“But what is a Diviner, really? A foundling?” He looked me up and down. “The abbess strips you of name, face, clothes, distinction- cloisters you to the cathedral grounds, where you are destined to drink blood and drown and dream. You know of the Omens and signs and how to look down your nose at everyone, but nothing of what really goes on in the hamlets. Nothing of the real Traum that awaits you the moment your tenure is up- which, given your age, can’t be too long now.” He sucked his teeth and grinned at me in a way that was not at all friendly. “Careful, Number Six. Someone will accuse you of having too much fun up here on this god-awful hill.”
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
The Knight and the Moth deserves all the hype it has been receiving because it is a gorgeous romantasy that draws you into gothic stone cathedrals with gargoyles that speak and doesn’t let go. Rachel Gillig built an absolutely gorgeous world with darkness whispering at every turn. I adored it.
Sybil has been known for the past ten years as “Six.” She is one of six Diviners that live at Aisling Cathedral, home to the Diviners and the abbess who watches over them. If someone comes looking to read their future, they seek out the abbess. The girls, whichever chosen, then drink the blood of whose future they are about to read and are pushed into a spring where they are drowned and can see the omens of what is to come next. Their eyes are covered by a thin shroud, no one ever seeing what they truly look like underneath.
When the young king, Benji, comes to Aisling for a reading, he brings his knights with him. The Diviners are excited. Knights mean a chance to escape and have fun even if it’s just for a night or two. But Sybil doesn’t feel the same way. She has spent her entire life being the good one, the one who never breaks the rules. And she is the one who draws the short straw and must divine for the King. But all Sybil sees are bad omens which don’t bode well for the future of Traum.
Rory is a knight in the king’s service, and from the moment they meet, Sybil and Rory are at each other’s throats, driving each other into anger and annoyance. But with Rory comes Sybil’s first true taste of freedom, one she makes happen for her sisters, knowing once they are free of their tenure that their lives will never be the same. Yet when her sisters start disappearing one by one, Sybil knows she is going to have to turn to Rory to help her find out what is going wrong.
I loved this book so much. From Sybil and Rory to the gargoyle who only calls people “Bartholomew,” to the magic of the Omens, this book was damn perfect and I am really craving the next one. I needed it the moment I finished this one! The Knight and the Moth is not a book you want to miss!
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