Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson | Book Review

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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.

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson is a book that I had extreme high hopes for. I mean, just look at that cover. If ever there was a book cover to make a siren call that I can immediately pick up on — it would be this one. I was SO excited to pick this book up. Once it came up in my reading plans, I was so, so eager. Turns out my instincts might have been a little off when it came to this book.

Rogerson’s Vespertine follows a nun named Artemesia. When her convent is under attack by malevolent spirits, Artemesia takes up a powerful relic and summons a revenant which is like the most powerful of all the spirits. From there, Artemesia leaves her convent as she’s captured by a confessor named Leander. Anyways, she escapes and it kind of is a race against time around this city called Bonsaint where Artemesia is trying to figure out what Leander is up to and suspects him of dabbling with Old Magic — which is the whole reason the dead don’t stay dead, also outlawed. Along the way, she learns that she actually does have the ability to make friends and learns it is okay to rely on the support of others.

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I think where this book started to fall down for me is when I was comparing it to Grave Mercy. There’s nuns who fight and deal with death, also some French inspiration. Unlike Grave Mercy, there is no romance whatsoever. It felt like this book didn’t quite engage me. I had thought I would read this in two days and just zip right through it. Instead, I was reading all kinds of other things to avoid this book because I was bored. I actually read a very interesting long form article in GQ about Otto Warmbier instead of this book. I digress. So, I just felt like Vespertine was extremely slow paced and having read the other series mentioned, just not as good when I was making the inevitable comparison.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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