Do you know how how frustrating it is to read 90% of a great story? Victoria Schwab’s writing is just so damn engrossing—she gets her hooks into you all she needs is to give a slight yank and I’ll come running. When she gets a story right it’s absolutely right. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Vicious immediately come to mind. The writing and the characters are always consistently good from her, and the plot of those two is perfectly constructed. It’s just some of her books are missing something to make that perfect whole. All the ingredients are there, but it still doesn’t feel one hundred percent fully formed. I can’t even say what that extra 10% is or where is should go, just that it’s MIA. In all seriousness, if you asked me what happened in this book I couldn't tell you. It literally feels like nothing happened at all the first half. I almost fell ASLEEP reading it and that never happens to me?? Never in my life have I ever almost fallen asleep reading a book. Gallant is the first to ever do this to me. The relationships among the characters were very surface-level. Hannah and Edgar only existed to help Olivia. Matthew changed as the book went along, but not in a way that felt organic. He switched from being hostile to treasuring Olivia more than anyone else, and did so across the span of a few days. They didn’t even spend that much time together. I get that he was distant because he wanted to protect her, but the change was so abrupt that it felt shallow.

Gallant is dark, tragic, and heartbreaking, but also warm and moving. The basic desire to belong and be loved is so fundamental to human nature. That is all Olivia wants.This book really is the definition of pretty writing, bland story. Like sure the writing was very descriptive and fancy but??? I was bored out of mind?? I could care less about the characters, story, plot (haha what plot) and everything else. I don't care if you have the most beautiful writing in the world. If the story doesn't capture my attention, then I don't like it. Shadows have always fascinated V. E. Schwab and they have never been more present than in Gallant, her newest young adult novel. And dreams can never hurt you. That’s what her mother said. Of course, she knows now it isn’t true. Dreams can make you hurt yourself, dreams can make you do so many things, if you’re not careful.” As someone who is not familiar with Schwab's works, her writing does hold lot of talent and I do see what the hype is all about. But Gallant could not impress me enough. Note- I have tried to include all the content warnings that I noticed, but there is no guarantee that I haven’t missed something.

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways. The tone was very Middle Grade which could have worked if the author had gone for a more ambiguous overall tone (like Gaiman does in Coraline) but I found her portrayal of her heroine and the villain simplistic indeed. The blurb makes it sound as if Olivia is taken by them but that was not the case at all. Even a Disney villain has more nuance than this one. You could say that V. E. Schwab has been writing about shadows for her entire career. London and its many shadows explored by Lila and Kell in her Shades of Magic series. Victor and Eli from the Villains series, each struggling to escape the shadow cast by the other. Kate and August from the Monsters of Verity series learning how to embrace the darkness of their lives and come to terms with their monstrous halves. Even Addie la Rue wanders through the long, long shadow that falls on her immortal life and those around, running from it even as it lengthens in the light.Even the ghouls didn’t have much of a purpose. They just… drifted around and occasionally acted protective of Olivia. I kept waiting for a twist that would tie everything together, but there was nothing. What you see in the synopsis is it. Gallant doesn’t feel complete. My original opinions of each character never changed because nothing happened that would make them change. It was so unsatisfying. We also have a villain who doesn't get introduced until 60%. The villain was meant to be terrifying and scary, but he too had no personality. For a girl living in a quiet world, conversing with ghoul-like creatures through nods and gestures is a blessing and a curse. Olivia is drawn to the power of secrets and magic. What is real, what isn't? When she meets her cousin Mathew, she begins to learn more about the mystery, the hidden garden, and the wall beyond the path. She holds on to a journal written by her mother, trying to piece together the story of her family and her mother's past.