Best book of the year

Vespertine was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, so I was not happy when it took months for my preorder copy to arrive, and when it was postponed to a year I decided to cancel and pay triple money for one that suprisingly would arrive a day later (that never happens, to get an English book in a day!). Best decision ever! It also meant it had to live up to a lot, since I spent so much effort on one book. Ok I kinda spoiled it by saying best decision ever because I am very confident that nothing I read in 2022 will be as good as this book and this will be my 2022 favorite read. It totally lived up to the hype and then some more!

It’s very uncommon to get disability rep in a fantasy world (in a good way, not magically healed), and it is even more rare for neurodiversity to be featured. Seriously, name one fantasy book with an autistic main character! And I mean, if there are any, please leave a comment because I need this. With Artemisia, the main character, I feel SEEN. She’s autistic without us being explicitly told she is, and it’s both her strength and her weakness. You can see her rich inner world, and the contrast of how it comes across to others, how she tries to connect and tell how she empathizes but fails. Her journey is an epic one, and I loved every minute of it! Especially her inner demon, everyone should have one of those and I kinda want one now lol!

The story is amazing and unique, in a world where the dead can become evil spirits, with nuns and saints where relics are actual trapped demons that can talk to the wearer, and just when you think you know the world, it turns upside down. Many plot twists! I love the side characters too, Marguerite has such an amazing arc and Jean is just so lovable, and the evil guy is very complex which are the best villains. Revenant is the best of course, I love how she is very complex and grumpy! The pacing was done very well, I wasn’t bored for a minute and just wanted to keep reading, and the banter was hilarious which is also one of my favorite things in a book.

I normally am a fan of standalones, but this book makes me want to have a sequel - not because of the ending which was perfect but I’m not ready to let these characters go.