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missnromanoff 's review for:
The Court of Miracles
by Kester Grant
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