♥ Rebecca ♥'s Reviews > Vespertine

Unfortunately I found this really boring. It was very well written and I enjoyed Artemisia. But most of the book was just Artemisia and the spirit possessing her having conversations in her head. There were occasionally other character around but not often.

This is a fantasy world filled with all kinds of ghosts that are captured, destroyed, freed, or used by nuns and priests. Artemisia becomes possessed by a powerful type of spirit and goes on the run and eventually has to fight another powerful spirit that is trying to rise. She makes friends with her spirit and they remain entwined in the end. There is no romance in this book.

A lot of reviews mention that Artemisia has anxiety or PTSD. But I thought she had autism. I have autism myself and I related to a lot of her experience. The way she hated crowds and socializing could be due to anxiety. But there were a lot of other things that I don’t think could be explained by anxiety or PTSD. Such as how Artemisia had trouble understanding facial expressions or voice inflections. There were several times where she mentioned that she didn’t understand what someone was trying to tell her with a “pointed look”. Also several times where ppl misunderstood her, assumed she meant something different. Also she was often very honest and blunt, and she didn’t understand why ppl would ask her something if they didn’t expect an honest answer. Also there were a few mentions of how she made other ppl uncomfortable because her face was often blank or emotionless.