Candyce wanted to do some more Bookish Beginnings to promote some of the eARC’s we have so last week she shared the start of So This Is Ever After. And I figured it would be great to do Gallant today as we’re both reading that eARC as well. We love V.E. Schwab so this was a very highly anticipated release.
This meme was created by Rose City Reader. The idea is to post the first sentence or so of the book you’re currently reading. After that you talk about your initial thoughts about the sentence, book or anything to do with that.
Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source.
Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.
Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.
Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?
The master of the house stands at the garden wall.
This is the start of what I would call the prologue but I’ll also share the start of the actual first chapter.
Rain drums it’s fingers on the garden shed. They call it a garden shed, but in truth there is no garden on the grounds of Merilance, and the shed is barely even that. It sags to one side, like a wilting plant, made of cheap metal and soldering wood. The floor is littered with abandoned tools and shards of broken pots and the stubs of stolen cigarettes, and Olivia Prior stands among them in the rusted dark, wishing she could scream.
I’m currently 35% in the book and I’m really enjoying it. It definitely reads like a V.E. Schwab book! I love the atmosphere in it and I think this first chapter gives you a look at the writing style. The story is very mysterious and I’m so interested in knowing what’s going on at the house. I’m doing a buddyread with Candyce but of course I’m already behind haha.
The book released March 1st so you can expect our buddyreview very soon (probably once I’m finally finished…). I like the atmospheric writing style (is that a thing) and hope the story stays mysterious even while giving answers. Does that make sense to anyone but me? I really hope it does haha. Have you picked up Gallant yet? Or are you planning to? Let me know in the comments!
