Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Having never read nor seen Les Mis, I thought this book sounded intriguing. The setting is beautifully set and the idea of the criminal underbelly in Paris at this time is intriguing. We are told the story from the point of view of Nina, a member of the Thief Guild.
I really enjoyed Nina as a character, she's strong, determined and extraordinary. I think the disadvantages of telling the story from her point of view is that we never fully get to know how her mind works as her intentions are shrouded in secrecy. There are a few twists in this book that appear to come out of nowhere.
Also there are a number of time jumps throughout the book. Although this may be necessary for moving the plot along, it does mean that a lot happens off page. Characters who were mere acquaintances previously become mainstays between chapters.
There are not one, not two but THREE potential love interests floated throughout this book which I feel is unnecessary.
Overall a very enjoyable read. I definitely want to see where the story goes.
I really enjoyed Nina as a character, she's strong, determined and extraordinary. I think the disadvantages of telling the story from her point of view is that we never fully get to know how her mind works as her intentions are shrouded in secrecy. There are a few twists in this book that appear to come out of nowhere.
Also there are a number of time jumps throughout the book. Although this may be necessary for moving the plot along, it does mean that a lot happens off page. Characters who were mere acquaintances previously become mainstays between chapters.
There are not one, not two but THREE potential love interests floated throughout this book which I feel is unnecessary.
Overall a very enjoyable read. I definitely want to see where the story goes.
This book was so close to being wonderful, but it fell a bit short. The Les Mis characters felt forced into the story instead of naturally being there. I still enjoyed the book but I wouldn't recommend it to Les Mis fans.
The revolutionaries were always my favorite part of Les Mis, and they have no depth here. Graintair was very one-dimensional, only a drunkard, and there's more to him than that. Enjorlras too lacked in personality and leadership. Plus, even though I despise Marius it felt strange that he wasn't included. Overall, the idea was solid but the execution didn't work for me.
The revolutionaries were always my favorite part of Les Mis, and they have no depth here. Graintair was very one-dimensional, only a drunkard, and there's more to him than that. Enjorlras too lacked in personality and leadership. Plus, even though I despise Marius it felt strange that he wasn't included. Overall, the idea was solid but the execution didn't work for me.
Argh.
I'm having a hard time compiling my thoughts into something sensible. I have a feeling the majority of the readers are going to enjoy this, but it just makes me mad. It took a long time to make me mad, as to a certain point it was simply an okay read, but mad it made me nevertheless.
Setting aside the Les Mis and Jungle Book and Discworld references for the moment:
The first half of the book is acceptable. It suffers from confusing time skips that aren't especially well incorporated, and the pacing is all over the place, and every boy who comes within a yardstick of Nina falls madly in love with her, even if they try to hide it and even if she doesn't often bother returning the favor (often--at some point she usually flirts back a bit). But the story itself has some bare bones potential in it. It utilizes a lovely underground internal guild argument base, breaking up Paris's underworld into sections based on skills. Hearing about each of the guilds and seeing at least a few of them in action, and the rules they ascribe to despite being beneath the law, is engaging and entertaining and there's a good plot in there somewhere. Each little setpiece is nice enough to read through.
But.
Nina is a perfect golden child who can do no wrong and backflips through every challenge. There's more or less no development for her. We don't see her learn how to do anything, we don't see her accept anything difficult, we don't see much at all from her other than her Amazing Perfection on display.
Ettie flipflops in ability according to the scene. She might be an active participant, trying to kill Valjean with a fork or an axe, or she might be cowering in the corner unable to hold a club correctly. As someone raised (? timeline is so confusing?) in the beggar's guild, her knowledge of what's happening seems so wild and disjointed. I get trying to make Cosette a more engaging character, fine (even if I disagree--Cosette in the play is perfect as she is and you don't need to give her an axe and make her tough because there is literally nothing wrong with being nice), but there's no consistency in her abilities, so her scenes tend to feel disjointed.
Javert is inexplicably a woman for no reason except so the author can give a heterosexual reason for him to chase Valjean (they were lovers in the past, I think? something blushy that makes Valjean wince when it comes up). It doesn't change things otherwise. There's no reason for it. No one questions Javert's role because she's a woman now. It's basically interchangable with her male version, except that she can sleep with Valjean "morally" now I guess or something. It's weird and pointless and I hate it.
There's no sense of place or time. Stuff just happens. It's all inaccurate anyway (yes, the Russian eggs has been mentioned in other reviews, but also covering Javert in medals is hilariously wrong). The plot is all over the place, trying to cram too much into too small a space (is it about political revolution? is it about rescuing a sister? is it about guild politics? is it about romance? found family? royalty? thievery? retelling a famous musical in a way that deletes the character you don't like and fixes the things you thought were boring? pick something please it's so incoherent)
What was the point of the magically hypnotizing guild leader? Why do all these plots seem to swing on coincidence and luck, if they're supposed to be so good at planning things out? Was there literally a chapter missing where Ettie was taken by the Tiger, and if it was supposed to happen that way then why rely so much on chance in that moment? I don't understand the point of the prince character, I don't understand how Le Maire is described as being one of the coolest underground leaders and yet is more or less ignored by everyone once he returns, I really don't follow the backstabbing side swapping in the last few pages.
To fix this:
Do away with the Les Mis characters. Rename them. Redo them. You're not giving us enough description of them as it is--we're clearly supposed to have advance knowledge of them from the musical. Like the barricade boys name drops, whatever. Make each character their own piece. You want Cosette to be a badass, but you're trying to make her blushy and silly like you interpret her character in the musical to be (she's not), and the conflict between those two ideas comes across on the page. You've taken shortcuts assuming the reader cares about them in a Fanfiction Way, where we care about them from the canon material and you're building on that, but it doesn't work here in this published novel.
Pick a topic and narrow in on it. There's too many things happening with no clear resolution of any of it. It makes Nina into a magic golden perfection child solving all these problems at a blink of an eye. There's no struggle without focus.
There are good ideas here. Really good ones. The basis of the guilds is strong and compelling and worthwhile. But at about the halfway point you start to realize that the action you've been watching is paper thin, and it isn't going to get any deeper, and the reliance on Les Mis plot points gets heavier and more wasteful, and suddenly you're tired and disagreeing with every interpretation of every les mis character and you want to swoop in and rescue Javert and Valjean and return them to their better story.
THREE LOVE INTERESTS. THREE. NO ONE NEEDS THREE. THEY AREN'T EVEN THAT COOL. Stop trying to write fix-it Enjolras/Eponine fic, it's weird and doesn't have any chemistry.
I'm having a hard time compiling my thoughts into something sensible. I have a feeling the majority of the readers are going to enjoy this, but it just makes me mad. It took a long time to make me mad, as to a certain point it was simply an okay read, but mad it made me nevertheless.
Setting aside the Les Mis and Jungle Book and Discworld references for the moment:
The first half of the book is acceptable. It suffers from confusing time skips that aren't especially well incorporated, and the pacing is all over the place, and every boy who comes within a yardstick of Nina falls madly in love with her, even if they try to hide it and even if she doesn't often bother returning the favor (often--at some point she usually flirts back a bit). But the story itself has some bare bones potential in it. It utilizes a lovely underground internal guild argument base, breaking up Paris's underworld into sections based on skills. Hearing about each of the guilds and seeing at least a few of them in action, and the rules they ascribe to despite being beneath the law, is engaging and entertaining and there's a good plot in there somewhere. Each little setpiece is nice enough to read through.
But.
Nina is a perfect golden child who can do no wrong and backflips through every challenge. There's more or less no development for her. We don't see her learn how to do anything, we don't see her accept anything difficult, we don't see much at all from her other than her Amazing Perfection on display.
Ettie flipflops in ability according to the scene. She might be an active participant, trying to kill Valjean with a fork or an axe, or she might be cowering in the corner unable to hold a club correctly. As someone raised (? timeline is so confusing?) in the beggar's guild, her knowledge of what's happening seems so wild and disjointed. I get trying to make Cosette a more engaging character, fine (even if I disagree--Cosette in the play is perfect as she is and you don't need to give her an axe and make her tough because there is literally nothing wrong with being nice), but there's no consistency in her abilities, so her scenes tend to feel disjointed.
Javert is inexplicably a woman for no reason except so the author can give a heterosexual reason for him to chase Valjean (they were lovers in the past, I think? something blushy that makes Valjean wince when it comes up). It doesn't change things otherwise. There's no reason for it. No one questions Javert's role because she's a woman now. It's basically interchangable with her male version, except that she can sleep with Valjean "morally" now I guess or something. It's weird and pointless and I hate it.
There's no sense of place or time. Stuff just happens. It's all inaccurate anyway (yes, the Russian eggs has been mentioned in other reviews, but also covering Javert in medals is hilariously wrong). The plot is all over the place, trying to cram too much into too small a space (is it about political revolution? is it about rescuing a sister? is it about guild politics? is it about romance? found family? royalty? thievery? retelling a famous musical in a way that deletes the character you don't like and fixes the things you thought were boring? pick something please it's so incoherent)
What was the point of the magically hypnotizing guild leader? Why do all these plots seem to swing on coincidence and luck, if they're supposed to be so good at planning things out? Was there literally a chapter missing where Ettie was taken by the Tiger, and if it was supposed to happen that way then why rely so much on chance in that moment? I don't understand the point of the prince character, I don't understand how Le Maire is described as being one of the coolest underground leaders and yet is more or less ignored by everyone once he returns, I really don't follow the backstabbing side swapping in the last few pages.
To fix this:
Do away with the Les Mis characters. Rename them. Redo them. You're not giving us enough description of them as it is--we're clearly supposed to have advance knowledge of them from the musical. Like the barricade boys name drops, whatever. Make each character their own piece. You want Cosette to be a badass, but you're trying to make her blushy and silly like you interpret her character in the musical to be (she's not), and the conflict between those two ideas comes across on the page. You've taken shortcuts assuming the reader cares about them in a Fanfiction Way, where we care about them from the canon material and you're building on that, but it doesn't work here in this published novel.
Pick a topic and narrow in on it. There's too many things happening with no clear resolution of any of it. It makes Nina into a magic golden perfection child solving all these problems at a blink of an eye. There's no struggle without focus.
There are good ideas here. Really good ones. The basis of the guilds is strong and compelling and worthwhile. But at about the halfway point you start to realize that the action you've been watching is paper thin, and it isn't going to get any deeper, and the reliance on Les Mis plot points gets heavier and more wasteful, and suddenly you're tired and disagreeing with every interpretation of every les mis character and you want to swoop in and rescue Javert and Valjean and return them to their better story.
THREE LOVE INTERESTS. THREE. NO ONE NEEDS THREE. THEY AREN'T EVEN THAT COOL. Stop trying to write fix-it Enjolras/Eponine fic, it's weird and doesn't have any chemistry.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I may be biased in my view of this book - like so many others I saw the promise of Les Mis retellings, Six of Crows style criminality and heists, and badass women reclaiming their story and got excited, because those three things are my absolute JAM. That is not what this book was.
I devoured this book. It was an absolute page turner, and that I give Grant credit for, but I think part of that was because I was so... bewildered as to what was going on? The other thing I absolutely loved was the lore and the world building - I know Guilds and Courts are overdone in YA atm I am a sucker for a good criminal underworld, and the creation of the Lords and Masters and the way each Guild worked was fascinating, and I greatly appreciated that element.
HOWEVER
Maybe I'm being led by my adoration of Les Mis, but damn if you're going to market something as a retelling at least make sure it actually uses some elements of the original story beyond facile character name mentions? I won't deny I got really excited about Grantaire and Enjolras being mentioned but they were just The Revolutionary and The Drunk, which is a disappointing turn of events. Also, Enjolras as a potential love interest for our dear protag' Nina? The boy is SO queercoded in EVERYTHING it seems so strange, especially as his brain is basically just a French flag with Revolution written across it. 'Who cares about your lonely soul' n all that?
Also Javert was a WOMAN? Which would be so cool!! But it was literally just for some weird plot about her being the jilted lover of Jean Valjean which seems very redundant. And Cosette was reduced to a whimpering mess until the last... 5 pages, which seems like an injustice to her character.
Beyond that, to the actual plot, if you finish this book and haven't worked out that Nina is an Amazing Thief (TM) I'm not convinced you've read the book. I get it, she's the Black Cat, she's all skills and vengeance and can apparently run around and save the day with 24601 different injuries. Combine that with the fact that despite being one of the groundlings of her Guild she can basically command the other Guild Lords to do her bidding?? Actual superwoman/criminal mastermind.
She also has 3 love interests??? None of which come to fruition but are CONSTANTLY mentioned in a way that really distracts from the whole criminal vibe, especially as one is the Dauphin of France.
The time jumps were also jarring as hell, and unless you remember the date on the Book 2 (etc) page things get veeeeery confusing.
Finally, where's Marius at? I know the author hates him but he's a pretty vital character? And does Montparnasse do anything other than stand in corners scowling and spinning pretty knives before 'melting out of the shadows'? Because that's a mood.
I have so many questions, but I hate to admit that I'll probably read the second one just for the familiar characters and criminal underworld.
I devoured this book. It was an absolute page turner, and that I give Grant credit for, but I think part of that was because I was so... bewildered as to what was going on? The other thing I absolutely loved was the lore and the world building - I know Guilds and Courts are overdone in YA atm I am a sucker for a good criminal underworld, and the creation of the Lords and Masters and the way each Guild worked was fascinating, and I greatly appreciated that element.
HOWEVER
Maybe I'm being led by my adoration of Les Mis, but damn if you're going to market something as a retelling at least make sure it actually uses some elements of the original story beyond facile character name mentions? I won't deny I got really excited about Grantaire and Enjolras being mentioned but they were just The Revolutionary and The Drunk, which is a disappointing turn of events. Also, Enjolras as a potential love interest for our dear protag' Nina? The boy is SO queercoded in EVERYTHING it seems so strange, especially as his brain is basically just a French flag with Revolution written across it. 'Who cares about your lonely soul' n all that?
Also Javert was a WOMAN? Which would be so cool!! But it was literally just for some weird plot about her being the jilted lover of Jean Valjean which seems very redundant. And Cosette was reduced to a whimpering mess until the last... 5 pages, which seems like an injustice to her character.
Beyond that, to the actual plot, if you finish this book and haven't worked out that Nina is an Amazing Thief (TM) I'm not convinced you've read the book. I get it, she's the Black Cat, she's all skills and vengeance and can apparently run around and save the day with 24601 different injuries. Combine that with the fact that despite being one of the groundlings of her Guild she can basically command the other Guild Lords to do her bidding?? Actual superwoman/criminal mastermind.
She also has 3 love interests??? None of which come to fruition but are CONSTANTLY mentioned in a way that really distracts from the whole criminal vibe, especially as one is the Dauphin of France.
The time jumps were also jarring as hell, and unless you remember the date on the Book 2 (etc) page things get veeeeery confusing.
Finally, where's Marius at? I know the author hates him but he's a pretty vital character? And does Montparnasse do anything other than stand in corners scowling and spinning pretty knives before 'melting out of the shadows'? Because that's a mood.
I have so many questions, but I hate to admit that I'll probably read the second one just for the familiar characters and criminal underworld.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 mais c’est plus un 4 qu’un 3 sooo...
j’ai beaucoup aimé ce livre parce qu’il se déroule à Paris et que le décor est vraiment très bien pensé mais en même temps je lui reproche un peu son manque d’originalité mais la j’ai passé un très bon moment avec les personnages
j’ai beaucoup aimé ce livre parce qu’il se déroule à Paris et que le décor est vraiment très bien pensé mais en même temps je lui reproche un peu son manque d’originalité mais la j’ai passé un très bon moment avec les personnages
The Court of Miracles is a retelling of Les Misérables and takes place in an alternate setting in which the French Revolution failed miserably. Story-wise it is very different, apart from some elements, but it does give off a similar vibe and Kester Grant reuses many of the original characters, while giving them her own twist, such as making Nina (Éponine) a POC and turning Javert into a woman.
The book started off very strongly with Azelma being taken and Nina joining the Guild of Thieves and attempting to save her sister. After that, the story makes a time jump of 6 years, and later on in the book, there is another 3 year time jump. Though I do understand the writer’s intention when doing this, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see how Nina became such a notorious thief. Throughout the book, it was mentioned often how promising she was for her Guild, but we never got to see how she got there. I would love to read a novella about that. I would also have liked to see how Ettie (Cosette) and Nina’s relationship evolved more.
But despite this, I really enjoyed this book! The setting and the Court of Miracles itself were very interesting and intriguing. It was a fast-paced and suspenseful read. I never knew what was going to happen next and the synopsis truly doesn’t manage to capture all the events occurring. As one thing happened, another mystery unfolded and it became clear that there was more than met the surface each time. I loved the incorporated tales at the start of each part and liked uncovering the truth to them. Especially the fourth part of the book was wild, and I felt like everything truly came together in it.
I liked Nina as a main character, and her bravery and attitude reminded me a little of Aelin Galathynius (Throne of Glass) to the point of stating “I’m the Black Cat of the Thieves Guild” multiple times à la Aelin-style. I also liked the side characters a lot, especially Orso, Gavroche and Montparnasse.
I’m excited to see what the sequel will have to offer, and I would really recommend this book. Let me know your thoughts if you have read it!
The book started off very strongly with Azelma being taken and Nina joining the Guild of Thieves and attempting to save her sister. After that, the story makes a time jump of 6 years, and later on in the book, there is another 3 year time jump. Though I do understand the writer’s intention when doing this, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see how Nina became such a notorious thief. Throughout the book, it was mentioned often how promising she was for her Guild, but we never got to see how she got there. I would love to read a novella about that. I would also have liked to see how Ettie (Cosette) and Nina’s relationship evolved more.
But despite this, I really enjoyed this book! The setting and the Court of Miracles itself were very interesting and intriguing. It was a fast-paced and suspenseful read. I never knew what was going to happen next and the synopsis truly doesn’t manage to capture all the events occurring. As one thing happened, another mystery unfolded and it became clear that there was more than met the surface each time. I loved the incorporated tales at the start of each part and liked uncovering the truth to them. Especially the fourth part of the book was wild, and I felt like everything truly came together in it.
I liked Nina as a main character, and her bravery and attitude reminded me a little of Aelin Galathynius (Throne of Glass) to the point of stating “I’m the Black Cat of the Thieves Guild” multiple times à la Aelin-style. I also liked the side characters a lot, especially Orso, Gavroche and Montparnasse.
I’m excited to see what the sequel will have to offer, and I would really recommend this book. Let me know your thoughts if you have read it!
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reads more like a 3 stars but I enjoyed it a lot so giving it a 4.