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Review: Vespertine

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Title: Vespertine

Author: Margaret Rogerson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication date: October 5, 2021

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vespertineSummary

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, which means that she’s a nun that cleanses the bodies of the deceased. Otherwise, the dead will rise and attack the living. When her convent comes under attack, Artemisia forges a bond with a revenant, an ancient spirit that gives her powers to defeat the possessed soldiers.

The only ones trained to bond with the revenant are vespertines, and their knowledge has been lost to time. So, in order to save the world she knows, Artemisia has to turn to the revenant to figure out how to defeat the possessed. As she unravels the secrets of the saints, she has to figure out how to defeat a new evil.

Review: Vespertine

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of this to review! Margaret Rogerson writes some great fantasy, and I was excited to get to this one. I mean, just look at the cover! It definitely looks absolutely promising.

Unfortunately, I found the book overall difficult to get into. Even though Rogerson is a master at world building, there was something lacking in the character development. The relationship between the revenant and Artemisia was probably the most interesting thing about the book, but it wasn’t enough to fully connect me to the story. I just wanted more overall.

While I appreciate when fantasies don’t have romances, I think this one could have benefited from that. Fleshing out the characters would have helped to get me more engaged in the story. One of the things that I couldn’t necessarily figure out was Artemisia’s motivation for everything. Having that motivation would have helped in making the story more engaging.

Even though I couldn’t connect to the characters, I did appreciate all of the detail that Rogerson put into the world building. There were so many interesting little details that helped in creating this captivating world.

All in all, while this wasn’t quite the book I wanted, fans of Rogerson’s writing will still find something to like.

4/5 stars

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