#I LOVE ARTEMISIA AND THE REVENANT!!

[libraryleopard]

Young adult fantasy novel

In a world where an order of nuns train to fight the ravenous ghosts that roam the land, a young trainee awakens an ancient spirit from a saint’s relic and must harness its power to defeat an ominous enemy growing in power

Immersive world-building & a thoughtful exploration of religion and childhood trauma

TFW the ancient entity of dark power residing in your brain forces you to practice self care

Aroace-coded main character (also maybe autistic/neurodivergent-coded?)

No romance

[aroaessidhe]

RATHANAEL THE SCORNED

Vespertine cosplay / 📷 david_roberts_portraits

[marrogerson]

just finished all of your works and I loved them all! they are exactly what I'm looking for in books and I'm absolutely gutted to have finished them all. I know you said you weren't writing a sequel to vespertine and I completely respect that and you have to do what is right for you! would you ever considering writing some bullet points of where you thought the plot might have gone or some headcanons we never got to see? <3

Hi anon,

Thank you so much! Honestly, I've considered sharing an outline of where I was going with the story to give readers some closure, but Vespertine stands decently on its own—things would be different had it ended on a huge cliffhanger. I can give you a couple of tidbits, though. One thing that I was enormously looking forward to writing was Leander becoming the revenant's part-time vessel and Artemisia getting to interact with it in a separate body. (The revenant, for its part, was excited to play endless games of "Stop hitting yourself!") And then there's the main unanswered question in the story, about the origin of revenants:

As I suspect many have guessed due to foreshadowing, the revenants are each a piece of the Raven King's sundered soul, which is why our revenant knows so much about Old Magic. I would have fully revealed that in Vespertine if I'd known I wasn't writing a sequel earlier in the process. (Side note, this doesn't make the revenant male, it's still a genderless entity!)

[terapsina]

Okay, it's been a while so here's an additional list of fantasy and sci-fi books with little to no romance in them that I've read recently and really loved.

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First post with books not heavy on the romantic subplots HERE.

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Once There Was ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Kiyash Monsef.

An Iranian American girl discovers that her recently dead father was a veterinary for magical animals and that she - like him - has inherited the ability to help these animals because of a family line reaching back for hundreds of generations.

The story deals with grief, rage, neglect and how it all intersects.

But it's also an incredibly magical story that wakes up all the wonder and love for animals that most children have and some never lose.

Interspersed through the book are also short fables and legends that Marjan's father used to tell her when she was young and are now gaining new meaning as she understands that they were more than stories.

(totally also recommend the audiobook version for those who enjoy good narration. Nikki Massoud does a freaking excellent job)

(Marjan does develop subtly budding feelings for someone in the story but it's kept very, very background. On a scale from 0 to 10 the romance reaches barely a 2).

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Vespertine ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Margaret Rogerson.

A story about a girl named Artemisia who is training to become a Gray Sister. A nun who cleanses the bodies of the dead so that their souls would not return as ravenous spirits that would then threaten the lives of the living.

But then her convent gets attacked by possessed soldiers and she's forced to pick up a sword holding the spirit of a very powerful revenant - a malevolent spirit of mass destruction that could possess her and kill everyone around her indiscriminately - despite not having the training of a Vespertine. So the only one who can teach her what she needs to know is the Revenant itself.

(The main character is autistic, antisocial and extremely introverted. And as for the romance, there is someone who develops feelings for her and we as the reader kinda notice it, but Artemisia the character notices nothing (also, the someone in question is not the Revenant, just thought I should clarify that). Amounts of romance in the book, like 1/10)

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A House With Good Bones ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by T. Kingfisher.

A Southern Gothic light horror with a bit of humor thrown in.

Sam Montgomery is worried about her mother so when her Paleoentomology dig falls through after she's already sublet her apartment for the next few months, she temporarily moves back in with her mother.

The mother who seems to be very stressed out while saying she's fine, and also seems to have acquired a sudden personality transplant. More specifically, she seems to have changed the house from the bright and colorful place it's been for decades, into the cookie cutter, bland (and slightly racist) fifties commercial kinda place it once was under the iron thumb of Sam's dead grandmother.

Is this some kind of weird delayed grief? Early onset alzheimers?

And why isn't there a single bug or insect in the entirety of the back yard's rose garden? Or why does she wake up to thousand's of ladybugs crawling all over each other - and Sam - one night in her childhood bedroom? And what's up with all these vultures staring at their house 24/7?

(Sam's POV is hilarious, her relationship with her mother one of the most genuinely emotional aspects of the book, and the story creepy enough to be exciting without reaching the point that would have made me throw the book down a hole for my own peace of mind. The romance... eh, there's a very nice dude Sam wouldn't mind going out with but it's not all that relevant to anything so amounts of romance don't reach past 2 out of 10).

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And finally some special shout outs to some other recently read books that I also enjoyed and that don't really have a lot of focus on the romance but that I don't feel like getting into rn.

Thornhedge ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by T. Kingfisher, Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Heather Fawcett (okay this one's a bit heavier on the amount of romance but it gets points for not being annoying and still doesn't reach past 4 out of 10 in its amount, would recommend this book for people who enjoyed The Memoirs of Lady Trent), Translation Slate ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐by Ann Leckie, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Theodora Goss (the daughters of classical book scientists like Frankenstein, Dr. Jekill and Mr. Hyde, Moreau and others come together to solve some White Chapel murders and maybe uncover a society that has been doing human experiments on women. 0.5 out of 10 on amounts of romance).

[vavuska]

The dead of Loraille do not rest. Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on. She’d rather deal with the dead than the living, who point and whisper about the odd girl who was once possessed by a violent spirit. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia fights back by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a high saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being now whispering in her head. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her in body and soul. But death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has a chance of stopping it. As Artemisia investigates a mystery of saints, secrets and dark magic, an ancient evil is stirring. Can an untrained girl, tormented by the burden of containing the revenant’s devouring power, have any hope of defeating it?

The complete Book of the Ancestor Trilogy, a stunning epic fantasy series by Mark Lawrence! Red Sister: At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In some few children the old bloods show, gifting rare talents that can be honed to deadly or mystic effect. But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls. Grey Sister: Behind its walls, the Convent of Sweet Mercy has trained young girls to hone their skills for centuries. In Mystic Class, Novice Nona Grey has begun to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the convent, Nona must choose which order to dedicate herself to—and whether her path will lead to a life of prayer and service or one of the blade and the fist. Holy Sister: The ice is advancing, the Corridor narrowing, and the empire is under siege from the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west. Everywhere, the emperor’s armies are in retreat. Nona Grey faces the final challenges that must be overcome if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice. But it seems unlikely that she and her friends will have time to earn a nun’s habit before war is on their doorstep.

This two books are very similar: both the protagonists, Artemisia in Vespertine and Nona in The Book of Ancestor, are orphans raised in a female-dominated holy place, trained in their ways. Both became possessed by devious spirits at some point of the story and both are reluctantly call to save the day. Both the characters are highly influenced by the traumas they endured (physically and psychologically) but while Artemisia — at the beginning of the book — is more isolated and lacks of friends, Nona, despite her more feral nature, is more easily going with people who became loyal friends to her. Both in Vespertine and Book Of Ancestor Trilogy there's a great curruption in the secular and religious hierarchies, but while in Vespertine those religious authorities are victims in their own way, in Book Of Ancestor the corrupted spiritual leaders are more mundane and their action are plotted by the political plans and ambitions of the royal family members.

The main difference is that Artemisia is not a warrior herself: when the convent is attacked by possessed soldiers (Revenants), she takes up a reliquary kept by an elderly nun and, thanks to the spirit that resided there, she runs into the fight, saving the day. Afterward, she is arrested by a priest — probably a future love interest — in conflict with himself and his religious beliefs.

There are a handful of supporting characters with their own special traits: a soldier who experienced a similar trauma to what Artemisia went through as a kid, whom she's able to connect with and help; a fellow nun from the convent who is very different from Artemisia (I appreciated their enemies-to-friends relationship, and her cleverness); and a grouchy but powerful elder who you can't help but adore (which is very similar to the cunning Abbess who took Nona under her care) .

The Revenant is an interesting character, who is supposed to be evil, and it is in some ways, but it’s also caring: it's the revenant that taught Artemisia to take care of herself, to consider herself worthy of being cared for.

Artemisia isn't as kickass as Nona ––many of the badass moments were due to the revenant controlling her––but she has her strengths. I appreciated that she grew to trust and care for the revenant despite how she was raised, and that she was able to push out of her comfort zone at times. It's nice to see how people in similar situations can turn out differently based on their individual experiences.

Book of the Ancestor, on the other hand, follows the growth of young Nona Grey, adopted into a convent of nuns known for their martial and magical skills. Nona and her friends must learn how to utilize the magic of their world to hopefully save their empire. Nona’s story, as she taps into her own potential and makes peace with herself — and the violence within her — is well-written and the self-immersion in her thoughts is cathartic and immediate.

The world of Book of the Ancestor deserves special attention. It is, in my reading, wholly unique. Giant ice sheets are slowly covering the world, squeezing nearly the entire population of the world into a narrow strip of land. It's a fascinating concept and becomes a major part of the series.

Overall, I enjoyed the series. It's fast-paced with characters that I came to enjoy (more on that in a moment). The books have a fun magic system that leads to excellent pay-offs in each of the books, and Lawrence plays with time, too, keeping the tension high throughout the stories.

I'm not a huge fan of magical academy tropes, which are very prevalent in Book Of The Ancestor (like the first book of the The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang). There are occasional moments of familiar tropes (there is a brief period where the book seems like it is aping the story of the first Harry Potter book beat for beat; luckily, that quickly fades out), but in the end, Nona and her friends more than turn this into their own story…helped by the fact that this most definitely isn’t a Chosen One story. Indeed, within the first few chapters, it’s revealed that the Chosen One prophecy of this world is hokum designed to distract people – and it’s that sort of decision that makes Book Of Ancestor a great trilogy.

In Book Of Ancestor, magic and supernatural abilities are more common and accepted, while in Vespertine is more marginal, at the point that only elderly nuns have a deep knowledge of the precious powers of the reliquary that they kept.

Nona Grey is also very similar to Rin from The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang: high skilled warriors, dominated by their fury, but loyal to their friends, used as weapons by powerful authorities. Even if Rin, at the end, falls victim of her rage and is more eager to be manipulated than Nona, who seems to be unaware of the deeper meaning of her own battles all the time and just follows the Abbess' indications.

And also the detailed distinction made by Lawrence of the four tribes and their powers reminds me of the one created by Susan Dennard in her Witchlands saga, in which every nation has their own elemental-related talents.

[anis-book-club]

i’m currently reading vespertine by margaret rogerson. i’m a bit over 30% of the way through and i love it so far!!!

here’s a quick sketch of one of the scenes:

“Nun!” The revenant's warning came too late. Ahead of us, one of the possessed soldiers had turned and sighted his crossbow. I watched the bold release, watched it spin through the air. Desperately, the revenant grasped for control. My mind had gone blank. Without thinking, without even truly understanding what I was doing, I granted it permission. My hand snapped up with inhuman speed and caught the bolt a hairsbreadth from my chest, the whine of its flight still buzzing in my ears. [excerpt from vespertine by margaret rogerson, page 104]

i definitely want to finish this sketch as a full illustration and draw more from vespertine as the visuals are so vivid and i’ve grown a bit attached to the story and characters already.

margaret rogerson also wrote an enchantment of ravens and sorcery of thorns, both of which i read last year multiple times and highly recommend. i'm excited to read the mysteries of thorn manor this year once it comes out this month! for more information, visit her website or she can be found on tumblr @marrogerson and instagram.

i also referenced charlie bowater's work from the vespertine cover to draw artemisia's clothes in this sketch. i love her art!—which can be found on her website and instagram.

[noveltyreads]

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson Book Review

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Having been introduced to Margaret Rogerson though her book, Sorcery of Thorns, I was so excited to delve into the world of her recent release, Vespertine. 

I knew coming into this that Vespertine was going to be different from her other books and I knew to come into this with an open mind. For starters, this book was knowingly aesthetically darker than her previous novels and there was no romance. It follows Artemisia, a Grey Sister who doesn't feel like she fits in with the other girls. She prefers to deal with dead people more than alive ones who whisper about her haunted past behind her back. When Artemisia's convent is attacked, she defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a relic. Known as "The Revenant," it can only be worn by those strong enough to wield it. As The Revenant and Artemisia grow accustomed to each other's presence, the two discover a dark plot to reawaken the fifth order spirits that previously bought mayhem to the world centuries ago and to bring them back to power. The mystery follows the pair's aim to discover who is aiding this dark goal in the first place and why. 

Admittedly, it took me a while to get into this book. At the start I felt like there was a slight information overload where I was trying to work out what was going on and what was what. I read 60 pages then put it aside for a while and then came back to it only recently. While having a rough start with me, I ended up really liking it by the end. I think Vespertine has laid the foundations for a great series if Rogerson wanted to continue down that path. The folklore/mythology in this book made it and there were so many references to a sequel that I started getting excited for one even though it hasn't been added to Goodreads yet or been officially announced. 

Character wise, my favourite had to be the sharp and witty Revenant whose banter with Artemisia was so fun to read. I also loved delving into the Revenant's backstory which I found interesting and worthy of more exploration in future novels. Artemisia was a darker sort of character and while she had a backstory that was just touched on in this book, I probably didn't relate to her as much as I wanted to in the beginning. 

The plot took me a while to get into too but I slowly found my footing after about 100 pages. I'm a slow reader and usually it takes me a while to get into a book but once I'm invested, the rest of the story just breezes through and that was definitely the case with Vespertine. The only negative for me was the love subplot with another character I wasn't a big fan of. I understood it but to me it still didn't justify a lot of the general events that occured in the book. Maybe that's just me but I would like to see that expanded on in more books if there'd be any more in this series. I'd be interested to see how that subplot develops in the future. 

All in all, it took me a while to get into Vespertine but once I did, I found myself breezing through. It took until around the 100-150 page mark for things to really fall into place, where I started to enjoy the story, plot and characters. The mythology/backstory was a strength in the novel. My only negative was with the subplot of one of the characters which I hope can be further developed in more books.

ACTUAL RATING: 4 STARS

[melanielocke]

📚 do you have any book recs with a MC who doesn't have a love interest or doesn't end up with the traditional, expected love interest? idc if it's sci-fi, fantasy, realistic fiction, w/ever... also love your blog <3

Most books I read do have romance in them but I have some you might be interested in

No romance:

Vespertine - Margaret Rogerson

This is about a nun with powers connected to ghosts who teams up with an ancient semi evil spirit to stop someone who is creating an army of ghost posessed soldiers. Artemisia generally dislikes being around people and has no love interest, but she does have an interesting bond with the revenant, the spirit she works with.

Not a lot of romance

Witchlands series - Susan Dennard

While most characters in this book do have a love interest, they spend most of the books apart from each other or not really doing anything with romance. The series is set on a continent with three empires and some more countries/territories that used to be at war and are now nearing the end of a twenty year truce. It starts out focusing on Safi, a truthwitch with the power to tell truth from lie. Together with her best friend and Threadwitch Iseult she has to flee when an emperor wants to marry Safi. They are aided by Merik, a Windwitch and prince of a kingdom that's starving and trapped between the empires and hunted by Aeduan, a Bloodwitch who can smell people's blood from across the continent. The series gets a lot more complicated over time with secret histories, magic, etc. I just reread them all in one go (except book 5 which is coming out in a year or so) and I would recommend reading them all after each other as the plot might become too complicated to understand if you forget too much.

Romance that is not as expected

Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao

This book reimagines several characters from Chinese history in a sci-fi dystopian Chinese inspired setting. In this land, a pair of male/female pilots pilot vessels that fight against aliens that try to kill people and a lot of times this ends with the female pilot dying. Zetian wants to take revenge when her sister dies after volunteering to pilot and volunteers herself. She ends up going to battle alongside the male pilot who killed her sister and ends up killing him in the process. This earns her the title "Iron Widow" and she gets paired with the strongest male pilot the land has to offer.

[six-improbable-things]

I know I haven’t used this as a reading blog in FOREVER, but I feel the need to talk about the book I just read because holy shit did it destroy me in all the best ways.

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

4.75 ⭐️

So first off I wanna say that idk if this was intentional on the author’s part, but oh my god were the autism vibes off the charts for Artemisia. Like, that’s my autistic icon. Idc if it’s canon canon, it’s canon to me.

Secondly, HOLY FUCKING SHIT did the way this book deals with abuse and toxic cycles and trauma and learning to love yourself destroy me. Artemisia bonded with a revenant and it had to teach her how to take care of herself, and then later she realized it was just as traumatized and fucked up as she was, and they helped each other heal and it destroyed me.

I’ve seen those tumblr posts where it’s like “imagine you get possessed by a demon and the demon is so appalled at how you live that it gets you to start taking care of yourself” and this was kind of that concept but so much better and done so well. And it covers so many amazing themes and topics:

The realization that everything you’ve ever been taught isn’t just largely a lie, but also just fundamentally wrong. And realizing that there’s been a cycle of abuse and bad decisions but also knowing that if no one had made that decision then things would be even worse. And betrayals and friendships and lonely old spirits and no one is 100% right, and no one (not even the villains) are 100% bad or wrong. And realizing that you’re just a puppet in the hands of a god, and that gods aren’t always good. And finally stepping out of your denial of your trauma and accepting that you need to heal. And growing up and maturing and making amends and realizing that people can change. And understanding that everyone, no matter how old or how powerful, still gets lonely and needs someone to talk to.

Also featuring:

Badass, kind and wise old ladies, who are badass because they are kind

Bitchy spirit possessing someone

Mutually beneficial possession.

A delightful number of hurt-comfort adjacent scenes

Cool nuns.

Undead angels????

A very lovely horse who deserves all the treats

Many, many ravens

No romance

Favorite Lines (will come back and add later)

The one about the goat and biting back as related to trauma

The one about swords and sewing needles as related to hands and power

The one about not wanting to do things being a sign

“That’s my human.”

(This book is not explicitly queer, nor is the main character explicitly labeled as autistic, but it does feel queer and autistic to me. But that’s just my personal relation to the book. May not carry over for everyone.)

[cozyspacesblog]

Vespertine ☾

By: Margaret Rogerson

I enjoyed this so much. I’ve never read anything in the fantasy genre quite like this. I obviously loved the relationship between Artemisia and the revenant. The revenant was so wonderfully sassy. His snarky attitude never got old. I also loved how continuously humble Artemisia was throughout her entire journey, even after being named a high saint. She never gave herself nearly enough credit. She was always so determined and resilient. Also, how can you not love Priestbane and Trouble? Precious animal companions; always there, close by, waiting to lend a helping hand.

Overall, I really loved this book, and don’t have any complaints that I feel are worth mentioning. I’ll definitely be looking at more of Margaret Rogerson’s work. Also, this one seemed to leave off in a way where we might see more of Artemisia and the revenant. (I sure hope so).🪦🗡️🤍

[kazz-brekker]

started reading vespertine by margaret rogerson and wow i thought the comparisons to venom were kind of strange but it’s actually pretty spot-on? i mean instead of an investigative reporter dating the alien that lives in him it’s about an aroace nun begrudgingly becoming friends with the evil ghost possessing her but the vibes of constantly bickering with the powerful and somewhat evil creature inhabiting your body are quite similar

[oblivionsdream]

My list of the top ten books that I read in 2021!

*They are in no particular order as I couldn’t possibly rank them

“We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway, to let it crack me open. I want to feel what there is to feel while I am here.” The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green-

This is the first time that a nonfiction book has ever made my list and it was just so amazing! It was introspective and thoughtful and made me cry over how beautiful humanity can be. Five out of five stars.

“But that is how a tragedy like ours or King Lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last minute.” If We Were Villains by M.L Rio-

Completely destroyed my spirit and I fear I will never recover from the devastation but I enjoyed every minute of it. It was a perfect ode to the great bard himself- just as poetic and just as tragic.

“I don’t need you to explain to me the concept of a magical land filled with fantastic creatures that only certain special children can enter. I am acquainted with the last several centuries of popular culture. There are books. And cartoons, for the illiterate.”

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan- This book is a hug and a sunny day. I don’t think I ever stopped smiling while reading. Endearing characters and friendships, so much humor and I LOVED how it poked fun at common fantasy tropes. Elliot is such a unique MC and I adore him.

“Just as it is in Malibu’s nature to burn, so was it in one particular person’s nature to set fire and walk away.” Malibu Rising by Taylor Reid Jenkins-

This book took me completely by surprise. It touched my heart in a way I didn’t expect. I’ve always been such a sucker for stories with deep family bonds especially between siblings and I loved the relationships between them. Though I hate Mick Riva so much

“My name is Rune Saint John. I am, before anything else, a survivor:” The Tarot Sequence by K.D Edwards-

I already knew I was going to love this series the moment I heard it was based off tarot and featured urban fantasy (my favorite genre). But I didn’t realize how much. So much sass and sarcasm that it should be spilling off the pages, amazing characters, top tier found family trope, action, angst, it pretty much has everything.

“I thought I cannot bear this world a moment longer.”

“Then, child, make another.” -Circe by Madeline Miller

Given how much I loved TSOA (and Greek mythology in general) I’m ashamed of how long it took me to read this book. It absolutely blew me away. It was lyrical and rich and powerful. It showed the gods in all of their mercurial cruelty and Circe was such a well written character. She was flawed, but found her own strength and tried for redemption. (I also totally didn’t get teary eyed at the mention of Achilles and Patroclus)

“You’ve been living a dream long enough. Welcome to your nightmare!” -Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

The book was wild and feral and I LOVED it. I deeply appreciated a female MC being unapologetically her worst self and I need to see more of that. Plus the poly rep!! The three of them are just too perfect and I can’t wait to see what’s to come.

“I don't think happily ever after is something that happens to you, Dev. I think it's something you choose to do for yourself.” -Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

So wholesome! So pure! This book just made me incredibly happy and it was impossible not to root for the characters. It was just so well done and a fun time. Plus the absolute delight of getting surprise ace spec rep when I wasn’t expecting it!! *chefs kisses*

“Sometimes, if you want to save other people, you need to remember to save yourself first.” -Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it didn’t disappoint! Artemisia and the Revenant’s relationship was one of my favorite things. It was wonderfully dark, had amazing characters and I just cannot wait to see where this story goes from here.

“The bright star holds, even as the darkness rises.” -Dark Rise by C.S Pacat

I’m actually still reading this one but I love it so much that it had to go on the list! I am so here for the fantasy world building, characters, the slow burn just everything! Though given everyone's reactions I’m scared to see how it ends 😂

[aro-who-reads]

Aro book review: Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Vespertine is the first book in a YA fantasy series. It follows Artemisia, who leaves the convent where she is training to be a nun after it is attacked and she ends up connected to an ancient magical spirit.

I particularly loved the characters in this: Artemisia herself, the revenant she is bound with, and Marguerite, her roommate from the convent. There were some really nice interactions between them!

While in some ways this book felt like it followed a lot of the standard patterns of YA fantasy, between the good characters and the decent world building I really enjoyed it!

I believe the author (who I think is aroace herself?) has confirmed the main character is aroace, and that this main be explored in the next book. In this one, it isn't really mentioned, but she certainly gave me aroace vibes. Romance isn't really mentioned at all (maybe alluded to with side characters) and I got the impression Artemisia just doesn't really ever think about it.

Really looking forward to reading the rest of this series when it comes out!

[marrogerson]

Hello! I love LOVE your books - you are hands down my favourite author. I am an aspiring writer & I admire your storytelling so much. Your books stand alone so well, while also leaving room for sequels (to be published or just dreamt about by readers haha). I think that’s a real talent! Would you share any of your plotting tips for leaving the readers satisfied AND wanting more?

Hi anon,

Thank you so much, that means a lot to me! It's genuinely crazy to me whenever I hear that I'm someone's favorite author.

Honestly, plotting has always been one of my weaker points as a writer. But in relation to what you're asking specifically, I wonder if it's because I usually approach books as standalones instead of series openers, and because of that the character arcs feel complete.

As far as advice goes, most of the time when I plot, I don't necessarily know what I'm doing... but my best trick is to ask myself, "What kind of emotional and/or personal growth moments do I want these characters to have, and how can I make that happen through plot?" So for example in Vespertine, I knew I wanted a scene in which the revenant fully possesses Artemisia to save her life but then voluntarily gives back control afterward. It was only later that I figured out how to make that happen in a plot sense.

And then there are my infamous open endings, which I just really enjoy writing. Some readers love them and some readers hate them! But I like to end my stories with a sense that the characters have more adventures to come, they may be done with this chapter but they haven't finished living out the most interesting parts of their lives. It's my hope that imagining what might happen next keeps them alive in the minds of readers.

I hope that helps—and thank you again!

[books-and-draws-eclectic]

I love the banter between Artemisia (Vespertine) and the revenant, it is peak tired mentor + chaotic mentee relationship

Also they remind me so much of Silas and Nathaniel, this is just perfect

[aroaessidhe]

2021 reads // twitter thread

Vespertine

a nun in a medieval world plagued by ghosts gets possessed by a powerful revenant,  & is mistaken for a saint by people who see her wielding its power

venom x sabriel vibes

no romance!

the bickering between artemisia and the revenant is so good. i love them.