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A review by crackedspines_
The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
3.0
OVERALL RATING: 3 stars! I found the concept of this book fascinating. It is a lovely idea. The action was compelling and some of the characters were intriguing. However, I finished this book feeling extremely disappointed. The structure was a disaster, and the ending was confusing and unsatisfying.
PLOT: 2/5 stars. In addition to the structural issues, the plot had many other issues. The main one is that the reasons for the events of the book were rather flimsy. Some of the main plot points ended up being events that I frankly could not see happening in a logical way. That being said, I did enjoy the general course of the book. And lastly, the end of the book was infuriating. I understand that this is the first book in a new series, but there were too many holes at the end of the book. Nina did several things that made no sense right at the end of the book. There were some implications of potential future events that made absolutely no sense!
STRUCTURE: 1/5 stars. There was absolutely no concept of time in this book. Years were skipped without any indication and it was highly confusing. When I thought about it for more than a few seconds, it absolutely disintegrated in my mind. The time just didn't line up. Also the chapter breaks occurred in strange places. On several occasions they were smack in the middle of a conversation, seemingly only for the dramatic effect.
SETTING: 2/5 stars. There was some basic information about the setting - I had a general idea of how certain things looked, etc. But I couldn't quite transport myself there. Something about it still felt flat and unrealistic. And again, the passing of time was extremely disfigured and that was a problem for me.
THEME: 5/5 stars. I truly did love the theme of this book. I'll be honest, I haven't read or watched Les Misérables, but I know the general idea of it and I've always been interested by it. And this book was just as fascinating to me as Les Mis was when I heard about it.
CHARACTERS: 2.5/5 stars. There were two characters who I love, the Master of Knives and Femi. They were mysterious and interesting in different ways. I was also somewhat fond of the dauphin of France. However, there was a trope involving the romance I am not at all fond of. All the boys (Montparnasse, St. Juste, the dauphin of France) were attracted to Nina, and she seemed to be attracted to all of them. Nina's attraction, however, seemed to solely exist because of theirs to her. It created some strange and unnecessary tension that I as a reader absolutely did not enjoy. Additionally, I found much of Nina as a character hard to get behind. She was a selfish idiot. Her motivations and loyalty were disjointed and she was a patchwork quilt of a character. I was only rooting for her because I wanted the others involved to be safe.
DIALOGUE: 3/5 stars. Although I did not love Nina as a character, she was pretty badass and her dialogue was always interesting, especially when she was conversing with the Master of Knives or the dauphin. But there were also some parts of it, mostly Nina's internal monologue, that were tedious and repetitive. She was constantly repeating the same thing about herself, as if the reader could've forgotten.
PLOT: 2/5 stars. In addition to the structural issues, the plot had many other issues. The main one is that the reasons for the events of the book were rather flimsy. Some of the main plot points ended up being events that I frankly could not see happening in a logical way. That being said, I did enjoy the general course of the book. And lastly, the end of the book was infuriating. I understand that this is the first book in a new series, but there were too many holes at the end of the book. Nina did several things that made no sense right at the end of the book. There were some implications of potential future events that made absolutely no sense!
STRUCTURE: 1/5 stars. There was absolutely no concept of time in this book. Years were skipped without any indication and it was highly confusing. When I thought about it for more than a few seconds, it absolutely disintegrated in my mind. The time just didn't line up. Also the chapter breaks occurred in strange places. On several occasions they were smack in the middle of a conversation, seemingly only for the dramatic effect.
SETTING: 2/5 stars. There was some basic information about the setting - I had a general idea of how certain things looked, etc. But I couldn't quite transport myself there. Something about it still felt flat and unrealistic. And again, the passing of time was extremely disfigured and that was a problem for me.
THEME: 5/5 stars. I truly did love the theme of this book. I'll be honest, I haven't read or watched Les Misérables, but I know the general idea of it and I've always been interested by it. And this book was just as fascinating to me as Les Mis was when I heard about it.
CHARACTERS: 2.5/5 stars. There were two characters who I love, the Master of Knives and Femi. They were mysterious and interesting in different ways. I was also somewhat fond of the dauphin of France. However, there was a trope involving the romance I am not at all fond of.
DIALOGUE: 3/5 stars. Although I did not love Nina as a character, she was pretty badass and her dialogue was always interesting, especially when she was conversing with the Master of Knives or the dauphin. But there were also some parts of it, mostly Nina's internal monologue, that were tedious and repetitive. She was constantly repeating the same thing about herself, as if the reader could've forgotten.