is available because I'm so invested in this story.

My rating system:
1 star: DNF - VERY RARE that my brain allows me not to finish, I have to truly not give a crap or the book has to be so problematic that I think it shouldn't even be published.
2 stars: Did not enjoy but forced myself through
3 stars: probably a good book but not for me, will not read the sequel
4 stars: I enjoyed it, I'd read the sequel
5 stars: I loved it, I'm preordering the next one.
6 stars: I must own a hardcover preferably special edition, I've begged the publisher for a galley of the next one, I will be harassing everyone I know to also read it.

This book is a firm 6 stars!!!

* I received a copy of Vespertine from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. *

Vespertine was a good read! Anyone that enjoys intricate world-building with great character development and beautifully crafted action scenes would enjoy this book. This is a wonderful fall read with spooky, dark vibes.
The things that stopped me from fully enjoying this book was that it was a little slow-paced and there was no romance. But the dynamic of the friendship between Artemisia and the revenant really made up for there being no romance. All of their witty, sarcastic banter was so relatable and I couldn't help but laugh and enjoy the story!

Triggers: anxiety, self harm, a “minor” depiction of disorder eating (author’s own words), flashbacks of neglect/abuse, trauma/ PTSD.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

If this was the first book I ever picked up by this author I’d never give her another chance. As it is, I’m not sure I’ll read anything else by her and I throughly enjoyed her other books.

This follows artemisia, who lives in a convent that teaches the girls how to wield magic in protection against spirits. One day her convent is attacked by some possessed soldiers and she becomes the keeper of this old relic- and is possessed herself. All of this sounds like the making of a good story right? Ehh…

So here’s the thing, Robson is known for her atmospheric books but this just did not pull through. The only atmosphere that I felt in this whole mess was boredom. I didn’t care about the mystery of the Old Magic, nor about the mystery of who the fucking demon was that possessed her. I mean, girl gets possessed as a baby and burns herself and even then it’s not an interesting story.

It picked up at about the 80% mark but that’s way to long for this story. The ending was fine, if slightly anticlimactic but overall fine.

Initial Thoughts
I was super excited to read this book. I loved Sorcery of Thorns and couldn’t wait to read Margaret Rogerson’s next book.

Some Things I Liked
Venom vibes. I loved the way Artemisia and The Revenant spoke to each other. They reminded me so much of Eddie and Venom from the Venom franchise. Artemisia kept her relic’s murderous urges at bay and The Revenant grew fond of her in return.
World building. I am obsessed with this world. Loved every page of it. It’s so interesting and I would absolutely love more set here. There was a lot left up to the imagination or that was just hinted at and I think so much of that could make sequels and spin off stories that I’d love to read.
No romance. Weird that I liked this. But, hear me out. I think it was fitting that there was no romance. Artemisia and The Revenant were the main characters and romance between them was simply not possible. I respect the way the author kept romance out of this plot.

One Thing I Wasn’t Crazy About
The ending was a little rushed for me. I felt like the last 25% lacked the conversations between Artemisia and the Revenant and I missed those. There was a big build up to a bit of a fast ending.

Series Value
I’d love to see more books set in this series. My romance-loving heart really wanted to see something between some of these characters so I’d love to see some romance develop in a sequel. Also, I am super into this world. I’d love to see more of Artemisia’s adventures tracking down the other errant relics.

Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book. This is my favorite Margaret Rogerson book yet despite the fact that it didn’t have romance. I really hope we get more books set in this world.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely adored this book. It had a bit of a slow beginning for me, but I devoured the last half. Vespertine has most of my favorite elements in a story:

✅ a fierce, believable, complicated heroine forced to battle both her inner and outer demons
✅ fantastic chemistry and friendships between characters
✅ deep, nuanced world-building
✅ solid writing
✅ enemies to friends tropes

Artemisia is not your average MC. She is stoic, anxious, and tries to avoid people at all cost. There is quite a bit of emotional distance between her and everything that’s happening in the book because of her personality. As such, this book reads in a more detached manner than what I would normally choose. That being said, once I learned more of Artemisia’s backstory and why she is the way she is, I was emotionally hooked and ended up loving it.

Rogerson’s a wonderful writer. For a pretty dark, violent book, there were plenty of places where I laughed out loud while reading it. The conversations and dialogue between Artemisia and the revenant were some of my favorite parts of the book.

The ending has unexpected twists and turns that I really did not see coming. I am very excited for the sequel, and can’t wait to see where Rogerson takes us next.

First off can we just stop and appreciate this cover for a minute?? If I hadn’t already read the book, I’d be getting a copy of it based on the cover alone. The detail in the cover really represents our MC and I look at it with a new appreciation having finished it.

This is actually my first time reading a book by Margaret Rogerson and I’m not disappointed! The concept of the book was super interesting, I mean come on… a nun whose entire job is to rid evil spirits must team up with an evil spirit?? I was a bit nervous going in that I wasn’t going to care for the spirit aspect but I actually really enjoyed it. In the back of the book, there’s a diagram that helps keep all the spirits straight (although I wish I would have seen that before I was 3/4 of the way through the book). This is a high fantasy so some aspects can be a bit confusing, there are still a few parts that I’m confused about but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment.

As I said, it’s a high fantasy so there are many different spirits, saints, and other world-building aspects that brought the story alive. I’m a sucker for books that resemble the middle ages and include old magic. I appreciated how the information about the world was unfolded through conversations our MC was having instead of information dumping, it really helped with the flow and felt natural. I never felt like the story was slow. While there were slower moments as in all books, it all meshed with the story. I never fell into a slump while reading this as I have with other high fantasies, I was so intrigued I wanted to keep reading.

Let’s take a look at our MC Artemisia. I love her. That’s all. Just kidding, but really I did love her. She was a strong heroine who’s been through the wringer. She has a bunch of childhood trauma, that I’m not going into because I don’t wanna spoil anything, but it helped create the unique voice she had in the story. She wasn’t like the other characters but it wasn’t in an “I’m not like other girls” manner, it was more of a “this shit happened to me and now I act and think differently than others because of it.” Artemisia struggles with social anxiety as well as being an introvert so I feel like many readers will be able to relate to her struggle. While she does have her struggles, her compassion for others is a big motivator for her which I think helps make her a compelling heroine.

The other character who I loved is our lovely spirit, Revenant. Listen, homie is funny. The constant bickering back and forth with Artemisia was really amusing and I loved watching their relationship grow. You could see the inner battle the Revenant was going through even though we could only hear his thoughts through Artemisia which I think shows what a great job Rogerson did when writing their character. I found myself wanting to know more about Revenant and I can’t wait to see more of it in future books.

Let’s talk romance. Now I’m all for a character falling in lover with a dark form or spirit (cue me thinking of Addie LaRue and how I wanted them to be end game) and I really thought that’s what we were going to get with the Revenant and Artemisia but that’s not what happened. There is no romance in this book which I really liked. I feel like YA books are constantly throwing in romance but that wasn’t the focus of this book. I don’t even think Artemisia mentioned anyone being attractive. It was a nice change of pace from other YA fantasies.

I was really enthralled with this story and I can’t wait to see what happens next for Artemisia and the Revenant. While this is going to be a series, Vespertine can be read as a standalone as there is no cliffhanger and the story wraps up nicely by itself. I gave this a solid 4 out of 5 stars and I’d definitely recommend it to someone looking for a YA high fantasy that enjoys paranormal aspects

So I got 38% through this book and decided to DNF it. I am so disappointed by this since I was really looking forward to it but it was all over the place and really confusing. Even to give an idea of what this was about (after reading 38% I am looking at the book description on Goodreads because I really can't tell you much. Based on the description this was supposed to be about a nun living in a world were spirits rise from the dead and the level of spirit depends on how the person died. The nun, Artemisia, becomes bonded to a spirit (possessed) during an attack and with the spirits help tried to help people from a large increase in spirits.

I have enjoyed Margaret Rogerson's pervious works and what I have always wants more of was her world building. She has previously written stand alone fantasies which often have less time for world building and detailed explanations of the magic systems. Vespertine is the first in a series so I thought she would really excel at having more time for world building and that it would be super unique. However, we are just dropped in this world expected to understand/just except it. There are small explanations at the beginning but nothing beyond that. I don't know why some people have "the sight" (ability to see spirits), why the nuns are in charge of it, what the "Sorrow" (some historic event) that kept getting referred to was, how relics (what hold spirits) work. Artemisia would do something with the relic and we were just expected to have some understanding of what was happening. Like she would use the magic and then the relic would start burning and we were just supposed to be like "ya relics burn when they are used too much" even though that is never mentioned previously. It felt like the magic system and world was being developed as the author was writing instead of planned out before hand.

Then the plot. I honestly didn't know what the main character was trying to do after the first battle. Like does she want to stay bonded with this spirit or not, does she want to save people or not, where is she going, what are her goals. At nearly 40% through the book I should have some concepts as to what the central plot is but I really didn't. The writing felt all over the place with very little focus on where it was trying to guide the reader. There were 3 fighting scenes that I read and non of them felt clear enough for a picture in my head. I know fighting scenes can be some of the most difficult to write (from what I personally have read) and it seemed like a big stuggle for the author here. I didn't know who was on who's side, I couldn't picture the location or who was winning. It was very confusing.

Maybe if I hear an overwhelming love for the story I will try it again but for right now it is a DNF. I won't continue with this series but I would still like to try something new from the author as I have enjoyed pervious books, I just don't think this story worked.

Thanks to NetGalley & Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Artemisia is training to be a nun that sort of purifies recently deceased souls and she's pretty happy with her life until the Revenant (akin to a demon) creature comes into contact. They're stuck together and Artemisia embarks on a chaotic journey that will change her world forever.

The dialogue between Artemisia and Venom---I mean, the Revenant are my favorite bits. I actually wish there was more of it rather than the world-building which is weird to say...but the world building got kind of slow at some points for me. I do like it, don't get me wrong, but I just wanted more of the Revenant-specific world building, ha.

Still, Margaret Rogerson knows what she's doing with these imaginative and adventuresome fantasy books and she doesn't disappoint.

As a fan of Margaret Rogerson, I was extremely excited to receive this copy early on Netgalley! I'm happy to report that I loved her latest book just as much as her other works.

Why you should read: "Vespertine" puts a new and unique spin on necromancy and those who care for the dead. This world is full of ghostly magic, complex characters, and a thrilling adventure you'll be dying to turn the page for--no pun intended! The heroine is relatable and powerful, and her character journey is a wonderful one to follow. The spirits themselves are incredibly detailed and unique, and I truly enjoyed learning about each new ghost introduced.

Filled with friendship, twists, and a touch of humor, "Vespertine" is a great read to add to your TBR.

Vespertine begins with fast paced action and spirits. I was immediately drawn to Artemisia. To the ways we know she is different, has a haunted past, but we aren't sure what it is. All the ways she's always been taught that she's alone. Without allies and friends, how can Artemisia handle the revenant, the history she doesn't know, or a hidden evil? While there's plenty of action to become immersed in, what I ended up loving the most were the characters.

Artemisia may have hit a bit too close to home. With the weight of the wold on her shoulders, she is alone and unsure to whom she can turn. Her past haunts her, sets her apart from others, and she slowly reveals her past to us. But what I loved was watching her unlikely alliance with the revenant. If they can find a way to draw a temporary truce to try to find, and destroy, this hidden evil. Don't even get me started on how much I love this spirit - how wry, sarcastic, and witty they are.

Happy Sunday y’all! I hope everyone’s been having a good weekend so far. Mine has been great because I spent a good amount of time yesterday reading an incredible book- which y’all are about to hear all about because today’s my stop on the Vespertine tour by Turn the Page tours! Thank you so much to Turn the Page tours for having me as a part of this tour and thank you so much to Margaret K. McElderry Books for sponsoring this tour and sending me an eARC and a beautiful finished copy early! Also, along with this great blog tour, up for grabs is two (2) copies of VESPERTINE by Margaret Rogerson, one a physical finished copy and one a digital copy. Open USA only. This giveaway is open through October 9th, so make sure you enter it ASAP!

Vespertine 5/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sorcery of Thorns and An Enchantment of Ravens comes a thrilling new YA fantasy about a teen girl with mythic abilities who must defend her world against restless spirits of the dead.

The dead of Loraille do not rest.

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.

When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.

As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.

Oh wow y’all. I’ve read all of Margaret Rogerson’s books and they’ve all been good, but man something about Vespertine is so much better than the others. Her writing style was always good, but it just stepped up in Vespertine. The whole concept around the dead of Loraille coming back as ghosts and there being different classes of ghosts depending on how they died and each one being able to do different things and people being able to take control of them by trapping them in relics was so cool. I loved Artemisia as a main character and I loved the connection she had with her revenant. I also thought it was so interesting that she had been possessed from infancy until the age of 10- I would have loved to learn more about that and how they figured it out, but the small glimpses we got of it were really great. I even really liked Marguerite! Such a great secondary character who was so much more than she appeared to be at the beginning. Pacing and plot wise, I loved everything about it- I was always so engrossed in everything and never bored. When I got to the epilogue, I was like wait it’s done? How??? Not because I had questions or the story felt incomplete, but because I wanted to read more stories in this world! I highly recommend Vespertine to everyone! Vespertine comes out on October 5th, so make sure y’all run and grab it! Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound

A novice learning how to clean the dead so their souls can pass on and not come back hungry for the living. But when a bunch of dead soldiers attack her Abby the novice defends it by awakening a revenant. However, with no Vespertines left to teach her how to control the revenant, she must go it alone and do what she thinks will work. But soon they find there is more to play than just a bunch of loose spirits and must work together to fix it.

This book has a lot of action and so many twists and turns that you will feel shaken not stirred. This a great book for this time of year. Some spooky but not to much, I really enjoyed this book a lot and hope to see more of this duo in the future.

This review will appear on my blog on October 5th.

i was really looking forward to this one. unfortunately, this wasnt quite was i was hoping for.

the best way to sum up my thoughts is i just wasnt feeling it overall, the world-building is a bit too big for itself and the writing is repetitious and almost aimless at times. meaning, theres action but i was often questioning what the point of that action was, which lead me to feel disconnected from the story/content. it picks up towards the end though/

but the story is very joan of arc meets ‘wicked saints,’ so i have no doubt most readers will really enjoy the unique world and magic. i also think its worth mentioning that there is no romance, which is very uncommon for YA fantasy but it totally makes sense regarding the plot. theres a lot going on in the MCs life, so including a love interest would be too much. so readers who prefer their fantasy stories to not include romance will enjoy this rarity.

all in all, im sad this didnt work for me personally, but theres a lot of material here that i think will please the vast majority of readers.

Thank you again to @siminteen for an eARC of this book! I was dying to get this book, when I got a last minute ARC I nearly passed out with excitement!

That being said, I think this book suffered a bit from my own expectations. I really enjoyed the MC Artemesia, I enjoyed her Revenant which is like Venom but snarkier.

The action at the beginning of this book is one of the best openings I’ve read in a fantasy book like this. It was spectacular! The first third of this book is absolutely perfect. Then it kind of drags and meanders for a while. The ending is also pretty great. It’s this middle area that I lost interest.

I read on Goodreads that Margaret was making heavy edits for the final version so I will likely buy the finished book to see if some of this is resolved.

Overall, this is a more than solid YA fantasy with a great concept, I’m just hoping for the edited version to work out the pacing.

Loved this unique world and magic system! I was a little bummed there was no romance, as that's my typical book type, HOWEVER, I don't think it would have fit in this book anyways. The characters were really well developed and I really enjoyed how all of them were portrayed. The world building was a bit info dump-y at times, but overall was really strong and didn't leave me with very many questions about the setting. If you're looking for a good adventure/mystery story, this one is definitely for you!

I love Margaret Rogerson books and this one continues to live up to the expectations I have developed for her books. Artemisia is a nun who prefers the company of the dead to that of the living, and when her convent is attacked, she bonds with the spirit of a relic to save it. This leads her on a winding adventure to protect and understand those around her. It gives me massive Joan of Arc vibes that I really loved to read. The main character is engaging, and the spirit she is bonded to is the perfect level of sassy that I needed from the character. I delighted in the fact that there was no forced romance for Artemisia, keeping true to the fact that she is a nun.
And, honestly, I got to the end of the book and instantly wanted a sequel!

Actual rating: 4.5

As a big fan of Margaret Rogerson's other books, this was a highly anticipated read for me, and it didn't disappoint! It's an extremely strong start to her first series, and the dark and creepy vibes are perfect for an October release.

Let's get something out the way real quick: there's no romance in this book. I know that's often expected for YA, so just wanted to get that out there. I personally don't need romance in every book I read, so it didn't effect my experience at all, but since her other books do have romance, I wanted to clarify.

Onto what I thought of the book: I loved it. Religious-based world building isn't my favorite, but I was sucked into this book immediately. Can I formally announce that the revenant is my favorite character of this entire book? Because I didn't expect to genuinely like the super old spirit that threatens to possess our main character. But the banter and the character development made it an instant favorite.

As a whole, the characters and the plot were developed really well. Even though this is the beginning of a series, the main conflict is resolved in the book so it's not a nagging cliffhanger. Margaret's writing is always fantastic and I can't wait for the next book!

Trigger warnings *provided by the author
Self-harm, anxiety, disordered eating (minor), child neglect/abuse (past), trauma/PTSD (traumatic experiences in past). None of the abuse or trauma is sexual in nature. Very brief suicide mention in the epilogue, concerning a character from the past who never appears in the book.

Vespertine is a powerfully atmospheric book that plunges you right into the story from the start!

Rogerson compels you with her phenomenal world building, vivid language, and incredible storytelling. I felt as if I was there alongside Artemisia as she took on shades and other ghostly entities in the gray and gloomy kingdom of Loraille.

Artemisia isn’t your normal female heroine. She’s complex and smart, while also living through PTSD and severe social anxiety. She has scars that cover and cripple her hands, and a severe face that doesn’t relay her emotions and intentions accurately to those around her. She finds herself thrown from the path she had chosen and wanted for herself, but forges ahead on this new path regardless. She is stubborn and can’t stand to be idle, she doesn’t quite take care of herself or her body as one should (she is constantly pushing her body’s limits), but she always does her best to do what’s right for those around her. Her thinking and her faith are progressive and open minded- and I absolutely loved her character.

Rogerson has unparalleled character development in her characters. And it wasn’t just Artemisia. The revenant, Leander, Marguerite, Charles, Jean, the other nuns and abbesses- I adored so many of them. I connected with them in a way I didn’t expect to, even though they didn’t have as much face time in the story as the main cast of characters.

The relationship between characters was exquisite, and especially the relationship between Artemisia and the revenant.

Vespertine features a unique and thorough ghostly caste system, as well as a detailed faith system. Artemisia is a Joan of Arc type heroine that I LOVED.

After finishing Vespertine, my first ever book by Rogerson, I am immediately reading her other works and adding her to my auto-buy authors list. I cannot wait for the next book in the Vespertine series, and I am recommending this book to all the fantasy and paranormal readers!

I enjoyed this book so much! There was so much action and intrigue. It was so unique in it's world building and characters! I recommend it to everyone!

"They weren't bad people, just people who had been through too much."

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Content warnings: parental neglect, self-harm, suicide mention?, bullying, fire/burns/body gore, blood, death

Thank you to NetGalley and Margaret K. Elderry Books for both a physical copy and e-book for this a review spot on this book tour! All contents in this review are my honest opinion/thoughts.

Vespertine follows Artemisia, one of many girls with the Sight who are taken as children to be raised in a convent and trained to become Gray Sisters. This means they have the ability to see spirits and the ability to defend others from them, but are also the most likely to be possessed.

Artemisia's plans, which involve staying entirely to herself and essentially working at a medieval morgue for the rest of her days, are abruptly torn to pieces when her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers and she ends up bound to an ancient and powerful spirit called a revenant. Will the revenant overpower and possess her or will she manage to wield its power to save her nation?

I have never read a book by Margaret Rogerson before, and this was an impulse tour request based on the hauntingly beautiful cover and intriguing synopsis. I imagined this would be a three-star read for the first part of the book, as the main character felt unrelatable and my intrigue to continue was low, but BOY WAS I WRONG.

By the end of this book, I cared about not only Artemisia, but every human and soul she encountered on her journey. All of these characters were so morally grey that you're constantly left wondering who to like or trust or hate, and I couldn't put this book down after the halfway mark.

I have a wild theory as to more of the plot that seemed to be left purposely unrevealed in case there's a sequel, and I still stand by hoping I'm correct about someone's hidden identity if I didn't misread, but even if it is a standalone novel, it was still a wild ride!

Rogerson's writing is nothing short of magical, and I eagerly await getting my hands on her two already published books after this. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys spooky young adult fantasy and morally grey characters!