Review: An Enchantment of Ravens

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Pub. Date: September 27, 2017

Source/Format: Purchased/Hardcover

"One raven for uncertain peril. Six for danger sure to arrive. A dozen for death, if not avoided. The enchantment is sealed."

**This review is NOT spoiler-free.**

Seventeen-year-old Isobel lives in Whimsy, a world inhabited by humans and fairies, and makes a living for her family by performing her Craft: painting portraits for the fairy nobility. The Fair Folk, who are unable to create such works of their own or experience human emotion, desire Craft over all else, and they flock to Isobel to have their portraits done. When Isobel is visited by Rook, prince of the Autumn Court, she discovers the human emotion of sorrow in his eyes and captures it in his portrait. When the painting is unveiled before his court, Rook's weakness is put on display, thus placing his legitimacy to rule in jeopardy. Enraged by this slight, Rook steals Isobel from her home to bring her to stand trial for her unwitting crime. But their dangerous journey to the autumn court is filled with detours and distractions, and soon Isobel and Rook find themselves in danger of breaking an even more dangerous rule—for above all else, fairies and humans must never fall in love.

An Enchantment of Ravens was one of my most anticipated new releases of 2017, not only because the premise sounded amazing but because of the comparisons that were being drawn between it and A Court of Thorns and Roses (which, as you may know, is my favorite series at the moment), and the fact that artist Charlie Bowater, who helped design the A Court of Wings and Ruin cover and has made other amazing ACOTAR fan art, did the cover art. So I went into AEOR with a lot of excitement and high hopes. Unfortunately, it fell somewhat short of my expectations.

For starters, the romance between Rook and Isobel was pretty lackluster. There was very little build-up to it and hardly any chemistry between the two. I couldn't pinpoint any particular reason why they loved each other, apart from them finding one another attractive. And Rook himself was not a very swoonworthy hero. I never felt as though I had a firm grasp on him as a character because his personality was constantly in flux. At times he was portrayed as this wise, ancient fairy prince, but at others he was incredibly dense, especially when it came to Isobel and her emotions. His total lack of understanding, while I suppose true to his nature—in this world, fairies supposedly can't feel human emotion—sort of made him a bumbling mess. It did make for some funny moments (like when he referred to crying as "leaking"—that definitely made me laugh), but I couldn't see whatever it was Isobel saw him in that would make her fall in love.

"I had no way to prove that the love Rook and I felt for each other was real and that we deserved every desparate, foolhardy inch of it, and I was already tired, so tired, of bearing its weight as a failure. A crime."

I loved that quote, but I wish I had actually felt their relationship truly was "real" and "desperate." "Foolhardy," on the other hand, I can definitely agree with. Even though Isobel says she loves Rook, their relationship felt shallow and underdeveloped. I didn't get the feeling I usually have when reading about a couple that I just absolutely have to ship together. It was more like the feeling I have for side characters in a novel who are together out of convenience because the author feels the need to pair everyone neatly off into couples. Sort of like an apathetic "Yeah, I guess they're okay together" feeling.

 While we're on the subject of love and human emotion, that was one of my big points of contention with the story. If fairies can't feel human emotion, how do they fall in love in the first place? That rule seemed to be constantly contradicted, and not just because Rook fell in love with Isobel, but because it seemed like all the fairies were able to feel some degree of emotion. 

At the end, the conflict between Rook, Isobel, and the Alder King resolved too quickly and too neatly and ultimately wasn't all that satisfying. And Isobel's easy acceptance of her new title as queen of the fairies seemed to contradict everything she'd felt or said before about the fair folk; she'd absolutely balked at the idea of drinking from the Green Well and becoming a fairy. And while she didn't end up becoming immortal, she still despised and was disgusted by most of the fairies, save for Rook and Lark. For her to suddenly be okay with having to rule over them felt out of character and like a rushed way to tie up loose ends at the end of the story.

All that being said, I wouldn't be entirely opposed to reading a sequel if there were to be one. I feel like this had the potential to be a really interesting story, but it just wasn't given enough time to develop or let us really get to know the characters. Maybe in a sequel the world could be expanded upon and the characters further developed. I did enjoy the first third of the book, though, and one of the things the book as a whole had going for it was the beautiful imagery. Margaret Rogerson does have a talent for making settings come alive, and I enjoyed reading the descriptions of the different fairy courts that Isobel and Rook traveled through. I really, really wanted to love this book, and despite my issues with right now, I do feel like I maybe want to give it a second chance at some point.