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nora42's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
kestrelfire's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Its hard to find good saphic ace rep and this was so wonderful for it. Though, considering the author is just fantastic with representation, I shouldn't be so surprized.
ancsanna's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
theduchess93's review against another edition
5.0
This took a while to get going (mostly because I'm not personally super into the Boarding School plot in general) but WOW, it took off and didn't stop! Also, I don't remember the last time I read a novel with a queer ace character, let alone a protagonist, and I've never felt so included and accepted. Miller did a great job of capturing the mounting violence and tension of unrest leading to a full-on revolution.
sleepysamreads's review against another edition
4.0
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I don’t read a ton of high fantasy because I have a hard time remembering all the new names of places and new ideas. It’s not impossible for me, but it does feel exhausting. That being said, I’m so glad I picked this one up!
The thing I loved the most about this novel was how much beautiful diversity there is. There’s a ton of sexuality and gender diversity. One of our main characters, Annette, is asexual. This thrilled me, there’s just so few books with asexual MCs in it. Annette is also either panromantic or biromantic, which is awesome! There’s also a transgender man and several non-binary characters who use they/them pronouns. There’s a cute lesbian couple as well, which I’m always game for. Overall, the diversity was beautiful and felt so organic and I wish every book I read was like this.
Another wonderful thing about this novel is how the magic is used. I’ve never read anything that wove magic and fighting so well. This was so cool. Especially how they describe Emilie using noonday magic to like open old wounds or heal people. It was so so so cool. I wish I could describe this better, but you’ll just have to pick it up to see for yourself!
I did struggle a little with the world building, but like I said at the beginning, that just come with high fantasy and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a standalone or a series, but I kind of hope it’s a standalone. I really dug how it ended and don’t think it needs anymore.
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I don’t read a ton of high fantasy because I have a hard time remembering all the new names of places and new ideas. It’s not impossible for me, but it does feel exhausting. That being said, I’m so glad I picked this one up!
The thing I loved the most about this novel was how much beautiful diversity there is. There’s a ton of sexuality and gender diversity. One of our main characters, Annette, is asexual. This thrilled me, there’s just so few books with asexual MCs in it. Annette is also either panromantic or biromantic, which is awesome! There’s also a transgender man and several non-binary characters who use they/them pronouns. There’s a cute lesbian couple as well, which I’m always game for. Overall, the diversity was beautiful and felt so organic and I wish every book I read was like this.
Another wonderful thing about this novel is how the magic is used. I’ve never read anything that wove magic and fighting so well. This was so cool. Especially how they describe Emilie using noonday magic to like open old wounds or heal people. It was so so so cool. I wish I could describe this better, but you’ll just have to pick it up to see for yourself!
I did struggle a little with the world building, but like I said at the beginning, that just come with high fantasy and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a standalone or a series, but I kind of hope it’s a standalone. I really dug how it ended and don’t think it needs anymore.
jesseonyoutube's review against another edition
I was gifted a copy of Belle Revolte from the publisher and was wildly excited to pick it up!
It's a YA Fantasy with heavy french influences (yes please) about two willful girls of differing backgrounds who switch places in order to follow their respective dreams. I loved that one of the girls was an aspiring surgeon as stories surrounding medicine/doctors/illness always fascinate me as do characters that can heal in some fashion.
Sadly, this book simply wasn't for me. The writing focused heavily on lengthy exposition to tell the reader about the story versus demonstrating through action/dialogue. The characters and dialogue weren't compelling to me and I found the alchemy and magic system weren't calling to me.
I think many will love this book, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea.
It's a YA Fantasy with heavy french influences (yes please) about two willful girls of differing backgrounds who switch places in order to follow their respective dreams. I loved that one of the girls was an aspiring surgeon as stories surrounding medicine/doctors/illness always fascinate me as do characters that can heal in some fashion.
Sadly, this book simply wasn't for me. The writing focused heavily on lengthy exposition to tell the reader about the story versus demonstrating through action/dialogue. The characters and dialogue weren't compelling to me and I found the alchemy and magic system weren't calling to me.
I think many will love this book, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea.
sapphicurse's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the characters and queer rep, but the writing was a bit strange sometimes and it took me out of the world. I think some better worldbuilding up the top and an explanation of how the hell the magic works would have helped, too.
The concept overall was great, but the author pulled their punches a little too much and left me wanting a bit more.
The concept overall was great, but the author pulled their punches a little too much and left me wanting a bit more.
paragraphsandpages's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not really sure how to explain how I feel about this book. Like I both enjoyed the world, magic, and plot, yet never actually felt attached to it.
Admittedly, I had to switch to the audiobook early on because the writing felt too disjointed/weird to me at first (I had to reread some sentences multiple times because they just read oddly), and listening made all those issues go away. However, it was so much harder to keep track of what was going on/all the characters, so that also affected my reading. In the end, I'm not sure whether it would've been better had I just pushed through reading my physical copy or not.
I do have to commend this novel's diversity though. It's so casual and everywhere and I love it. This is what fantasy deserves! Not just token characters here and there, but everywhere! (I mean there was f/f rep, trans characters, ace characters, and more rep I'm missing/wasn't as clear cut). That alone made this fantasy stand out.
Unfortunately, I wasn't all that into the plot. It just hit too close to [b:Enchantée|36613718|Enchantée (Enchantée, #1)|Gita Trelease|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542046529l/36613718._SY75_.jpg|58370622] for me, even though they're not really that close story wise. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a French Revolution style fantasy again, and I didn't go in realizing just how close to that it would feel. I loved the magic system and the setting, just wish the plot itself was slightly different.
I really liked the characters though, even if I didn't feel a strong connection to any of them. I feel like this is where the book really shines, and would have been my favorite part had I not been so confused by the amount of them sometimes.
Overall, I'm not writing off other books by this author just yet, but I'll be going in a bit more wary,
Admittedly, I had to switch to the audiobook early on because the writing felt too disjointed/weird to me at first (I had to reread some sentences multiple times because they just read oddly), and listening made all those issues go away. However, it was so much harder to keep track of what was going on/all the characters, so that also affected my reading. In the end, I'm not sure whether it would've been better had I just pushed through reading my physical copy or not.
I do have to commend this novel's diversity though. It's so casual and everywhere and I love it. This is what fantasy deserves! Not just token characters here and there, but everywhere! (I mean there was f/f rep, trans characters, ace characters, and more rep I'm missing/wasn't as clear cut). That alone made this fantasy stand out.
Unfortunately, I wasn't all that into the plot. It just hit too close to [b:Enchantée|36613718|Enchantée (Enchantée, #1)|Gita Trelease|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542046529l/36613718._SY75_.jpg|58370622] for me, even though they're not really that close story wise. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a French Revolution style fantasy again, and I didn't go in realizing just how close to that it would feel. I loved the magic system and the setting, just wish the plot itself was slightly different.
I really liked the characters though, even if I didn't feel a strong connection to any of them. I feel like this is where the book really shines, and would have been my favorite part had I not been so confused by the amount of them sometimes.
Overall, I'm not writing off other books by this author just yet, but I'll be going in a bit more wary,
cassiewbee's review
3.0
3.25/5
The magic system in the story was interesting and very detailed. It was by far the strongest point to this story. The overall story was really interesting, although the catalyst for the narrative (the initial swap between the two girls) was ludicrously unbelievable. Given how much detail was invested into the rest of the story, this part felt very lacking.
Unfortunately the pacing also felt a bit off for me. The time jumps and transitions often felt abrupt. I also had trouble differentiating between the two main characters for the majority of the book. They sounded far too similar and I would often forget whose perspective I was reading from. And I really didn’t warm to any of the characters until near the end, which was a real pity because I could see the potential in the characters, they just felt a little flat. I did really like the different relationships that the author was trying to develop. I really appreciate stories that focus on strong friendships.
Overall, I could see a lot of potential in this story but it just didn’t deliver what I was hoping for.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this title to review!
The magic system in the story was interesting and very detailed. It was by far the strongest point to this story. The overall story was really interesting, although the catalyst for the narrative (the initial swap between the two girls) was ludicrously unbelievable. Given how much detail was invested into the rest of the story, this part felt very lacking.
Unfortunately the pacing also felt a bit off for me. The time jumps and transitions often felt abrupt. I also had trouble differentiating between the two main characters for the majority of the book. They sounded far too similar and I would often forget whose perspective I was reading from. And I really didn’t warm to any of the characters until near the end, which was a real pity because I could see the potential in the characters, they just felt a little flat. I did really like the different relationships that the author was trying to develop. I really appreciate stories that focus on strong friendships.
Overall, I could see a lot of potential in this story but it just didn’t deliver what I was hoping for.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this title to review!