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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I’m a die-hard Les Mis fan, but I think I would have liked this better if it were just a regular story, not marketed as a Les Mis retelling with all the characters having the same names as they do in the original story. Everything is just SO different... it’s hard to explain without spoiling it, but I love retellings because I love seeing how the author will turn some things on their heads and adapt others to be the same, but different within the context of their story, if that makes any sense. Some of the things that were either entirely scrapped or changed beyond recognition were my favorite parts of Les Mis, so I was a little miffed.
That said, if the characters had had different names I would have loved it.
That said, if the characters had had different names I would have loved it.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I am familiar with Les Mis, but apart from a teenager-adapted version in French that I read when I was in high school, I haven't read it nor seen/listened to the musical.
So, when I found this book in the library and I saw the summary I was immediately hooked. A failed French Revolution with a crossover with Les Mis? It seemed like a reciped for a captivating story, especially as it was announced as "Les Mis meets Six of Crows". What could go wrong?
Well, several things. Warning, maybe spoilers ahead.
To start with, the pacing of the story was strange, to say the least. We would have several jumps of years, and those gaps were not filled with any explanation or clue. We have two clear examples:We see in the second part how Nina is so willing to sell Ettie to the Tiger, but doesn't do so because of her relationship with her. Then, we always read Nina saying how she is "The Black CAt of the Thieves Guild, bla bla" and how she is the best thief.
In none of those case we see the development or an explanation of how and why. I can understand that she improved her skills over the years for example, but it makes all non too believable.
I liked how she used the Court of Miracles, which apparently existed in real life during the decades previous to the French Revolution and how she created the different Guilds. I also appreciated the map at the beginning of the book, as sometimes it became quite confusing.
I also enjoyed how she included Les Mis characters, and sometimes mixing them with real people from the era, such as Enjolras, using the surname St. Juste like the revolucionary man executed for following Robespierre. We also have others such as Grantaire or Gavroche.
Nevertheless, the decision of making Javerta woman was...a decision. Was it to follow the fandom's ship of Valjean and Javert but someone scared (in 2020-something!) of making it queer?It definitely had a weird feeling with the implications of the past the shared together.
Then, we have that weird geometric shape of love thing where our protagonist has not only one or two but THREE gentlemen after her. However, she has no chemistry with none of them apart from some comments regarding how cute they are. Apart from that, we encounter Nina meeting Enjolras when she is a mere child. It is not clear how old is he then and how old is he several years later.
Let's say that Nina is around 17-18. Enjolras should be almost thirty, which is...pretty much yikes. If the author wanted that ship or that implication of ship/flirting, whatever, she should have thought about that before.
Then we have the Dauphin which is an insufferable aristocrat, having a confusing behaviour between wanting to crush the revolution and defend the monarchy, (as expected) and wanting to help the people. Apart from that, nothing remarkable about the ship either.
I remember reading another review in GR about Montparnasse, but as I am not familiar with the book nor the musical, I didn't get it.
Then we have some references here and there than even I caught, especially regarding the musical.
Apart from that, we have the Lords and Ladies of the Guilds and other characters that are mostly NPCs that at no moment reject Nina's reckless ideas and that seem willing to follow a barely legal thief with less experience than them.
We would find curious the absence of one specific character until we get to the end when we read the author's note, which made me understand a lot of things.
There are a lot of books that come from fanfic. Damn, the Divine Comedy was a self-insert fanfic. However, I believe that sometimes as an author we have to consider what do we do with the original story and how we transform it.
This is one of those cases, where the author decided to eliminate a character simply because she didn't like it and write her own fanfic, missing the point. Same situation with Enjolras, which, even if not canon, usually has an ace or LGBT reading.
I believe the book could have been a really interesting story if not for the weird time skips, the even weirder romance and certain questionable decisions. It shares with Les Mis the names and some of the events, apart from some forced references. If you expect some resemblance to Six of Crows, you will be disappointed.
Moreover, it is also supposed to be using The Jungle Book's element, but certainly I didn't see it anywhere apart from the quotes from the chapters.
I enjoyed the reading, but definitely it did not make me go crazy. I discovered that there is a second part on the way, which is surprising considering this one ties the plots quite neatly. Plots that, to be completely honest, become blurred and confusing as the novel starts with one and then it forgets it and picks another.
In general, this book feels like one of the young adults novels that could have been published in the 2010s, with a main character that is incredibly talented and always gets away from tricky situation while being the object of affection of men. With some editing and polishing, it could have been interesting.
But alas, it was just an attempt.
So, when I found this book in the library and I saw the summary I was immediately hooked. A failed French Revolution with a crossover with Les Mis? It seemed like a reciped for a captivating story, especially as it was announced as "Les Mis meets Six of Crows". What could go wrong?
Well, several things. Warning, maybe spoilers ahead.
To start with, the pacing of the story was strange, to say the least. We would have several jumps of years, and those gaps were not filled with any explanation or clue. We have two clear examples:
In none of those case we see the development or an explanation of how and why. I can understand that she improved her skills over the years for example, but it makes all non too believable.
I liked how she used the Court of Miracles, which apparently existed in real life during the decades previous to the French Revolution and how she created the different Guilds. I also appreciated the map at the beginning of the book, as sometimes it became quite confusing.
I also enjoyed how she included Les Mis characters, and sometimes mixing them with real people from the era, such as Enjolras, using the surname St. Juste like the revolucionary man executed for following Robespierre. We also have others such as Grantaire or Gavroche.
Nevertheless, the decision of making Javert
Then, we have that weird geometric shape of love thing where our protagonist has not only one or two but THREE gentlemen after her. However, she has no chemistry with none of them apart from some comments regarding how cute they are. Apart from that, we encounter Nina meeting Enjolras when she is a mere child. It is not clear how old is he then and how old is he several years later.
Let's say that Nina is around 17-18. Enjolras should be almost thirty, which is...pretty much yikes. If the author wanted that ship or that implication of ship/flirting, whatever, she should have thought about that before.
Then we have the Dauphin which is an insufferable aristocrat, having a confusing behaviour between wanting to crush the revolution and defend the monarchy, (as expected) and wanting to help the people. Apart from that, nothing remarkable about the ship either.
I remember reading another review in GR about Montparnasse, but as I am not familiar with the book nor the musical, I didn't get it.
Then we have some references here and there than even I caught, especially regarding the musical.
Apart from that, we have the Lords and Ladies of the Guilds and other characters that are mostly NPCs that at no moment reject Nina's reckless ideas and that seem willing to follow a barely legal thief with less experience than them.
We would find curious the absence of one specific character until we get to the end when we read the author's note, which made me understand a lot of things.
There are a lot of books that come from fanfic. Damn, the Divine Comedy was a self-insert fanfic. However, I believe that sometimes as an author we have to consider what do we do with the original story and how we transform it.
This is one of those cases, where the author decided to eliminate a character simply because she didn't like it and write her own fanfic, missing the point. Same situation with Enjolras, which, even if not canon, usually has an ace or LGBT reading.
I believe the book could have been a really interesting story if not for the weird time skips, the even weirder romance and certain questionable decisions. It shares with Les Mis the names and some of the events, apart from some forced references. If you expect some resemblance to Six of Crows, you will be disappointed.
Moreover, it is also supposed to be using The Jungle Book's element, but certainly I didn't see it anywhere apart from the quotes from the chapters.
I enjoyed the reading, but definitely it did not make me go crazy. I discovered that there is a second part on the way, which is surprising considering this one ties the plots quite neatly. Plots that, to be completely honest, become blurred and confusing as the novel starts with one and then it forgets it and picks another.
In general, this book feels like one of the young adults novels that could have been published in the 2010s, with a main character that is incredibly talented and always gets away from tricky situation while being the object of affection of men. With some editing and polishing, it could have been interesting.
But alas, it was just an attempt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Alcohol
hat keinen spaß gemacht, kompliziert, weirde perfekte protagonistin, seltsamer schreibstil
The way this is written is not compelling. I feel like the first 50 pages was the wrong place to start the story.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
medium-paced
TL;DR: Les Mis meets criminal guild drama, but with less grit and more glitter. Interesting concept, shaky execution.
Full Review:
There’s something undeniably cool about criminal underworlds run by secretive guilds, and The Court of Miracles had all the ingredients for a rich, gritty, twisty tale of underbelly politics. I wanted to like this more. And I did. Some parts. The dynamic between the guilds was intriguing. And the setting was stylishly dark.
But then there’s Nina. An unstoppable, prodigious thief with plot armor thicker than a Les Misérables retelling deserves. She spends so much time playing guardian angel to Ettie that the rest of the world fades into flat background noise. Most of the side characters felt one-dimensional, and don’t get me started on the romantic subplots. Forced, unearned, and chemistry-free.
The writing is clean and easy to read, and the idea of a fractured France ruled by shadowy guilds is genuinely interesting. But the execution lacked depth. The world-building was murky, the emotional stakes didn’t land, and the balance between personal plot and broader intrigue felt off-kilter.
I had fun in parts, especially when the guilds were front and center, but I kept wishing it had leaned harder into the grit and less into the gloss.
Full Review:
There’s something undeniably cool about criminal underworlds run by secretive guilds, and The Court of Miracles had all the ingredients for a rich, gritty, twisty tale of underbelly politics. I wanted to like this more. And I did. Some parts. The dynamic between the guilds was intriguing. And the setting was stylishly dark.
But then there’s Nina. An unstoppable, prodigious thief with plot armor thicker than a Les Misérables retelling deserves. She spends so much time playing guardian angel to Ettie that the rest of the world fades into flat background noise. Most of the side characters felt one-dimensional, and don’t get me started on the romantic subplots. Forced, unearned, and chemistry-free.
The writing is clean and easy to read, and the idea of a fractured France ruled by shadowy guilds is genuinely interesting. But the execution lacked depth. The world-building was murky, the emotional stakes didn’t land, and the balance between personal plot and broader intrigue felt off-kilter.
I had fun in parts, especially when the guilds were front and center, but I kept wishing it had leaned harder into the grit and less into the gloss.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
i received this as an arc in exchange for an honest review!
cw: gangs (sort of), violence (guns and knives), blood, drug and alcohol mentions (use of a needle), sex trafficking
AHEM hi *taps mic* can we stop comparing books to Six of Crows? thank you. while i loved SoC, Leigh Bardugo didn't invent the cast of characters trope and heists. thanks for coming to my ted talk
anyway! this was good - it wasn't perfect, but i still enjoyed it. my two biggest issues were with the plot and the pacing
plot-wise, things just felt very clunky to me. there were a number of parts where scenes just felt smushed together and it didn't really flow into one another and i would be left like "wait, what?". like most, if not all, of the chapters were broken down into smaller separated scenes that just led to confusing timeskips. idk if it was me or the book, but there were a lot of times where i had to go back and read a page because i didn't understand what was happening. i get that this is a les mis retelling of sorts, which is quite the chunky novel, but i'm confused as to why most of the events of les mis happened in this first novel of a trilogy? maybe i'm remembering the story wrong, idk.
the pacing might also be a "me" issue, and not the book's fault, idk, but it was a struggle to get through the middle of this book. i was intrigued for the first 25% or so, and then hooked toward the ending, but the middle was rough.
another thing - i feel like the characters didn’t have any development or really any personalities other than who they were supposed to be from les mis. so if you have no experience in that world, i think it would be hard to piece together the significance of each character and why they’re important. even with my les mis stan past i found it difficult to know why certain characters were there. also, nina has no personality other than “i am the black cat of the thieves guild”. and she’s just somehow automatically good at stealing things because she’s small?? idk
i think the world is very interesting - i'm confused about some parts but hopefully things get explained more in the subsequent books, which i'm definitely interested in picking up in the future. although i hate that every other book is being compared to Six of Crows, if you liked that one and like les mis, you'll probably like this one!
cw: gangs (sort of), violence (guns and knives), blood, drug and alcohol mentions (use of a needle), sex trafficking
AHEM hi *taps mic* can we stop comparing books to Six of Crows? thank you. while i loved SoC, Leigh Bardugo didn't invent the cast of characters trope and heists. thanks for coming to my ted talk
anyway! this was good - it wasn't perfect, but i still enjoyed it. my two biggest issues were with the plot and the pacing
plot-wise, things just felt very clunky to me. there were a number of parts where scenes just felt smushed together and it didn't really flow into one another and i would be left like "wait, what?". like most, if not all, of the chapters were broken down into smaller separated scenes that just led to confusing timeskips. idk if it was me or the book, but there were a lot of times where i had to go back and read a page because i didn't understand what was happening. i get that this is a les mis retelling of sorts, which is quite the chunky novel, but i'm confused as to why most of the events of les mis happened in this first novel of a trilogy? maybe i'm remembering the story wrong, idk.
the pacing might also be a "me" issue, and not the book's fault, idk, but it was a struggle to get through the middle of this book. i was intrigued for the first 25% or so, and then hooked toward the ending, but the middle was rough.
another thing - i feel like the characters didn’t have any development or really any personalities other than who they were supposed to be from les mis. so if you have no experience in that world, i think it would be hard to piece together the significance of each character and why they’re important. even with my les mis stan past i found it difficult to know why certain characters were there. also, nina has no personality other than “i am the black cat of the thieves guild”. and she’s just somehow automatically good at stealing things because she’s small?? idk
i think the world is very interesting - i'm confused about some parts but hopefully things get explained more in the subsequent books, which i'm definitely interested in picking up in the future. although i hate that every other book is being compared to Six of Crows, if you liked that one and like les mis, you'll probably like this one!
4 stars for the twists and turns!
The first 150 pages were utterly boring but it got better afterwards.
Pros:
- Nina and Ettie made a good pair.
- The only guild that was shown enough for me to understand was The Guild of Beggars, and they were amazing!
- Master of Knives is my favourite character because he's the only level headed person in this story.
Cons:
- 8 freaking guilds we know nothing about.
- Small factions inside guilds with even more names.
- Too many characters (but I think that's because of Les Miserables
The first 150 pages were utterly boring but it got better afterwards.
Pros:
- Nina and Ettie made a good pair.
- The only guild that was shown enough for me to understand was The Guild of Beggars, and they were amazing!
- Master of Knives is my favourite character because he's the only level headed person in this story.
Cons:
- 8 freaking guilds we know nothing about.
- Small factions inside guilds with even more names.
- Too many characters (but I think that's because of Les Miserables
Brief summary, as I didn't understand the blurb the first time: Its in Paris during the revolution era, and there is an underground network of criminal dens called guilds. The main character, Nina, belongs to the thieves guild. Her adoptive sister of sorts is in danger of being sold into prostitution, like her sister was a few years ago. This kicks off the entire story, with her trying to find ways to save her adoptive sister the way she couldn't save her blood one.
A great story. There is no shortage of adventure - something happens in every chapter. There are hints of romance from multiple characters which usually I don't enjoy but all of them had their own relationship with her. Personally, I ship her with. It was tastefully done and all characters had their own uniqueness.
I loved the sisterly relationship between Ettie and Nina and how Nina would do anything for her. The parallelism between their relationship and the one of Nina and Azelma's is interesting to observe as the story progresses. Nina herself is amazing. She is stubborn and strong while remaining somewhat realistic. She is caring but at the same time ruthless. Although she does have momentary feelings for some characters, she is not one to fall blindly headfirst into love with a guy and she doesn't lose herself to him which sometimes happens in other books. She remains strongly independent which I admire. There is also no strong bias towards one of the guys, which as I said before I don't usually like, but the way it was crafted made for an interesting side note.
The whole world in this story is beautifully creative. It's elaborate and detailed. It is mostly fiction but has an air about it that feels as if it could be fantasy. The line between what is real and what is not blurs at times, adding a hint of mystery to the plot.
A great story. There is no shortage of adventure - something happens in every chapter. There are hints of romance from multiple characters which usually I don't enjoy but all of them had their own relationship with her. Personally, I ship her with
Spoiler
MontparnasseI loved the sisterly relationship between Ettie and Nina and how Nina would do anything for her. The parallelism between their relationship and the one of Nina and Azelma's is interesting to observe as the story progresses. Nina herself is amazing. She is stubborn and strong while remaining somewhat realistic. She is caring but at the same time ruthless. Although she does have momentary feelings for some characters, she is not one to fall blindly headfirst into love with a guy and she doesn't lose herself to him which sometimes happens in other books. She remains strongly independent which I admire. There is also no strong bias towards one of the guys, which as I said before I don't usually like, but the way it was crafted made for an interesting side note.
The whole world in this story is beautifully creative. It's elaborate and detailed. It is mostly fiction but has an air about it that feels as if it could be fantasy. The line between what is real and what is not blurs at times, adding a hint of mystery to the plot.