I heard a lot of buzz online about The Knight & the Moth by Rachel Gillig before I read it, and so I was looking forward to it. But despite, the gorgeous prose and beautiful world building, it fell short in my expectations, which, I confess, were pretty high.

The Knight & the Moth is a beautifully told story. The writing is full of imagination and lovely descriptive prose, which is lyrical without being overbearing and it's clear the author loves classic storytelling. The plot, while graceful, is slow-moving and occasionally feels like it's more interested in being poetic than delivering a truly engaging or surprising narrative.

The story features our hero, Six, who is one of six religious seers in a convent-type estate. She was bought as a young orphan along with five other seers, who are named by One through Five. Wealthy patrons flock from all over the land to this place to pay gold to hear their fortunes told by the six seers.

The story begins when a group of knights and the new king arrive to have the king's fortune told. The seers must drown in a magic spring and are gifted with visions that they then interpret for the patrons when they are brought back to consciousness.

Six is drawn to one of the knights, Rodrick, and the author uses the standard trope of a heroine and hero who hate each other at first. A classic enemies-to-lovers storyline follows that's truly sweet and charming.

As the story progresses we learn that the knights are out to destroy the religion to which Six has devoted her life and, while she opposes them at first, she slowly learns the truth and the lies about the only life she knows.

While the story is beautiful and well-written, the pacing is off, and I found I had to force myself to pick up the book from time to time and even to put it aside for a while to read other, more fast-paced, reads. The ending was predictable, and I found myself frustrated that the characters couldn't see the same foreshadowing that I saw.

The Knight & the Moth is worth experiencing, especially if you enjoy introspective, symbolic storytelling that prioritizes mood over action. It just didn't enchant me the way I had hoped and anticipated after reading the glowing reviews. It's a lovely tale, not a revelation.

The ending sets up the story for a series called The Stonewater Kingdom. While I may pick up the next book as well, it won't be on my pre-order list, and I may just wait for it to come to my local library.