Book Review: An Enchantment of Ravens

I’ve had An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson on my tbr for a while and actually have had it on my bookshelf since summer. I finally over the course of a few days last weekend and early this week and loved it!

Isobel is a highly skilled painter and the fair folk come to her to have their portraits done. The fair folk (basically fae) have powers and magic, but cannot do Craft such as painting, cooking, sewing, etc. or they will die. Therefore they see such things almost like magic themselves, which I think is a really cool concept!

Isobel does these portraits for the fair folk in exchange for different enchantments, such as having her chickens lay 6 eggs per week or her home protected so nothing can harm her, her aunt, or her two little sisters inside the house. One of her long time patrons, Gadfly, tells her that he recommended the Autumn Prince come get his portrait done by her. The Autumn Prince, Rook, is her first royal patron, very powerful, and supposedly hasn’t come to interact with humans in a very long time.

When he arrives, Isobel is surprised by how handsome he is and over the weeks that they spend together they form a sort of friendship and enjoy talking to each other. Sad for their time together to end, Isobel thinks she may have fallen in love with him. But, Rook is abruptly called away during their last meeting and he hurriedly tells her that someone will come to collect the portrait in a couple weeks.

Isobel sends the painting off, a little heartbroken that she will never see Rook again. And even if she does see him they could never be together because the Good Law forbids love between humans and fair folk. To her surprise, Rook shows up one night, but he is mad. In his portrait she painted what she saw as real emotion in his eyes – what it came across as is mortal sorrow and is seen as a weakness. If other fair folk see this they could come after him and try to take his place, costing him not only his position but his life. Rook takes Isobel to stand trial for her crime, but on their journey they learn something is very wrong in his world. Now, he and Isobel must work together to save his world.

This book was so fun and whimsical! It was full of magic and the characters were amusing. I enjoyed seeing Isobel and Rook’s relationship develop and their worry that they might break the Good Law. I loved the humor for example when they were being accused of breaking the Good Law and threatened with death and one of the people basically says “if you could just not be in love that’d be great” lol.

Anyway, this was the perfect whimsical, magical fall read. I give it a 4-4.5 stars, only because I would have loved to see a little more develop between Rook and Isobel before the end and also because I wish the ending was a little more complete. It is a happy ending, but there were some things that were left open and I wish it was a more concrete ending especially considering this is a standalone novel. Isobel says something at the end about her being the kind of person who likes this sort of ending, but I am not that kind of person and need more details haha.

I highly recommend An Enchantment of Ravens if you’re looking for a magical fall read!

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