The Knight and The Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom #1), by Rachel Gillig
The Book
Synopsis:
Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. She sleeps, and dreams of seven unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum’s windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.
But just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral, and Sybil dreams of a moth—the death Omen. Then, one by one, the Diviners begin to vanish.
To find them, Sybil enlists the knight’s help. But the world outside the cathedral’s cloister is wrought with peril. The seven Omens are not merely figures that visit her wakeless mind—they are real. Ancient, sorcerous, and cunning, Sybil must face each of them to recover the lost Diviners. And the knight, with whom she has become inextricably entangled, may be one of them.
My Review
The Knight and The Moth is the first novel in the epic romantic fantasy series The Stonewater Kingdom, written by Rachel Gillig, published by Orbit Books. A lush worldbuilding, rich in terms of imagery, a really atmospheric prose tied with a well built belief system, together with an intriguing plot and a highly enjoyable romantic subplot and the adequate amount of banter to deliver an excellent novel.
Sybil has been a Diviner for nine years, with no memories from a time before becoming Six; drowning to receive dreams from the Omens. When the rest of her other five sister Diviners start vanishing, and with the negative of the abbess to help her, she seeks assistance from somebody outside the cathedral. That's how she ends travelling with Rodrick (Rory), a knight from the young King entourage, venturing outside the cathedral to a world she knows nothing about, with also part of the King group and a gargoyle that calls everybody Bartholomew (and that steals the show at some points); a journey across Traum to discover the truth behind the Diviners' disappearance.
Sybil as a female main character is quite an interesting combination of both soft and strong; she's undertaking a journey that will challenge her own beliefs, becoming a "bad girl", non obedient, for first time in her life, something that requires a ton of determination. And in the company of Rory, an heretical that will mock many times her beliefs, but which is the perfect counterpoint to Sybil; he might be a bit too snarky at first sight, but he will do anything he can to protect Sybil.
The romance between these two is a little bit of a slowburn, with Gillig smartly playing with the initial dislike but also the yearning; it feels as a really natural progression. It's not too spicy, but it suits well with the rest of the narrative.
While the secondary cast pales a bit in comparison with our main characters, most of them have remarkable moments, such as giving Sybil the armor, or the gargoyle being a squire (seriously, I love him so much).
Gillig's worldbuilding is simply excellent, with a great use of the imaginery to create a religion that is central part of the theocratic kingdom of Traum; well defined, with its symbols and beliefs, drawing from the gothic. Readers are given the information as they need it, really smooth, not affecting the excellent pacing.
The Knight and the Moth has been a really enjoyable read, perfect if you are looking for a fantasy novel with a slowburn romantic subplot that complements perfectly the bigger plot that opens the world to the readers; after that ending, I can be sure that I will be reader the second book on this series as soon as possible!
