I found this book from Lisa Huang’s blog and it sounded so good that when I found out my local library had a copy, I immediately went out and borrowed it!

An Enchantment of Ravens is the story of Isobel and Rook. Isobel is a master portrait artist, the best there is for her Craft. Rook is the mysterious autumn prince, who comes out of hiding to commission a portrait from Isobel. But when she accidentally paints him with mortal sorrow in his eyes, she threatens his position as prince and is whisked away to the faerie realms.

I really enjoyed the world-building in this book. There are very clear, familiar rules about the fey – they are beautiful, immortal, and heartless. They crave human craft, but are unable to make any for themselves. In a way, they are both powerful and powerless, because while they are full of magic, they are also wholly dependent on humans for the things they crave. And because of this paradox, you should never trust a faerie; they may not be able to lie, but they will do their best to make sure that what you wanted isn’t quite what you got.

The relationship between Isobel and Rook was pretty fun as well. I enjoyed their interactions, and it was interesting to see how Rook tries to convey emotion (although he often does not succeed). They had a lot of great moments in the book. That said, I did not, and still do not, understand how they fell in love. It takes place very early on and I didn’t really see a reason for it. Felt a lot like instalove, to be honest.

[Mild spoilers ahead] Another thing I didn’t quite get was the role of Gadfly, Isobel’s first patron and the faerie behind all of this. I understood all the scheming and it fit him quite well, but I don’t understand why he did it and what he gained from all this. After all, it seems like his position stayed the same, although the power dynamics definitely changed.

Mino quibbling aside, this was a fantastic book. I really loved the world building here and how faerie rules were interwoven with the plot and Isobel and Rook’s relationship. It is definitely an enchanting tale, and one for fans of the fey.