Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I’m reviewing An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson. Please visit the author’s website here.
I admit I wasn’t sure about reading this one for the longest time. I just didn’t think I would like it, and unfortunately I was right. It was a very disappointing read for me. I will say that An Enchantment of Ravens had a lot going for it, I just didn’t like the execution. The main character, Isobel, is a talented portrait painter with the uncanny ability of painting raw emotions on the portraits of her clients; these clients are the fairy folk, and they are known for not being able to craft anything with their own hands. If they do, they disintegrate into pieces and die (a bit extreme, but okay). So, anyone wanting to get a portrait of themselves done seek Isobel’s services, and Isobel accepts payment for her craft in the form of spells and enchantments that protect her and her family from harm. Hence, the title of the novel, which refers to the enchantment she receives from the prince of the fairy Autumn court as payment for her services.
“One raven for uncertain peril. Six for danger sure to arrive. A dozen for death, if not avoided. The enchantment is sealed.”
The only problem is…Isobel’s portrait of the prince endangers his position in the fairy courts because of the sorrow she drew in his eyes, a very human emotion showing his vulnerability, and he comes back to the village to make her pay for her crime. For starters, I found this to be a very weak plot that ultimately did not deliver. Most of the book focuses on Isobel and Rook’s journey to the fairy courts (and falling in love in the process), while her trial, though climatic at the end of the novel, felt more like an excuse or a backdrop against which to set up the love story. The journey itself felt aimless and pointless; they were just traveling in the woods, and then back to the village when Rook realizes he’s in love with Isobel and decides she does not need to be tried after all. I did not understand what the point of all of that was.
Next, I did not like the pairing. Isobel was rather boring, and Rook’s allure and mystification did not deliver. Also, their love was insta-love and I’m not a big fan of that either so that affected my overall enjoyment of this book tremendously. Granted, I will say that I did not dislike them getting together. I was willing to give them a chance and was hopeful that my opinion of them would change throughout the novel…it did not, unfortunately.
“He was astonishingly vain even by fair folk standards, which was like saying a pond is unusually wet, or a bear surprisingly hairy.”
What I did like about this book was the fairy world. It was so interesting to me, and I wanted to know more about it. But, like I said, the book focuses more (perhaps too much) on the love story than on developing the world it is set in. Had world-building been more of a concern I think I would have liked this book more. Not only because I think that it would have served the book better if we’d had had the chance to get into Rook’s, Gladfly’s, or the Alder King’s heads as well, not just Isobel’s, but also because it would have made the love story between the protagonists all that more plausible and believable for me. As is, I think the novel lacks depth. Granted, I know this book is a YA novel and too much depth is not part of the definition of this genre. However, I still think that this book could have been so much better. I gave it an I Did Not Like It rating. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more from this author.
