Book Review: Gallant by VE Schwab

Author V.E. Schwab is doing it again, and this time, “it” is a perfect gothic tale. 

Gallant is Schwab’s newest foray into middle grade, and it centers around a girl, some ghouls and a gothic garden. 

Olivia a young woman who has been raised almost her entire life in a residential girls’ home, without any indication of where she came from except for an old journal of her mother’s, with a final warning written directly to Olivia that she would be safe, as long as she stays away from Gallant. 

Having no idea who or what Gallant might be, and having no way to find out, Olivia has spent her adolescence ignoring the ghouls that meet her eye-line, and intimidating the girls who think they can bully her. Olivia doesn’t speak, but she does know how to get sweets from the matrons’ nightstands. 

Until one day Olivia receives a letter from an unknown uncle promising her family, love and a home … at Gallant. When she arrives at the unknown estate, she finds no uncle and no love, just a crusty cousin, a couple of caretakers and a crumbling mansion. 

Oh, and even more ghouls. 

What follows is a perfectly paced gothic tale of family secrets and formidable shadows. Reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, Gallant is not a novel with a lot of plot or a lot of twists or any romance. It’s a tale – the kind that will ease the middle grade readers it is written for into the spooky and the supernatural, the chilling and the uncanny, and the crafty way all those things can fit together. 

Like I said, a perfect gothic tale. 

Gallant is on sale today. If you purchase it on bookshop.org, you will be supporting your local indie bookshop. 

Thanks to Leo PR for the review copy.