An Enchantment of Ravens

So this book was fine. Going in, I already knew I wasn't going to be the right audience for it, seeing as I was just okay with Rogerson's other book, Sorcery of Thorns. Although since I had read Sorcery of Thorns earlier and with much more hype on my part, and had then gotten disappointed, I went into this book with my expectations much more managed, which actually helped me enjoy it more.

Isobel is one of the best portrait painters in her town of Whimsy, and so she is constantly patronised by the fair folk, or fairies, who are incredibly vain and love seeing themselves represented on canvas. The relationship between fairies and humans is both mutually beneficial but also steeped in distrust. When she is approached by Rook, the autumn prince of the fairies, to paint his portrait, Isobel seems to make a grave mistake that might cost him his reputation. She is swept off by Rook to stand trial in the autumn courts but along the way face threats and dangers from unexpected quarters.

Things I liked about this book: the world, the fae, the lore and rules governing these people (they perpetually use glamour to hide their true appearances, which somehow have a lot to do with rotting wood and other plants, they cannot tell lies, they must be polite, and if someone bows or curtseys to them, they must return the favour). I'd have loved the book even more if these curious rules were further explored and explained, but alas, the book is more interested in the romance between Isobel and Rook to do that. I liked how fairies are so completely fascinated with human Craft (basically anything that creates things, like painting, cooking, tailoring) as well as their complete inability to undertake them (Rook literally almost dies when Isobel hands him a cooking pan). I liked the different fairy courts and would've loved to see more of the politicking between them.

What I didn't enjoy: I wasn't really compelled by any of the characters except perhaps the goat-kids, March and May, whom we unfortunately didn't see enough of at all. Also, interestingly, Gadfly - I called it right from the earlier chapters that he was orchestrating everything all along. Although it was the Alder King who was the main villain in the end, it was really Gadfly who was one level above that. I didn't particularly care for Isobel or Rook. Rook was wasn't too annoying, but we barely know much about him as a character/person besides whatever related romantically to Isobel. I was borderline annoyed with Isobel quite often, she seemed to flip-flop between all kinds of ideas and emotions a lot, and she was just way too dramatic about everything. Since I was annoyed to indifferent about the two main characters, it was really hard for me to get behind the romance. Furthermore, the attraction between Isobel and Rook happened too quickly for me and I just wasn't convinced by their chemistry throughout the book. The dramatic moments were really cringey for me.

Some parts in particular just felt a little laughable, such as when our two main protagonists are apparently being threatened by another character, and their only way out is to “stop loving each other” (not a quote, it's just so hilarious that I felt like I needed to quote it). There was some rationale behind it in that it was apparently against some kind of law that fairies and humans can't love each other while still remaining as both fairy and human, but man...

Whole book spoilers (and more about Gadfly): Gadfly's talent of seeing the future could've been put to way more interesting use in the plot, imo. There didn't seem to be a huge point to him having such a talent except perhaps to orchestrate the whole plot that he did, but there's so much more potential there. I had expected him to be the mastermind villain in the end (which turned out to be the Alder King) but that actually made Gadfly much more interesting. Instead of being a straight up villain, we don't really know what his true motivation is in the end. The revelation of him having "lured" Isobel and Rook to do all his dirty legwork for him as well as what he said at the end about how the spring court will hopefully get its turn ruling the fairy world one day makes me think that maybe he has a bigger plan in motion. If this book was gonna be a series, I'd expect to see Gadfly definitely play a huge sinister role at the end of it all. Even as a standalone, at least Gadfly's presence kinda makes the ending slightly greyer and more interesting than just a straight up happy ever after.I also kinda wish Isobel had been Rook's ex-girlfriend but enchanted so that her memories were altered and blocked. She thinks she's a 17 year old human girl living with her aunt, but she's actually an immortal fairy living with a jailer/caretaker whose mission it is to keep her memories from coming back for whatever reason. It'd be a lot more interesting than just a straight up "super-old immortal being kidnaps and falls in love with teenage girl" plot anyway.

Overall, this was a short and decent read. Some parts were cringey and laughable, but the world and some of its lore was pretty interesting.