If ACOTAR Were Rewritten

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have never met anyone more frustrating, or brave, or beautiful. I love you. —Rook

Sasha Alsberg was right when she said that people who loved ACOTAR would enjoy this book. An Enchantment of Ravens has been trending both on Instagram and Goodreads, and I am very pleased to tell you that the hype is legit. Although there really shouldn’t be any competition or comparison between the two (ACOTAR is NA, while AEOR is YA), I thought that this book was way better than ACOTAR (i.e. there wasn’t unnecessary, steamy content).

Essentially, AEOR is a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It follows Isobel, a gifted painter who is popular among the fae. She eventually garners the attention of Rook, the powerful, brooding prince of the autumn court. Unlike her peers, Isobel possesses the unique ability of making her fae subjects look human in their paintings. When she inadvertently creates a masterpiece that reflects Rook’s hidden vulnerability, he becomes enraged and demands that she stand trial in his domain. On their journey to the autumn court, Isobel and Rook gradually come to a mutual understanding. Unfortunately, their relationship may cost them their lives…and more.

For me, AEOR was a meaningful love story. I was already familiar with some of the plot’s aspects, but I didn’t feel bored or jaded because the characters were so delightful and well-developed. I particularly admired Isobel for her desire to stay herself. She genuinely loved Rook, but she refused to become immortal at the expense of her humanity (i.e. her artistry). This side of Isobel’s personality made me grin because it was so “anti-Bella,” if you get my drift. Hahaha. I loved Twilight when I was a teenager, but I was ecstatic to encounter a heroine who wasn’t willing to give up everything just to be with a boy forever. High five to all my empowered female friends!

As for Rook, he was like Disney’s Beast in that there was a lot of depth beneath his glamour (which hid his supposedly frightful appearance). Isobel assured him that he wasn’t the monster that he thought he was, and I completely agreed with her. Rook was definitely the main source of humor in the novel. He was the type who could make people laugh even though he didn’t intend to be funny, at least most of the time. Furthermore, it was fascinating that Rook’s nature as a proud and vain fae made him much more likable. Charming, even. Pride and vanity aren’t traits that I find attractive in real life. However, the author crafted Rook in a manner that made me realize he actually had a right to be that way. Thankfully, these traditionally negative qualities didn’t influence the power relations between Rook and Isobel. In fact, the ending of the book had a surprisingly Feminist tone. 😉

Since Isobel was a painter, art played an important role in this book. As I read it, I couldn’t help but wonder if the author were an artist herself. There were a lot of details about how Isobel used a variety of natural ingredients for her paint, as well as what kinds of paint she used to produce particular portraits. With that in mind, I also enjoyed this book because of its mildly educational content; it was like my very own Painting 101 class.

If you check out other reviews of AEOR, you might notice that most of them have one thing in common: they praise the author’s flowery writing style. Hmm…I myself enjoyed the language in this book, which reminded me of some of my favorite, elegantly written works, like Marie Rutkoski’s The Winner’s Curse and Roshani Chokshi’s The Star-Touched Queen. It was clear that Margaret Rogerson had a talent for painting with words. Still, there were times that the writing became overwhelming. It was good that my Kindle had a built-in dictionary because otherwise I would’ve had a difficult time checking out many unfamiliar, literary words. Of course, this criticism is subjective. You won’t have any problem if you have a super expansive vocabulary. ^^

In the end, AEOR made me bask in complete wonder and happiness. It was like ACOTAR, but so much better. It was basically a glorious painting in literary form. I’m definitely adding this to my shelf of favorite books! ❤ Be prepared to have a happy book hangover. :3