This week has been hectic, but I finally got around writing this review. As much as I love an Enchantment of Ravens, Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson is hands down her best work so far.

The story and the characters are unique in many ways. This is a fast paced adventure and relatively dark fantasy. The world building is very well thought out. I’ve enjoyed every single page of this book.

What I love:
🍂 unique relationship between the main characters
🍂 well crafted world building
🍂easy to read
🍂not being able to put down the book
🍂 high stakes with unlikely heroes

Would I recommend? Absolutely, Yes! I highly recommend it.
Anything I would change? Not one bit.


I read in the acknowledgment that the author felt that this book has been hard to write. Honestly, I applaud her perseverance and hard work. It was a seamless read and riveting story!

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this incredible arc!

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson (which comes out Oct. 5th) is a very dark and creepy read. This story moves along slowly but I found that it's slow pace really amplified the strangeness of the book. It really worked for me.

This story centers around Artemisia who is a nun in a secluded convent where her main purpose is to tend to the dead with other nuns. She has an upsetting history of trauma during her childhood when she was possessed by an Ashgrim spirit. She is moving on everyday although she isn't exactly happy in my opinion. However, things change when groups of men start becoming possessed and attack the convent. This leads her to becoming possessed once again but this time she has the power to really 'fight back while staying in control of herself.

I really enjoyed this story. Full of Relics,
Incense, spirits and saints!

I received an early e-book of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Artemisia is one of a group of people who has the ability to see spirits. When during an attack on her convent, she ends up taking a very powerful spirit into her body and mind, she finds herself locked into a fierce battle of good vs. evil.

I love Margaret Rogerson. She is an auto-buy author for me, and that hasn't changed after reading this book. That said, I only gave this one 4/5 stars. It was beautifully written, as her books always are, but I think I just struggled with the subject matter. Honestly, too, I was bummed there wasn't any romance in the book, as Rogerson writes love stories really well! There was a lot of character and platonic relationship building that I felt was well done, and Artemisia grew a lot throughout the novel. It had a satisfying ending but I'm excited to know this book is not intended as a stand alone.

From an educator standpoint, I would only recommend this book to my more mature students, and only at the high school level, due to the violence in the story.

I received an ARC from net galley for an honest review

This book was not a book for me. It really just didn't do it for me. It will for someone, but not my type of books.

It was a very simple minded book. I almost DNFed it about 30 percent in, but felt obligated to finished it. I ended up skimming the last 3rd of the book as it just wasn't quite attention grabbing as it should have been. Not much happens for the first 50% of the book.

I'd probably have enjoyed this book more if I'd been in a simple book phase but unfortunately, I need more complexity to my plot line than this book provided.

It was just, idk blah. You were falsely lead to believe this one guy was the evil one, bit it was blantly obvious, but then it ended up not being him but the main reigning lady who ends up dying because she was really just manipulated by a spirit whole I associated to be male so yea.

Anyway, this reviews gotten long and I need to go to sleep.

✌✌🤣

CW: talk of past child abuse and self harm, anxiety, touch aversion

I didn’t even realize until a few months ago that Margaret Rogerson had another book coming and as soon as I saw it, I had to add it to my tbr. I ofcourse had no hopes of getting the arc but was so lucky to get selected for Turn the Page blog tour and I’m so excited that I got to read this one early.

To be honest, I didn’t even bother reading the premise in detail because I trusted the author after the absolutely wonderful Sorcery of Thorns. And in a similar fashion, this was engaging from the get go. The plot is actually pretty simple but the author makes it all interesting by giving us a world teeming with stories of old magic, the dead rising as different kinds of specters depending on the manner of their death, the powers exhibited by each kind and the fascinating power of relics and revenants. The book definitely is full of religious themes which I wasn’t actually expecting. The dialogue is also very funny which kept me amused most of the time. The pacing is just right, with some quiet moments in between, but it never becomes too tense or nail biting.

Artemisia is an interesting protagonist. As someone who has suffered a lot of trauma in her childhood, she is most comfortable being with herself and feels pretty anxious when having to communicate with anyone. So it’s ironical that she gets thrust into a situation where she gets possessed by a sentient revenant who seems to love to talk, and is also startled to realize that people have started to treat her as a saint and savior. However much she wants to retreat into herself, she is also compassionate and responsible and maybe quite reckless, so she makes the choice to fight the evil that has descended upon her world.

But the most fun part of the book is her interactions with her revenant. While she avoids talking to anyone else, she can’t escape him because he is literally in her and their conversations are so interesting. I was surprised to see that despite being extremely powerful and behaving as if he hates human and especially nuns, he is the one who chides her for not taking care of herself, and guides her every step of the way so that she doesn’t throw her life away in some misguided attempt at saving the people. Their bickering friendship is a delight to see develop even though he would never agree that they were friends.

Marguerite and Charles were very surprising supporting characters because I never thought they would help Artemisia. Marguerite isn’t who she seems to be and I loved her determination to survive and achieve her goals, despite no one believing in her. Charles maybe a soldier who is supposed to follow orders but he is a good young man who believes in friendship and the trust he develops for our main characters really moved me.

In the end, I had a good time reading this one and I’m so glad it’s a standalone. If you are someone who wouldn’t mind a fantasy full of religious lore and world building, biting dialogue and an underlying theme of friendship, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. Despite the way the plot unfolds, it never felt too high stakes and was quite a calm and entertaining read. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that it has no romance and I would definitely count it as a plus in this case.

I was really impressed by this series starter. The premise was too intriguing to me to pass up and I'm glad I jumped into it. I thought the pacing lagged a bit in the middle third of the book, but overall I really enjoyed this one. The relationship between the main character and the revenant could have gotten old or been overly gimmicky but I think it was nicely pulled off, with room to grow if the series continues. I was pleasantly surprised by the twist with Leander and maybe other readers might have seen that coming, but it worked well for me. The overall themes of understanding that maybe the reason humans hurt each other isn't because they're evil, but because they themselves are hurting and afraid, really came through for me and I thought that was really effective and touching. I also enjoyed seeing Marguerite become more of a character. It's always refreshing to have a YA fantasy that doesn't feel it needs to shoehorn a romance in, but I'd be open to a romance in subsequent books in the series. Or maybe Artemisia is asexual? Either way I found it refreshing that romance wasn't necessarily a focus in this book, since it wouldn't really have made sense for Artemisia's character. Overall I was really impressed and I look forward to more in the series.

Yet another great read by Rogerson! Not the same as her first books, but a good read! I think the fact that there is no romance doesn't hurt the book in any way

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for an ARC.

I enjoyed the uniqueness of this book. It took me a bit to like it but once I got going with the story, it grew on me.

Artemisia and the revenant's relationship was interesting. I enjoyed some of the bantar and the dry humor from the revenant. It kept me wanting to read more.

I wasn't sure if this would have a sequel but sounds like it will. I will read the sequel because I need to know how her adventure continues and what trouble her and the revenant can find in book 2.

I ordered the Fairyloot Edition of this book and can't wait to see it in person!

I’ve read each book that Margaret Rogerson has put out and I think she just gets better every time!

Artemisia was rescued and cared for by the nuns of the Grey Sisters of Naimes when she was a child. Over time, she was taught how to tend to the bodies of the dead so they won’t become tainted and dangerous spirits. Some of these spirits can become bound to relics like finger bones, jewelry, and other consecrated items and used as weapons against the menacing ones.

While trying to live peacefully at the convent, Artemisia, the other novitiates, and the nuns are attacked by soldiers possessed by vicious spirits. In series of frightening events during this attack, Artemisia becomes the holder of a relic that contains a powerful revenant–one that has the power to destroy other spirits and, if Artemisia isn’t careful, the people around her and herself.

Due to her not being trained to reign in the revenant, she poses a danger to all those around her and is captured to be brought to the main city. However, along the way, her caravan is attacked and she teams up with a priest, Leander, who captured her. Until the threat is over and she refuses to become prisoner again, escaping into the woods.

She learns that the attack on her small convent is only a piece of a much bigger and much deadlier plan and has to decide will she listen to revenant in how to help save her people? Or will she pray to the Lady, who may not even be listening?

I enjoyed reading the book. Some of the magic and worldbuilding reminded me of Sabriel, especially the parts where Artemisia interacts with the revenant. There’s quite a bit of action.

The ending was a bit weak, in some aspects. But, I do know that Rogerson has said that this is the first in a series. With that in mind, I did enjoy the ending because it was solid enough to be a standalone, but you know other adventures are to come.

Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books for the ARC of Vespertine!

Vespertine is about Artemesia, a 17-year-old nun in training who spends her days tending to the dead and making sure their souls pass on peacefully. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemesia desperately tries to help save her fellow nuns and in the process awakens a Revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her completely. Instead, it helps her and even with the knowledge that everything she's been taught has told her that this being is evil, she has to trust its knowledge to help stop the darkness threatening to take over. Together, Artemesia and the Revenant uncover hidden secrets and dark dangers and have to trust each other enough to try and put a stop to it all.

Artemesia was such a relatable character for me. She just wants to keep her head down, get her work done, and not have to deal with people ever in any circumstance. There's trauma in her past that's led to this as we soon learn, and the journey she ends up taking and her character arc was a good read. Although she'd rather hang out with the dead bodies that don't talk back, she's desperate to keep everyone she knows safe, perhaps saving them from the fate she once had to endure. All through the story, we see her having to work together not just with the revenant, but with others. This didn't change who she was at her core, but it was just enough to shed light on the fact that sometimes it's okay to trust people.

I especially loved the Revenant as a character. We don't see it in a physical form and it lives solely in Artemesia's head, and I think it's pretty fantastic that Rogerson is able to form a fully fleshed-out character from something referred to as 'it' throughout the entire book. The snark back and forth between this two was one of my favorite parts of the book.

I'm glad this isn't a stand-alone because while I enjoyed the other characters, I feel like they weren't as fully rounded out as I would've liked. I can only imagine we'll see more of them in the next book, and I have high hopes that we'll be satisfied with their growth.

The story itself is intriguing, and I thought the magic system and the hierarchy of spirits and saints were interesting. A lot happened in this book and there was so much info to take in, but the pacing was so well done that it didn't feel like it dragged at all like fantasy books can sometimes do when there's a big info dump. The ending did feel a little abrupt, but I can only imagine it's a set up for what's to come in the next book.

Overall, a really great read!

“The revenant might be a monster, but it was my monster.”

I LOVED this book. As soon as I saw a @netgalley for a new Margeret Rogerson I hit request very hard. Releasing on October 5th, Vespertine is perfect for those who like a spooky but not scary season. A Joan of Arc vibe but with ghosts! Fighting nuns! Lightly possessed by a demon but make it your wisecracking cantankerous sidekick! This had just the right mix of action, humor, and magic. A delight.

Vespertine has given me a big book hangover. It had me so invested in it. The characters blew me away. The visuals were just stunning it was like watching a movie in my head.

I enjoyed this book. I was immediately drawn into the atmosphere of this book, and the story soon took off in a way that made me not want to put the book down. Artemisia is a young girl living in a convent, haunted by trauma in her past, and when she is confronted by evil spirits she must decided whether to trust one of the most powerful spirits of all--The Revenant--to help her defeat the spirits that are threatening her fellow sisters, her fellow countrymen, and her world. She could use the Revenant to save everyone, but could lose herself in the process.
The atmosphere that the author is able to evoke is completely immersive. The descriptions and settings were so well done. The reader really gets a feel for the dark, Gothic, eerie, and ethereal world the characters are living in. Artemisia is also very compelling, and a heroine who is easy to root for. The Revenant is also a fascinating character, which is saying a lot, considering it is really just a "spirit" who is communing with Artemisia in her head.
The world-building is quite good. The author uses words and terms that are slightly similar to real-world things, which gives the reader and idea of what is going on or what the author wants you to associate things with.
I got a little lost about 1/3 of the way through the book, because I realized I wasn't really sure why Artemisia had embarked upon her quest to literally save her world and why she was going where she was going and doing the things she was doing. I had to go back and reread, and I still was a bit confused. But I just kept going, and despite the ambiguity of how Artemisia ended up fighting to save a city full of people, I enjoyed her journey and was rooting for her the whole way. That being said, the ending was a bit anticlimactic. I was waiting for a big bang and it was more like a loud pop... That being said, I still liked the ending.
I have enjoyed every book this author has written. I am glad this book will get a sequel at least, because I am very interested to see what else Artemisia and the Revenant will do together, not to mention the other characters in the book, especially Leander. If you enjoy YA fantasy, I would recommend this book

I’ll start off by saying if you’re looking for or expecting romance, now is the time to adjust your expectations of this book. While this authors other books generally have a sweet romance, this is not a fantasy with romance!

Instead, this is a darker fantasy that focuses on friendships, freedom and mental health. It’s filled with the magic and action I’ve come to expect from a Margaret Rogerson book. The author perfectly crafted this eerie atmospheric story that is perfect for a spooky fall read!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC
I really enjoyed this book :) I've read one other book by the same author which I really enjoyed. This book unlike her other titles is NOT a standalone thank goodness (that ending). I really enjoyed the world building in this book! The characters were great and well developed, the world was engaging and the plot was entrancing. The one thing I was sad about was no romance, this girl needs some sort of romance in her books.
I'd definitely recommend this to a friend :)

maragaret rogerson has crafted a uniquely interesting book with well thought out characters. my only complaint is that it didn't hold my attention much in the beginning.

Vespertine is dark and mysterious with a captivating lore of it’s own, Rogerson has honed her craft in storytelling making her an author readers won’t want to miss.

A breathtaking new fantasy from YA author Margaret Rogerson, readers will enter the pages of Vespertine on bated breath. Threatened by violent spirits, a young nun binds herself to an ancient being through a holy relic, making a deal for its help in order to save the world.

Grand in scope, Rogerson envelopes us in a rich new world haunted by spirits, giving us an intricate hierarchy and layout of the dead. She also continues her skilled craft in clever, witty banter between characters that fans of Rogerson will love.

As violence erupts in a thrall of undead, the stakes growing higher after every chapter, readers will rush through this book like a torrent of wind. With surprise plot twists, ghosts penned in every page, and characters who will become new favorites, this book feels like the beginning.

It begs for a second book.

Synopsis:
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.

Review:

Thank you Netgalley and Margaret K. McElderry books for the E-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was AMAZING! Not at all how I had expected, and one of the most unique and interesting books I've ever read. I cannot stress this enough: this is not a book for everyone, but you have to appreciate how you'll never come along a book like this again.

Artermesia, our main character, was fantastic! I loved how she wasn't weirdly bubbly or extroverted like so many unrealistic fantasy heroines: at times she was shy and unfriendly. I think that Margaret Rogerson did a fantastic job of flipping the 'saint' idea on it's head, and instead of making a perfect main character, making a very interesting comment on religion. The revenent that possesed her was what you could call the 'comdic relief' of this overall very tense and serious book. I loved the revenent so much, I never thought that I would end up thinking of it as a person, or even a character, but by the end of this, I really did. Some other notable side characters include Marguerite, Artermisia's friend (?), Leander, the confessor who's story keeps getting more and more interesting, and Sarathiel, another revenent who both made me think, and made me scared.


That brings me to the worldbuilding. At times, the worldbuilding was so intricate that I found the book hard to get back into, but I wouldn't say that it's a fault of 'Vespertine'. This trait of it is all the more appreciated later on in the book, when the worldbuilding and magic system becomes even more important to the story. The magic system was very cool, because it left a lot unexplained. I think that sometimes when author's start to flesh out magic systems in fantasy books, the writing can feel very info-dump-y, and this felt more gradual.

Generally, the writing was amazing! The first-person narrator of Artemisia was perfect for the story it was telling: personal, honest and at times very funny, I never once tired of her voice. I didn't find that I could feel the 'author's hand' at all during my reading of this- nothing felt too convient or unrealistic.

The set-up/plot of 'Vespertine' was, like I mentioned earlier, not at all what I had expected. I mostly chose to read this because of the gorgeous cover, but thankfully, the plot was amazing, too! Wholly unique and absolutely breathtaking in scope of ambition, this is one of the most intriging books I've read in a long time!

All in all, this was a spellbinding, unexpected and wonderful book: I can't wait to see if there will be a sequel!

Anticipation: 4: COVER COVER COVER
Enjoyment: 5: This was so good fkdsalfj!!!

--> 4.5 stars

Talk about hard to put down! When I first heard about this book, I was super excited since I loved Sorcery of Thorns. Then I heard it was about nuns and priests and I was like, noooooo wtf! Having read it I can safely say that my second reaction was unnecessary. This book was an amazing journey with incredibly detailed and creative magic. The characters are excellent and for all that there is not romance, there is a strong emphasis on relationships. I won’t rehash the blurb, but I will talk about my favorite aspects of the book.

First of all, I love the main character. She presents fairly neurodivergent—she struggles with social situations, knowing what to say, how to properly react, etc. This provides an interesting counterpoint to the revenant, who is almost hyper aware and savvy in respect to the human experience and human behavior. Together they form a compelling team who bolster each other and really complement each other well. Moreover, their differences lead to these moments of discussion and understanding in which the reader learns more about their backstory in an organic way. The writing is masterfully done.

Second, I just really enjoy the magic system. It is somehow both detailed and ambiguous—we only know what our characters know, leaving a lot of scenes for us to discovery new aspects of magic, spirits, and the religious-political system. While it’s not a mystery, the story reveals clues with a similar mastery of suspense.

Lastly, I really really really like the revenant. A perfectly morally grey character. I imagine the revenant as a male voice but it actually isn’t bound in that way. I started shipping the MC and the revenant which may have played a role—I will ship anything at any time because I can!

To sum up, I loved this book! It was such an excellent read. Perfect for fans of her last book, I highly recommend this to YA/Teen Fantasy readers.

I will add there are no sexual situations in this book so it is a safe choice younger readers moving up.

It is also really good for asexuals uninterested in books with sexual situations. There is violence but it’s not a gory book, it just involves some battle scenes and characters do die in this book.

Another stunning work by Margaret Rogerson! I will never understand how she can create an intricate fantasy world as well as relatable, butt-kicking heroes. Every female character that this author writes always hold a special place in my heart. This being said, I would highly recommend this book for any fantasy lover who also likes a dash of romance in the story.