cinnamonrollbooks 's review for:

The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant

4.0

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4.5 Stars

Of the three French history inspired books I've received in book boxes this year (YA seems to be going through a phase), The Court of Miracles was easily my favourite. Though lacking in the unique magic of Bone Crier's Moon, and the historicity of Dangerous Remedy, The Court of Miracles won out on what for me would be the most important element in this kind of story - fun.

I loved the Miracle Court and its various guilds, their intricate alliances to one another and the politics at play, and their fear of the Tiger

Spoiler

is Orso Baloo (Orso means bear), and Tomasis Bagheera? Still trying to work out the Jungle Book references!

. Nina is an entertaining main character, who really does walk the walk as oppose to just talk the talk

Spoiler

she actually had Tomasis shot! D:

, and her relationship with Ettie, and her dedication to her, Azelma, and the Sisters, was wonderful to read. Is there a love square? Kind of. Nina has three potential love interests, but to be honest, romance is a really minor part of this book, and it's usually used for comic effect e.g. Ettie constantly shipping Nina with people; Nina using men in harmless but often hilarious ways to achieve her goals.

Despite the occasional odd time jump, the pacing of this book was one of its strongest elements. There wasn't a single chapter where I felt bored, or an action scene where my eyes glazed over (this is super rare for me!) as everything is wonderfully concise and to the point - there's no filler, basically. The Court of Miracles is actually on the shorter end of YA fantasy, but with the exception of

Spoiler

Nina's two years with St. Juste and the gang

, nothing really felt rushed, and the writing style is elegant throughout, never dull, but never dense or overly flowery either.

So why not a full five stars? Well, for one, I'm being picky with my 5*s nowadays. 5* books have a special feeling about them which elevates them above even the most enjoyable of 4 and 4.5* reads. The Court of Miracles wasn't quite there for me, though it was close.

The other reason is because I feel like this might have fared better as a looser Les Mis retelling. Sometimes the Les Mis elements felt too on the nose, to the point of being jarring against the more prominent non-Les Mis Miracle Court. I feel like all the characters should have been more like Nina and Ettie, different enough from their Les Mis counterparts that they felt like their own characters inspired by Les Mis rather than characters lifted directly from it. (I just read Lauren's review, and agree - why weren't all the names changed, only a few?).

Also, my Les Mis source informs me Enjolras is coded as gay; given the general theme of diversity in this book, the lack of LGBTQIA+ characters is odd, and making Enjolras a love interest of Nina's is odder still (maybe the author is thinking of making him bi?). However, I have to remind myself - this is book one! I judge not (yet). It's implied Enjolras likes Nina back, but given this is a first person POV, we don't really know the truth of how Enjolras feels about her, or Grantaire, or anyone really. Given that Nina has - as aforementioned - three love interests, we could quite easily see him paired off with Grantaire in the future.

So yes, to conclude, I had so much fun reading this, but I also had quibbles! Regardless, I'm definitely excited for the sequels.

***

Magical Readathon N.E.W.T.s - History of Magic - "E" - Book with a mainly black cover (thanks @ Illumicrate for providing me with an edition that fits this prompt)