‘The Knight and the Moth’ by Rachel Gillig

Title: The Knight and the Moth

Genre: Romantic Fantasy; Dark Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of Stonewater Kingdom Duology

Synopsis: Sybil Delling, “Six,” is a young Diviner who dreams prophecies for the wealthy. When the new boy-king and his knighthood enter her life, everything she thought she knew shatters, even while she finds a family worth fighting for.

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Content Warnings

General Rating: Adult (18+ / TV-MA)

Spice Rating: Severe

Allusions to oral sex in chapter 4, open door sex in chapter 25, use of f*ck as a noun to refer to sexual activity

Violence Rating: Moderate:

Grotesque descriptions of the Omens, action violence with swords, daggers, staffs, and explosives; blood and injury detail

Profanity Rating: Severe

Casual moderate use of f*ck, occasional use of b*tch

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Book Review

Overall rating: 5/5 stars

What I Liked

I loved Six/Sybil. She is courageous, brave, and strong (physically and mentally). She has endured much and has many questions. Once she begins asking questions, she can’t stop until she has answers… and those answers will cost her entire worldview.

It’s a journey of deconstruction, not unlike how many millennials are deconstructing their faiths in the wake of Christian nationalism, unjust war, government corruption, and the taint of powerful religion.

Sybil isn’t afraid. Well, that’s not quite right. She’s terrified, but she keeps going. And when she finds another family who sees her to her very core and loves her for who she is, she finds home. Her status as a Diviner is coveted by the powerful, but she finds her safe place in the knighthood—with a particular knight.

Rory is a little like Mr. Darcy, cold and aloof to begin with, but falls first and falls hard for Sybil. He sees behind her shroud. He sees her, and she him. Similar in upbringing and in their mission to bring down the Omens, they connect over their orphaned loneliness, first tossing words like sharpened knives, then finding a safe place to land with the other.

Then, the gargoyle. Endearing, childlike, and wholesome, the gargoyle is Six/Sibyl’s steadfast companion. The gargoyle has been with Six since the very beginning and has latched onto her, refusing to be left behind at Aisling. He’s the comic relief, yet also provides a tie to morality and that which is good and true.

“If you value your friend when he fights your battles for you—when he is rogue and ruthless—you must value him when he is gentle, too. Otherwise you do not value him at all.” (293)

What I Didn’t Like

Betrayal. Must there be a betrayal in every high fantasy novel? Are there no other ways of twisting the reader into knots? While I sniffed betrayal in the air earlier in the story, the execution of it was still quite satisfactory.

Major Themes

1. Deconstructing faith: “I believe in the Omens as much as you do… But I have no faith in them.” (77)

2. Being seen and known: “It’s hard to see who I am when I am lost in what’s expected of me.” (319)

3. The power of stories: “To tell a story is in some part to tell a lie, isn’t it?” (1, 76)

Writing Style
What excellent writing. Lyrical, beautiful, evocative, and entirely suitable for the novel’s mood. There are no modern quips, no lighthearted, crude jokes. It’s simply fits the story. It is poetic but not verbose. Gillig’s style is one of the best I’ve ever read. I simply loved it.

Its mood is dark, eerie, descriptive, and atmospheric. The themes are complex and nuanced. Even those who are portrayed as innocent shelter more than what is seen with the naked eye. Twists are revealed masterfully; while I suspected one or two of them, they were subtly dropped throughout the narrative and then grandly revealed in an entirely satisfying way at the climax.

In the last chapter, I thought everything had been nicely resolved (the end!), except I knew that this was but the first book in a duology. What would you know, the book ends with a cliffhanger—beware! It’s a good one, and I am eagerly anticipating the release of book two.

Tropes

• Enemies to lovers

• Gothic fantasy

• Hidden secret

• Found family

• Dismantling the system

Books Like This

• His Fair Assassin series by Robin La Fevers

• One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

For a deeper exploration of the theme of deconstructing faith in The Knight and the Moth, check out this article.

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