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A review by paigesinbooks
Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles
5.0
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
First things first, this is Kallia's story. If you're going into this book expecting a large cast of characters to care about, you're going to be disappointed. This is a story about a showgirl/magician and her hopes and dreams. The other characters do not need to be as developed as Kallia because they are not the ones you are supposed to care about. Again, this is Kallia's story.
Kallia is running from the club she has been trapped in by illusions in the hopes of something better, something that she can control. She enters a mysterious city, finds a quick companion, and makes her way to the stage for an audition in the magician's competition. Now, I already said this is Kallia's story, and it is. However, this book is also about the city itself, and the city seems to be angry.
**Potential spoilers below**
If you can't tell by now, I've read the negative reviews of this book, and I think they're ridiculous. The main complaints I've seen include the fact that you feel nothing for the disappearing magicians. Great! You're not supposed to. This is Kallia's story. The disappearing magicians are nothing but a plot device, and that's fine. I never once felt like I was missing out because I didn't know who they were or why there were there. This was not their story. Instead, their disappearances are meant to make the reader question who or what is causing the disappearances and if Jack (The Master of the club Kallia has run away from) is behind it all or if he's truly trying to heed warnings.
Jack is abusive. There's no question about that. He's manipulative and abusive, and his character is completely confusing and his motivations are unclear. THIS IS FINE. This is the first book in a series. If everything wrapped up cleanly by the end, there would be no book two. Instead, we're left wondering what Jack was trying to warn Kallia about, how he knew about DeMarco, and more specifically, *what exactly he knows about DeMarco*.
That leads me to... DeMarco. While at times this felt like it could also be his story, it is not. It is Kallia's story. DeMarco is looking for his missing sister. We learn how she went missing later in the book (why are so many people complaining about loose ends and plots that don't make sense when we literally have one right here that we're watching pan out very, very clearly?), and we learn how that affected him as a stage magician. HOWEVER, considering the way she disappeared and Kallia's intense phobia of the *same thing*, this is clearly a set up for something involving Kallia and potentially Jack.
A lot of the angry, negative reviews of this book, in my opinion, treated this book like a standalone and not the opening to a series. Yes, there are loose ends and things that don't make sense. However, (those of you who DNF...) if you'd taken the time to get to the end, you'd see how all those loose ends meet up and set up book 2, a book that I cannot wait to get my hands on and am quite upset I have to wait so long to get.
First things first, this is Kallia's story. If you're going into this book expecting a large cast of characters to care about, you're going to be disappointed. This is a story about a showgirl/magician and her hopes and dreams. The other characters do not need to be as developed as Kallia because they are not the ones you are supposed to care about. Again, this is Kallia's story.
Kallia is running from the club she has been trapped in by illusions in the hopes of something better, something that she can control. She enters a mysterious city, finds a quick companion, and makes her way to the stage for an audition in the magician's competition. Now, I already said this is Kallia's story, and it is. However, this book is also about the city itself, and the city seems to be angry.
**Potential spoilers below**
If you can't tell by now, I've read the negative reviews of this book, and I think they're ridiculous. The main complaints I've seen include the fact that you feel nothing for the disappearing magicians. Great! You're not supposed to. This is Kallia's story. The disappearing magicians are nothing but a plot device, and that's fine. I never once felt like I was missing out because I didn't know who they were or why there were there. This was not their story. Instead, their disappearances are meant to make the reader question who or what is causing the disappearances and if Jack (The Master of the club Kallia has run away from) is behind it all or if he's truly trying to heed warnings.
Jack is abusive. There's no question about that. He's manipulative and abusive, and his character is completely confusing and his motivations are unclear. THIS IS FINE. This is the first book in a series. If everything wrapped up cleanly by the end, there would be no book two. Instead, we're left wondering what Jack was trying to warn Kallia about, how he knew about DeMarco, and more specifically, *what exactly he knows about DeMarco*.
That leads me to... DeMarco. While at times this felt like it could also be his story, it is not. It is Kallia's story. DeMarco is looking for his missing sister. We learn how she went missing later in the book (why are so many people complaining about loose ends and plots that don't make sense when we literally have one right here that we're watching pan out very, very clearly?), and we learn how that affected him as a stage magician. HOWEVER, considering the way she disappeared and Kallia's intense phobia of the *same thing*, this is clearly a set up for something involving Kallia and potentially Jack.
A lot of the angry, negative reviews of this book, in my opinion, treated this book like a standalone and not the opening to a series. Yes, there are loose ends and things that don't make sense. However, (those of you who DNF...) if you'd taken the time to get to the end, you'd see how all those loose ends meet up and set up book 2, a book that I cannot wait to get my hands on and am quite upset I have to wait so long to get.