Book Review: The Knight and The Moth Has One of the Best Side Characters of All Time
I absolutely loved Gillig’s YA fantasy duology debut, The Shepherd King Duology, so I had the highest expectations for her adult fantasy debut. Set as a gothic mystery in an atmospheric fantasy setting, The Knight and the Moth continues to have the beautiful prose Gillig is becoming known for. Was my favorite character a batlike gargoyle? Yes. In fact, I would argue he carried the whole book with his endearing phrases and protectiveness over our FMC, Sybil, or number Six as she is known. While this book had a rocky start for me, I did end up loving it, and after the ending, I’m frothing at the bit for book two. For some reason, the story and writing style of this book reminded me so much of The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Perhaps it was again, the gargoyle, with the clever quips and phrases, exasperation of characters with other characters, and lots of medieval knights, so it gave me a lot of old school fantasy and fairytale vibes. And so much clever humor. If you love gallantry and irreverent knights, old magic and creatures, and a mystery that will keep the pages turning, you will probably love this. Oh, and of course, there’s a romantic subplot that I would have liked a smidgen more development of, but still thoroughly enjoyed. So should you add this fantasy novel to your TBR? Let’s find out (don’t worry, this review is spoiler free)…
Still wanting to get your hands on the limited edition Fairyloot copy pictured above? Mercari still has many of them up for sale. Save $10 off your first purchase.* Good luck!
P.S. Want to read my reviews of Gillig’s backlist? You can find them here: One Dark Window
Things to Know:
Book one in an unfinished series
Fantasy mystery
Romantic subplot with some spice
Gothic fantasy setting
Best side character of all time?
TW: drowning
Like I mentioned above, at first I felt it was off to a rocky start because I didn’t love the Diviners sleeping around with so many randoms (What?!), nor the constant smoking. That’s a big ick for me. But don’t worry, I was pretty soon immersed in the slightly spooky and dreamlike setting Gillig created for us. Sybil has virtually no memory of life before the Tor, where she and her fellow Diviners drown daily in a magical spring to give people good or bad omens. It’s basically constant torture, but apparently they only have to serve for 10 years, before their time at the Tor is over, and they’re able to leave and live quiet lives wherever they want. Only one by one, Diviners are going missing. Sybil, aka Six, is determined to find her ‘sisters’, and enlists the help of the boy-king, and his knights. But they want her help in return. So ensues them traipsing about the different Hamlets trying to find answers (keeping this spoiler free!).
We would all ride at dawn for Bartholomew, our beloved batty gargoyle. I know I’m not the first to be absolutely smitten (in a must-be-protected-at-all-costs way) with this side character who had so much personality, and possibly one of the most tragic stories. While I enjoyed all the characters, I have to say, he was my favorite.
Sybil definitely grew on me because I wasn’t sure about her at first. She’s the perfect Diviner, at first I didn’t see a lot of depth to her character, but as the book progressed and we peeled away more layers, more and more of her personality began to shine. She’s not shy, quiet, or obedient. She’s strong and cares deeply in doing what’s right. And as we get towards the end, she has such righteous anger that you can’t help but root for her. Plus, she’s actually pretty sassy with the comebacks.
And I loved Rory (I mean, it helped that one of my first crushes growing up was a boy named Rory). Aside from his smoking, he was pretty great as book boyfriends go. Very protective, wears his armor well (hehe), and has a lot of secrets. He kind of gave me Kaz Brekker vibes on occasion.
Now comes the mystery and the twists. Did I guess them all? Yep. If you’re paying attention, you’re going to catch on pretty quickly, but I wasn’t mad about it. If anything, it kept me reading to find out if I was right. And while I wouldn’t call this a fast paced novel, it wasn’t slow either.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel a lot, and if you like Gillig’s other work, I think you’ll also like this one. If you’re looking for a romance forward read with lots of spice, you might not enjoy it as much. However, if you’re more of an epic or fairytale fantasy reader that loves a romantic subplot, lots of mystery, creatures, and magic, you’ll probably love this. I would also highly recommend the audiobook, which was phenomenal. the narrator had an almost ethereal quality to her voice, and it truly brought the story to life in my mind. Many thanks to Libro.fm for an ALC and Orbit Books for an incredible immersive read. Cannot wait for book two!
Final rating: 4.5 stars
Favorite Quotes:
“I told you the night we met to call me Rory.”
“And I might have. But then we got to talking, and suddenly there was nothing about you that made me want to encourage familiarity.”
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“I’ll likely regret saying this—but keep your hands out of my pants.”
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“What fun! What a wonderful display of valor on my part.”
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“The thing is—I think I’d do anything you asked of me.”
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“Bartholomew is in the throes of despair. A rather undervalued state of being, if you ask me.”
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