I loooooved this. The story was extremely detailed and immersive that I could picture it all in my mind as vividly as if I was watching a movie. Not only is the cover beautiful but the illustrations within the book are gorgeous and are a great addition. 

Very much gave Coraline vibes with the themes of the a girl finding a portal to this other world..

And the Other Mother is basically Death. Feeding off of their victims.

The beginning was a bit slow but once I got to the halfway point then banged it out in one night. Would not recommend reading in the dark in the middle of the night because I started to spook myself out, unless you're into that then go for it!

 CW: death of parent, death, (view spoiler) blood, bullying (only at the beginning), suicide

Overall, the book was very quiet. That could be explained with Olivia being mute, since that led to not as much dialogue as usual, but in my opinion, that wasn’t the only reason. It was also just the whole vibe of the story. It didn’t hinge on shock value or on fast-paced action, and Olivia didn’t have over-the-top reactions or seemed like she even reacted much to begin with. While I kind of liked that, it also did admittedly make it a bit boring and monotonous. I never really found myself at the edge of my seat or completely invested, since not much seemed to be going on. On top of that, it took a while for the plot to really get going - the first half of the book barely had any action to begin with. So because of that, combined with the quietness, I can see why some people struggled with this.

I liked the way Schwab progressed the plot. The whole idea of there being

two Gallants that were a bit like good and colourful and evil and grey

was intriguing. I do wish she’d played with it a bit more than she ended up doing, though. I had some theories that I thought would come true that excited me, and when that didn’t happen, I was a little bit disappointed. Not that the actual twist was bad by any means, but there was some potential that wasn’t being used.

The ending was a bit too depressing - which, fair enough, did fit into the book’s atmosphere and the way the story’d been written up to that point, but it left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Something happened during the climax that I wish didn’t, and it ruined it a bit for me. Plus, there were certain things that didn’t feel wrapped up enough to me. They weren’t exactly loose threads that Schwab forgot to properly end, but they did give the story a half-finished look.

The characters themselves also didn’t add much loudness. They didn’t stand out at all, and relationships developed almost a bit too quickly. While it made sense that Olivia got attached fast - after all, she’d spent her entire life living in an unwelcome and uninviting place with no family or friends -, it was still hard to understand it completely. I didn’t feel like I saw the relationship buildup well enough. The story was only set over the course of a few days, though, so maybe there was just no way to do it more realistically.

Admittedly, there was nothing wrong with the characters themselves; they were completely fine. Olivia was a non-annoying, sometimes painfully relatable protagonist. Matthew I even liked a lot, which made the climax and the ending a bit emotional for me. They - or at least the side characters - just didn’t feel developed enough .

A part of the book I really loved and appreciated was Olivia’s muteness. I had never read about a mute protagonist before, so it was really interesting to me. Plus, it was an integral part of the story and showed some hardships that I’d never thought about before. And while there was ableism, it didn’t get to be too much, and Olivia knew how to fight against it. She wasn’t weak-willed and meek, especially not at the beginning of the story (later a bit more, but the circumstances were different, so it made sense) which was an almost pleasant surprise. On top of that, she was completely okay with being mute; it was always just other people's reactions and actions that frustrated her.

The only part I wasn’t completely a fan of was the sign language. Part of that might just be a me-thing. Years ago, I once watched a video from a Booktuber who knew sign language, and she talked about disliking the way it was usually portrayed in books, because it was always full sentences written in italics, despite the fact that sign language didn’t have the same kind of syntax as spoken language. Ever since I watched that video, I can’t unsee that, and so it always bothers me a bit, even if I don’t think it’s problematic or offensive to write full sentences.

The other part was the unlikeliness of Olivia even being fluent in sign language. Schwab explained it by there having been a matron at Olivia’s pre-Gallant home, Merilance, who had taught her. And sure, that was a good explanation. But at the same time, all the matrons currently at Merilance were all rather bad people who didn’t actually care about their students. So the idea that there used to be one patient enough to teach Olivia presumably everything about sign language so that she could be fluent wasn’t very realistic.

However, none of that bothered me that much; it's just that I simply couldn’t help but notice it.

Lastly, the writing. It was a bit weird at times - there were a lot of similes used, and not all of them really made sense. While I enjoyed Schwab’s writing for the most part - it was whimsical and wonderful -, it did read a bit forced sometimes. As if the author wanted to make it obvious that her writing was beautiful but without making sure that it actually fit.

Now that I'm finished with this review, I can see that I have almost more negative things to say, which makes the 4-star-rating confusing. But the thing is that I enjoyed the book! I just think you should go into it with the right expectations. There’s not going to be much action until like two thirds of the way in. It was more of a quiet character-driven story that focused specifically on Olivia and her yearning for a family and a place to call home, and less of a fast-paced, nail-biting, intricate fantasy novel. 

i honestly wasn’t sure what i was expecting with this book, but i definitely enjoyed it a lot! this book was haunting and beautiful, turning ghosts and haunted houses in a  different turn. i already fell in love with the main character, olivia, from the start! what i found to be slightly disappointing was that there seemed to be a huge buildup for an ending that felt a bit rushed and underwhelming. other than that, i enjoyed this book so much! :)

A beautifully written haunting story.

I accidentally picked two very similar books to read at the same time: this and the audiobook In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant. Both have young protagonists trying to figure out the mystery of a weird house. The main character of this story is a girl called Olivia - a girl with no voice. At the beginning of the story she lives in an orphanage, and the only thing she has from her family is her mother’s journal. She receives a letter from her uncle, inviting her to return to their family home - a house called Gallant. When Olivia arrives at the house, she realises there is much she doesn’t know about her family and the house.

The book has an interesting layout: spread throughout the book are illustrations and pages from her mother's journal. And the cover design and the end sheets are absolutely gorgeous. The content, however… I don’t know whether I was somehow distracted or if the writing style was not for me, but I noticed that I had to constantly reread pages and parts of the text because I realised my mind had just drifted and I hadn’t internalized anything I had read.

The reading experience felt heavy, I didn’t much care for the main character and the plot raised a lot of questions. 

I didn’t feel too connected to the characters, and somehow the mystery of the house was not explored enough for my taste. I didn’t understand the logic behind the plot: why were the Priors so determined to guard the secret? Why was the big bad dying? What would have happened if all of the Priors were to disappear? And my biggest pet peeve of them all: the main character falls into a trap that causes the death of another character. I don’t like this trope at all.