Vespertine

Artmesia just wants to spend her days as a Gray Nun, assisting the dead in attaining their final restful sleep. Even when given the opportunity to become part of the Clerisy, she prefers the dead who keep to themselves. When her convent is attacked by soldiers overcome by dark spirits, she only survives by accepting the help of a malevolent spirit, a revenant, who would as soon take over her life force as to help her. Artemisia must stay vigilant so she doesn’t lose herself to the revenant, even as she needs it to save herself and her world, though the power is exhausting to wield. Can she become the Vespertine, trained to use the revenant for good, with only the same dangerous revenant for help?

While it lacks the romantic interest and interactions of previous books, Rogerson has kept the quick and witty dialogue that is her trademark, making it a story of enemies turned almost friends, very similar to the story of Venom and Eddie Brock. This entertaining friendship promises to be back in a sequel, in which Artemisia will surely be as ruthless and stubborn as ever, with more impulsive acts designed to annoy her revenant.