Author: Rachel Gillig
Genre: Romantasy
Series: The Stonewater Kingdom # 1
Publication: May 20, 2025, 400 pages
Source: Libby
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. In her dreams she receives visions from six 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.
Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.
MY THOUGHTS
I read The Shepherd King duology by Rachel Gillig when it first released. I loved the first book, but the sequel left me disappointed. With that in mind, I approached her new series with some hesitation. When it comes to a new series, there are usually two outcomes: either the author captures the same magic as before, or ends up rehashing what they already know. Unfortunately, The Knight and the Moth does neither.As one of this year’s most anticipated releases, The Knight and the Moth completely misses the mark. The plot and worldbuilding were weak and lackluster. The entire book centers around Diviners a.k.a damaged girls cloistered away from the world, worshipped for their ability to see the future. The story follows Sybil, a Diviner, as she searches for her missing sisters with the help of the king and his knights. The plot was so mind-numbingly boring that I struggled to stay engaged. I didn’t care about the story, the stakes (barely any), or the characters. The pacing was painfully slow, and the concept unexceptional and uninteresting. The whole idea with the coins? I thought it was dumb. As for the villain, I figured out their identity within the first 20% of the book, which made the ending entirely underwhelming.
Sybil was an unlikeable protagonist. There wasn’t a single trait; physical or otherwise that made her as special as the abbess, Benji, or Rory claimed she was. She’s one of the blandest, most irritating characters I’ve read in a long time. I didn’t understand why she was knighted and, honestly, I didn’t care. Rory, the love interest, wasn’t any better. His sudden shift from cold disdain to obsessive, overprotective “alpha male” made zero sense. Just days earlier, he was insulting her. Suddenly, he’s a lovesick puppy ready to throw his life away for her? Please. It was weird, unconvincing, and absolutely not the “enemies to lovers” dynamic it may have been aiming for.
And for anyone saying Bartholomew was the only funny or worthwhile character, lies. The only time he was remotely interesting was at the very end, when we learn the truth about him. But even that wasn’t enough to save this trainwreck of a book.
I’m highly disappointed. I expected it to be on par with One Dark Window, or at the very least, better than the entire Shepard Duology. But it was actually worse. I don’t recommend it and while I’m glad I finished it to satisfy my curiosity, this will be the last Gillig book I ever read.
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