Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
This is a fun twist on Les Miserables - not a retelling, a whole new take with some of the stand out characters from Hugo’s classic. It is perfectly described as Six Of Crows meets Les Mis. If that sounds appealing to you, you should pick up this book.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What a fucking let down....
Let’s be clear, folks. This is NOT Six of Crows. Don’t know who got the idea to market this book in that manner, but don’t even go there. If anything, this bares a slight resemblance to The Bone Season if you absolutely must have your successful YA series comparator and that is only due to the structured secret society of cast offs and criminals. If Court of Miracles was marketed solely for its reimagining of the French Revolution or Le Mis I think this story would have been better received. As it stands, the overwhelming expectations I had for this story were completely shattered on the pavement along with my heart. Which is sad because this is a beautiful fucking book.
The story starts out with so much potential, but I don’t believe the author had any clue of how to tie all of her ideas together. While attempting to add entirely too many character groups (criminals, royals, day-walking revolutionaries, etc.), each of whom have their own dedicated plot arcs, into a book barely 400 pages long nothing seemed to connect the way I wanted it to. Nothing is resolved in any meaningful way and it seems the only point of each of these groups was to provide the main character with a potential love interest. Seriously, after the fourth time someone obviously becomes infatuated with the half-starved, intentionally Plain Jain-ed heroine I wanted to curse this book to the darkest pits of hell. And with our heroine French kissing half of the male population of the whole country as a means to an end I can’t help but wonder if the author has any idea of how to write a meaningful male-female relationship where guys aren’t being lead around by their dicks so it appears that the female lead has any agency of her own. Besides the opening scene where Nina’s sister is sold to a flesh house she is given no other motivation or believable development for her to suddenly become the single greatest thief in the entire city. Hint: when she is only able to steal things from highly secure places because of her magical male-attracting musk it doesn’t make me like her. In fact, everything is seemingly just handed to the main character with minimal conflict. All these powerful and influential men just really want to see this scrappy, underdog gal succeed I guess????
I frankly don’t want to devote any more of my life to trying to explain my utter bafflement at how this book received this expert level marketing, but let me just say that the publishers have fleeced us all again, fellow readers. Basically, if every book seller and subscription service is suddenly raving about the same book at the same time I think I can safely say I’ve received my fair warning that the book in question is an overblown, subpar mess at best.
Let’s be clear, folks. This is NOT Six of Crows. Don’t know who got the idea to market this book in that manner, but don’t even go there. If anything, this bares a slight resemblance to The Bone Season if you absolutely must have your successful YA series comparator and that is only due to the structured secret society of cast offs and criminals. If Court of Miracles was marketed solely for its reimagining of the French Revolution or Le Mis I think this story would have been better received. As it stands, the overwhelming expectations I had for this story were completely shattered on the pavement along with my heart. Which is sad because this is a beautiful fucking book.
The story starts out with so much potential, but I don’t believe the author had any clue of how to tie all of her ideas together. While attempting to add entirely too many character groups (criminals, royals, day-walking revolutionaries, etc.), each of whom have their own dedicated plot arcs, into a book barely 400 pages long nothing seemed to connect the way I wanted it to. Nothing is resolved in any meaningful way and it seems the only point of each of these groups was to provide the main character with a potential love interest. Seriously, after the fourth time someone obviously becomes infatuated with the half-starved, intentionally Plain Jain-ed heroine I wanted to curse this book to the darkest pits of hell. And with our heroine French kissing half of the male population of the whole country as a means to an end I can’t help but wonder if the author has any idea of how to write a meaningful male-female relationship where guys aren’t being lead around by their dicks so it appears that the female lead has any agency of her own. Besides the opening scene where Nina’s sister is sold to a flesh house she is given no other motivation or believable development for her to suddenly become the single greatest thief in the entire city. Hint: when she is only able to steal things from highly secure places because of her magical male-attracting musk it doesn’t make me like her. In fact, everything is seemingly just handed to the main character with minimal conflict. All these powerful and influential men just really want to see this scrappy, underdog gal succeed I guess????
I frankly don’t want to devote any more of my life to trying to explain my utter bafflement at how this book received this expert level marketing, but let me just say that the publishers have fleeced us all again, fellow readers. Basically, if every book seller and subscription service is suddenly raving about the same book at the same time I think I can safely say I’ve received my fair warning that the book in question is an overblown, subpar mess at best.
If you love a feisty, intelligent, resourceful, witty and empowering female protagonist, this book is for you!
If you hate a slimy, creepy, murderous and despicable antagonist, this is the book for you. Kat, the protagonist is an amazing character who proves that some things are worth fighting for; especially if your fighting for your sister.
A Court of Miracles is tale of love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, determination and ambivalence, courage and fear that leaves you on the edge of your seat desperately wanting more.
Just be aware that I found some passages repetitive and the continuity was a bit jagged with gaps of time that rendered me a bit confused about the progression of the plot.
Other than that it was a great read!
Thanks to the author and The Pigeonhole for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.
If you hate a slimy, creepy, murderous and despicable antagonist, this is the book for you. Kat, the protagonist is an amazing character who proves that some things are worth fighting for; especially if your fighting for your sister.
A Court of Miracles is tale of love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, determination and ambivalence, courage and fear that leaves you on the edge of your seat desperately wanting more.
Just be aware that I found some passages repetitive and the continuity was a bit jagged with gaps of time that rendered me a bit confused about the progression of the plot.
Other than that it was a great read!
Thanks to the author and The Pigeonhole for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this one and loved the narration. Is it a perfect story? No. Is it what it calls itself? No not at all. There is little to no fantasy in it, Court of Miracles is an alternate history novel. The history is lacking as well as we never know for sure who the King and Queen are in this story so it is hard to place what route the history took. Also there are multiple moments of poorly researched facts. Such as Faberge eggs in with the French royal jewels when they weren't made yet and were made for the Russians not the French. It is also pitched as a Les Mis retelling which other than it being a revolution and in France with a few names from the story thrown in, it really is not.
What The Court of Miracles does have is a fascinating guild concept. The wretched who are bound by a different set of laws and are the underground of Paris. I wanted more about all these guilds and how they work but what I got was more than enough to keep me intrigued. There's the thieves with their dogs and cats, the Dead Lord and his Ghosts, the Assassins and Poisoners, the Guild of Letters with its messengers, there are more and then there is the Guild of Flesh run by the Tiger himself. There are the bad guys, the good ones, and the majority that are morally grey in one way or another. The characters felt real. Nina, the Black Cat of the Thieves guild is a good MC and I enjoyed following her story.
“Do not cry for me, I am already dead.
No, not dead, the dead at least are free.”
As I went to write my review I kept realizing how much this book should have bothered me. But I was entertained and loved the narration so somehow it worked. I look forward to the second book!
What The Court of Miracles does have is a fascinating guild concept. The wretched who are bound by a different set of laws and are the underground of Paris. I wanted more about all these guilds and how they work but what I got was more than enough to keep me intrigued. There's the thieves with their dogs and cats, the Dead Lord and his Ghosts, the Assassins and Poisoners, the Guild of Letters with its messengers, there are more and then there is the Guild of Flesh run by the Tiger himself. There are the bad guys, the good ones, and the majority that are morally grey in one way or another. The characters felt real. Nina, the Black Cat of the Thieves guild is a good MC and I enjoyed following her story.
“Do not cry for me, I am already dead.
No, not dead, the dead at least are free.”
As I went to write my review I kept realizing how much this book should have bothered me. But I was entertained and loved the narration so somehow it worked. I look forward to the second book!
This is the best book I have read in too long. Written half in French about the characters of Les Misérables, this book was a slight challenge to read however if you happen to have Google Translate, you’ll have a wonderful time. With a main character both mysterious and relatable, the story is grand and adventurous. Every character has a lot to lose in the story and just, I loved it. I couldn’t put it down. Only thing is people may find the French words confusing as there are almost never translations.