And while she gets to know Rook more intimately than any of her other clients, she accidentally paints mortal sorrow into his eyes. But upon one of his usual visits, Gadfly tells Isobel that she should expect the Autumn Prince soon. Isobel always wishes for practical things and words them right, much to the delight of her regular client and wish-granter Gadfly. All masters of Craft receive enchantments as a form of payment, but if worded wrong these wishes can go awry. Her Craft- a form of human creativity that cannot be done by Fair Folk without risk of harm-is legendary for someone her age, and various Fair Ones come to visit her parlor to be painted, if only for a small price.

Our narrator is a young portrait artist named Isobel who lives in a village called Whimsy where it is eternally summer.

And I’m so happy to say that An Enchantment of Ravens was that book for me. I wanted a story where the Fae were humanoid with tree roots for limbs and flowers for lips, where they worshipped nature instead of just lived in it- something closer to the rendition of Celtic folklore including the Wild Hunt, changelings, and caverns beneath the earth. Sure, all of the characters had pointy ears, magical powers, and lived somewhat near the forest, but that’s about where the similarities cut off.

I’ve always been obsessed with faeries and elvish folklore, and while I’ve read just about every book related to those mythologies nothing ever seemed quite right. I’ve been waiting for a very long time for a book like this to come out. T his book is a spring banquet of ripe grapefruit wine, a summer morning beneath swaying willow trees, an autumnal bonfire deep in the woods, and a wintry dusk backset to the wind.

An enchantment of ravens ending