Whimsical and beautifully written, which is something I've come to expect from Victoria Schwab. This was a very interesting novel, following a character that doesn't speak much yet has a world of personality.

Wow this book is a mesmerizing story. I was immediately swept away into this world. The writing is so beautiful and terrifying.

Victoria Schwab never fails to entertain and Gallant is no exception. Living her life in a colorless orphange, Olivia Prior is plagued by ghouls. It would be hard to find the words to descibe this phenomenon, but even harder when you are mute. With only her mother's journal to comfort her, Olivia has tried to make the best of the situation when a letter from a lost uncle arrives. What appears to be a blessing might actually turn out to be a curse.

All the trademarks of Victoria Schwab's work are here: strong female characters, beautiful prose, clever world-building, steady plotting. This is atmospheric and lovely. My only complaint is that the ending was a tiny bit anticlimactic, but for a quiet novel like this, it felt appropriate. I love how the illustrations are such a stunning and important part of the overall story, too. That's one of my favorite things about V's books -- reading them is an experience.

Well that was exquisite. Perfectly haunting and gloomy and dark but with so much spark and hope. Olivia is so well written. I read another review that compared it to the Secret Garden and that is spot on! A more haunting Secret Garden.

Olivia Prior’s story begins at an orphanage for girls. Her only connection to family is her mother’s journal and the entries are puzzling to decipher. Olivia struggles with unknowns and inability to communicate. She doesn’t belong here and she knows it. When she is invited to her familial home, she at last feels a sense of belonging. However, the story turns to a gothic style story reminiscent of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. The house holds secrets, and there are elements of horror and fantasy as Olivia discovers the secrets of the house and within herself. I felt like this was difficult to get into at first but as the story unfolded I had a hard time putting the book down. It was at turns thrilling, scary, and heartwarming. The characters felt real and worth rooting for. I had chills reading it when the supernatural elements began kicking in. I highly recommend it!
Reviewed on Goodreads

It’s rare that I genuinely don’t want to put a book down. I could not stop reading this book, and even when I had to, I was thinking about it.

Schwab does a great job at setting a scene and she creates such a vivid image of this haunted house. It isn’t quite scary, but there is a spookiness that follows you around the entire book.

I will caution that this book is YA and I find that YA doesn’t typically get into the depth of the horror genre as well as it could. But I think that if you like ghosts stories, this is beautifully told.

Overall, as a fan of horror and magic, I absolutely loved this book! It was a quick, immersive read.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This title was lovely. It was dark and it reminded me of aspects of Crimson Peak. Not much the plot but aspects. It had a gothic feel to it that I loved to pieces. I can’t wait for the release to recommend it! It was the kind of dark fantasy I’ve been looking for. And it did something well that I often find can be hit or miss. I love when young adult characters are well formed. Not that there isn’t some very well done young adult age characters. However, some are not written as deftly as Schwab does. I loved this!

Unfortunately, due to Netgalley's new formatting, I wasn't able to download this book onto my kindle. As someone who suffers from migraines, I am unable to read books on my phone or other tablet devices which meant I was unable to finish this book. While I love Victoria Schwab and everything she has written I have no doubt this book will be just as excellent. I look forward to finishing it when it's available in print and as a download for kindle.

Victoria Schwab is incredibly skillful at creating a particular ambiance—the feel of a sort of ethereal, gothic fairy tale. Gallant, her new teen/young adult novel is a fine example of this talent featuring prose is exceptionally visual and colored. The story features Olivia, a now teenage- foundling, returning to the ancestral home of her mother’s family only to discover that her family is cursed to remain in the home or… death will escape its bounds and very bad things will happen. To make the situation more challenging, Death very much wants to escape his bounds and is more than willing to psychologically torture and even kill members of the Prior family to make it happen. The book is spooky more than scary, but the stakes are genuinely high—life or death.
There are, though, elements to the book that some readers might consider flaws. It is, for example, comprised of a variety of fantasy/horror tropes and they aren’t necessarily used in particularly innovative ways. But tropes became the mainstays of genres because people like them—who doesn’t love a good family curse or a plucky orphan who saves the day. Olivia’s success as both a main character and a heroine, being multifaceted and believable, is one of the book’s strongest points. She is strong and scared, she is angry and kind. As a reader, I not only expected her to succeed, I wanted her to.
This story is more than the some of its parts and I think it will have a lot of crossover appeal. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually attracts rather more adult readers both due to Schwab’s record of success with books like The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and because it does rather read like some popular adult books (perhaps a unusual comparison but the book it most reminded me of was actually Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell).

I really need to remember that I only think I like Victoria Schwab.

A book with a great premise, but not a good delivery. Everything you need to know is in the sumary, and to be honest, it definitely didn't catch my attention. At all.

The story was great and I enjoyed the characters. My students are a bit young for this, so I wouldn't recommend it to middle grade students. However, I would recommend this for high school students. While this book was great, I am still in the Addie LaRue frame of mind and this book just didn't hit it for me.

Thank you to Greenwillow Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC to review!

I have been in a reading slump and this book took me out of it-- lush language, captivating storytelling, complex characters. I loved being transported into the world of this book. Highly recommend for those looking to be swept away into a new world with beautifully crafted words.

A quiet, slow burn, and chilling tale with the atmospheric writing Victoria Schwab excels at. If you like heavy plot driven books, this one probably won't be for you, but if you don't mind escapism inside a creepy manor, some ghouls, and a girl struggling to find her place, give it a shot!

I don’t have the words at the moment to describe my love for this book. Just know… Schwab did it again!

Let me start this review by saying I have not read any of Schwab’s YA novels (yet). It’s on the list! I have, however, read and loved a plethora of her adult novels.

Gallant is the kind of book you want to pull out in rainy weather, crawl under a blanket with some tea, and binge in one sitting. You definitely will want to make sure you have the lights on, though! I was surprised at how many moments I felt chilled to the bone. There are quite a few surprises in Gallant, but overall it is a solid supernatural thriller that I will more than likely buy a copy for my personal library, a copy for my classroom library, and a few copies as gifts.

5/5

I could not wait to read this book once I got approved for it. Victoria Schwab is a master storyteller and every story she tells truly comes to life. This novel takes a haunting, gothic tone and tells a beautiful story about belonging and death. I will be very excited to add this book to my collection once it comes out and advise everyone to read it.

Victoria Schwab is one of my favorite authors and I will literally read anything she publishes. I had a moment when I got approved to read Gallant and I enjoyed it so much. Gallant gave me everything that I love in a novel. Beautiful writing, complex characters, ghouls, an eerie setting. This was a perfect read now that we are close to the fall season. The storyline was spooky and I loved it so much. I adored Olivia and at times I was sad reading about her not pleasant life before arriving to Gallant. The Gallant manor was very captivating and mysterious and I loved everything about it! Thank you so much Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read an amazing story. Can’t wait to have a physical copy for my collection.

I literally had the hardest time putting this book down. The writing style, storyline, and well-developed characters made this one of the best YA titles that I have read this year. I immediately felt a connection with the main character, Olivia, whose strength & perseverance in the face of difficulty was very endearing. After surviving years at a girl’s school(orphanage) where she was ostracized by her peers and discounted by the nuns for her inability to speak, she finds herself at her mother’s family home, Gallant, living with a cousin that doesn’t want her there. However, all Olivia has ever wanted is a home and family so she stubbornly refuses to leave. As she uncovers truths about the house, her family, and a strange curse, Olivia also starts to make sense of her mother’s journal. Even though she was too young to remember her mother when she was left at the school, Olivia has always had her journal. She has memorized her mother’s words in spite of the fact that most of them seem to be incoherent ramblings. But within the context of the house where her mother grew up, Olivia discovers the truth about her mother and father and what happened to them. I found this part of the story and how it was revealed to be very interesting and original. These discoveries lead her to a dangerous world and a house that closely mirrors Gallant yet is the total opposite. This is where Olivia’s strength, bravery, and ingenuity are tested in ways they never were before. The things that Olivia sees there are dark and often horrifying and she has to decide if she wants to fight a battle that seems impossible to win to protect a life she is only starting to feel at home in.

I'm unable to review this fully as I am waiting for a kindle copy to download. Once that becomes available, I will update my review/feedback.