Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Release Date: October 5, 2021
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
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.
"For the past three hundred years, the Gray sisters had carried out the sacred duty of tending to the dead. Souls that failed to received the necessary rites would eventually corrupt and rise as spirits instead of naturally passing on to the afterlife as they had done before the Sorrow."Vespertine is the first installment in author Margaret Rogerson's Vespertine duology. This is a story that takes place in a place called Loraille. Artemisia of Naimes 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. All Gray Sisters are required to go through Evaluation.
This evaluation is done by Confessor Leander who sees something in Artemisia that makes her different from others. Another interesting dynamic; She has an upsetting history of trauma during her childhood when she was possessed by an Ashgrim spirit which is one of the Second Order spirits found below. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is one of the Seven Revenants named Rathanael, 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. Vespertine’s haven’t been around for years. Artemisia must now fight to work with and not be possessed by the revenant while they search for and fight the dark forces plaguing Loraille.
As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. Among politics and power-hungry people, war, and a threat that may consume her world, Artemisia and the Revenant, try to navigate into discovering who may be the true villain and that sometimes magic is not always bad or good. And holiness may hide a part of true villainy.
Artemisia is not described as beautiful, she's not skilled with a weapon, she doesn't have any special powers, except when combine with the Revenant. On the contrary, she's
shy, traumatized by the sequels of childhood possession and abuse,
socially anxious, physically scarred, and a recluse. She's basically lost everyone she's known, including the sisters of the convent when it is attacked and destroyed by possessed soldiers. Her banter with Rathanael is entertaining. He's
as dangerous as any of his peers but not as malevolent, and he has the
tongue of the most sarcastic and grumpy spirit you're going to find.
The Hierarchy of Spirits:
First order: The order of the innocents. Shade, Wisp.
Second Order: Souls lost to the forces of nature. Gaunt- death by famine; Frostfain - death by exposure; Undine - death by drowning. Ashgrim - death by fire.
Third Order: Souls lost to illness and disease. Feverling - death by fever; Witherking - death by wasting; Wretchling - death by flux; Blight Wraith - death by pestilence
Fourth Order: Souls lost to violence. Rivener- death by battle; Fury - death by murder; Penitent - death by execution; White Vicar - death of a slain cleric.
Fifth Order: The Seven Revenants:
Cimeliarch, the Bright
Architrave, the Dim
Cathethal, the Mad
Oremus, the Lost
Sarathiel, the Obscured
Malthas, the Hollow
Rathanael, the Scorned
I've been told that this is the first book in a duology, but I also felt like it did a fantastic job on standing on it's own. There are still threads left to be pulled on, but the conclusion is still a firm conclusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment