3.5 stars

I saw Les Miserables on Broadway years ago, but I honestly don't remember anything about it.  Musicals aren't really my thing, but I was outvoted on our show choice that night.  The biggest reason I requested this book was the comparison to Six of Crows.

Knowing little to nothing about Les Mis, I probably missed most of the same character names, plot points, etc., but I don't think lack of knowledge of that story should hinder anyone reading this novel.  The descriptions of the nine guilds at the beginning were a little overwhelming at first, but they quickly became one of my favorite parts of the story.  Nina's world is dark, gritty, and dangerous - starvation, sex slavery, and death are common; consequently, she has to learn to adapt and survive at an early age.  Strong, fierce, and clever, she's an easy character to root for.  Pacing is brisk and tense heists are plenty, but a couple of time jumps may leave you struggling for a few pages to find your footing.

I did question how a nine-year-old Nina in one night transforms into a talented thief who evades highly-trained royal guards.  Maybe some backstory woven in to explain her skills would have helped.  Something I didn't connect with at all was her strong bond with Ettie and willingness to sacrifice nearly everything for her.  After a several year time jump, Ettie is suddenly there, and the reader is given no history of their relationship.  Initially, Nina is planning to sell Ettie into sex slavery to save her own sister, but then changes her mind.  Nearly everything that happens from that point on is due to their sisterly relationship, and the lack of connection on my part made it difficult to understand Nina's choices.  

Don't get me wrong - I definitely enjoyed this story.  It's a wonderful debut with charismatic characters and some suprisingly humorous moments.  Prior knowledge of Les Mis isn't required, but you may get more from the story if you're familiar with it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was so fun! I always enjoy adaptations, especially the scavenger hunt for recognizable characters and the fresh twists given to established plot points. The glimpses of Les Mis were satisfying, but even more so were the places the author strayed from the original story. Centering it upon Eponine and the criminal underworld rather than upon Cosette and the revolutionaries made it feel new and not stale.

Said criminal underworld is as brutal as it is alluring. Watching Nina win and lose loyalties kept me on the edge of my seat. At no point did she feel like she was at the mercy of the plot, she always had a trick up her sleeve, an actor and not a reactor even when she was reacting to unforeseen obstacles. Similarly, the Tiger was not a one-dimensional character driven by the plot's need for a villain. Their sparring drove the plot, and not the other way around.

At times the dialogue felt unrealistically lyrical, but overall this was an enjoyable read and I'm excited to see what the rest of the series brings!

Rating: 2/5 semi-miraculous courts (DNF at 47%)

Format: ebook. I’d like to thank NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What it's like: This book is pitched as a Les Miserable meets Six of Crows but I didn’t see any resemblance to Six of Crows.

To sum up:
This story is set in an alternate 1828 Paris after a failed French Revolution. The city has been divided into nine underground criminal Guilds known as the Court of Miracles. Our main character is a scrappy young thief called the Black Cat who works for the thieves guild. The Black Cat, or Nina, takes responsibility for a young orphan named Ettie, who ends up drawing the eye of the leader of the Flesh guild. In order to protect Ettie from being claimed by a terrible fate, Nina must go to great lengths during this turbulent and desperate time, and ultimately decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect those she loves.

What I loved:
I think the setting is great. To be totally honest, I haven’t read Les Mis or watched the show/adaptions (I know! I need to fix that), so hopefully, this review will be helpful for those like me who are going into this book knowing nothing about this story or time period! From the start, it’s clear that this city is cut-throat, hungry, and desperate. It’s a great place to throw your main characters into and gives them a lot of conflicts to overcome and adversity to deal with. I love a sneaky thief as the main character and the way the city’s underworld is divided is definitely interesting.

What was meh:
So I dnf’ed this book at about 50% and let me tell you why. It boils down to me not being able to deal with this strategy of storytelling. I’ve read a few other reviews of this arc, and they are mostly positive which is great, but they are also from fans of Les Mis. I mention that because I feel that this author expects the reader to become invested in the characters and understand this very complex world VERY quickly. There is quite a bit of action in the beginning (which is great if done well!) and a cursory explanation of the world and Nina’s motivations before she is thrust into dangerous circumstances. I have barely started to understand this character and we are supposed to be worried for her already? We are supposed to be disappointed if she fails?
Then there are the TIME JUMPS. This is the main story-telling feature that I had trouble with. I finally got a grasp on the world and sort of how it works (mostly from the author telling me rather than showing me, and we are only about 25% into the story at this point) and BAM some amount of time has passed and Nina is no longer trying to carry out this really important goal from “Act 1”. No, now she has a new goal and new characters are introduced and half of the characters from Act 1 seem no longer important. Also, it’s unclear how much time has passed for some of these jumps, you’re just supposed to gather that from the subtle clues the author puts in there (why not just tell us?), but more importantly it’s totally unclear why Nina’s MOTIVATIONS have changed. At first it seems like maybe she has a plan, but it’s so loosely described I can’t quite be sure if it’s not well-thought-out, or if the author is withholding detail to build suspense. But then it appears that Nina abandons the plan and it is totally unclear to me why. There is no internal dialog or discussion from Nina to help me understand. There is just more action, more violence, and a new character she must protect at all costs that we literally just met. Hi, what’s your name? Who are you? Why is it important for our MC to risk her life for you? There are people dying in these streets, sex trafficking, and lots and lots of violence so who is this character to me and why should I care whether they are another victim to this harsh world or not? I’m left with SO many unanswered questions and what seems like an abrupt shift from one plot to a different one.
Ultimately, I think the author depends too heavily on her reader’s prior knowledge of the story of Les Mis and it’s cast. She is trying so hard to introduce a complex underground world onto an already complex story that she doesn’t have enough time (or skill tbh, sorry) to describe and SHOW us these elements in adequate detail. Add to that time jumps that also include shifting character motivations and I felt totally lost. I genuinely thought maybe my ebook was missing some chapters or I accidentally skipped ahead. I have read books that deal with time jumps and it is always a delicate business. There is always a period of reflection or another character illustrates some detail in dialog to help the reader along, but I just felt that was lacking in this book.
I will be the first to say that if a world or main character doesn’t make sense to me, I just can’t read the book. I’ve had this issue with a lot of popular YA (and non-YA) books so this isn’t true for everyone obviously, but for me it’s a deal-breaker. I get so distracted by things not making sense to me (why one guild can break the laws that everyone has agreed on halfway through the book and we are just supposed to accept that?) that I just can’t read it anymore, and unfortunately, that happened to me in this book.

Overall, if you are a fan of Les Mis I still encourage you to give this book a try! Maybe you will see things in it that I did not, but I can’t recommend this book to readers who haven’t read it or seen the musical because I fear that they will feel just as confused as I am. I think the setting and the underground courts are great pieces of the story (I have no idea what makes them miraculous though other than it sounds cool *shrug*) but they aren’t enough for me. I need to understand who carries out the laws of the court, why they made them and show me in a convincing way that doesn’t feel rushed or brushed aside, and how does the royalty fit into this world (okay, you stole a necklace from a prince, is that going to have some significance later??)? Give me time to get to know the characters and SHOW me what they care about, and then don’t just pull the rug out from under me with no warning and no explanations.

Trigger warnings:
Violence, drug use, sex trafficking of children, emotional and physical abuse of a child.

This was a fun read, fast paced and the storyline really never seemed to stop moving, with all the twists and turns you really couldn’t see a lot of it coming. Nina was an interesting character, and I loved her title of the Black Cat since she was able to get away with anything. But part of that is why I found her unbelievable, even as a child she was able to steal from the prince that easily? Aspects of the book definitely seemed unrealistic, such as the fact she seems have three guys pining over her. The Prince, The Assassin and the Rebel, it’s all very fun but unrealistic.

I did enjoy Ettie and her development from being sheltered and scared to no longer being afraid. But other than constantly being sought after she didn’t have much of a personality, I’m hoping that will change down the line.

The main thing that kept confusing me during this whole book was the timeline, I had difficulty imagining what Nina looked like a lot because they were time jumps that lost me and I was scrambling to figure out how much time had passed.

My favorite character though, wasn’t Nina or Ettie. It was Montparnasse, the assassin who seems to have thing for Nina, who just shows up to kill people. And I sincerely hope we see more of him.

The Court of Miracles combines the underworld of Six of Crows with a re-imagining of the events of Les Miserables. I’m a huge fan of Eponine and was beyond excited when I received an ARC of this book! The first in a planned trilogy, this story follows Nina (Eponine), as she fights to be reunited with her sisters and seeks to prove to the lords of the underworld that she is not a pawn on their chessboard. Nina is fierce about pursuing her goals, unflinching in the face of almost certain death, and always thinking five steps ahead. This book was impossible to put down; there’s never a dull moment and a sense of eerie fantasy permeates throughout.

Grant’s writing is smooth, descriptive, and captivating. At the heart of this book, there is a strong bond of sisterhood, which is one of my favorite things to see! The Court of Miracles was genuinely so much fun to read: with a female Javert, lots of nods to Les Mis throughout, and more than one intriguing gentleman who crosses paths with Nina. You do not need to have read or seen Les Miserables to enjoy this book, as the author makes the story completely her own. I already can’t wait for the sequel to The Court of Miracles and to see how Nina’s adventures continue! The Court of Miracles releases on June 2, 2020. Thank you to Kester Grant, Knopf Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this and it definitely kept me turning the pages to find out what happened next. I had some issues with the characters not quite being flushed out (Ninas skills seem to just appear out of thin air) and the romance angle was poor.
I think things feel to easily into place. The Les Miserables inspiration felt forced and at times got confusing. The Six is Crows comparison should not have been used as those books are so highly rated that it makes this work seem weaker.

Overall would like to read the sequel to this to see where the story goes next but had some issues with plot pacing and character abilities.

This was a marvelous find!! What an original spin off of history and a classic of literature (and stage)!

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Grant did a phenomenal job with the world-building here. The story takes events and personalities, real and literary, and blends them seamlessly with a wholly original construct involving guilds, the poor, conspiracy, and preternatural skill. The result is a fantastic read populated by a wide-ranging cast of characters that leapt off the pages for me. The pacing, the adventures, the drama, the scene-setting - it was all brilliant. The story grabbed me from the opening pages and never let go...

I cannot WAIT to see what happens next and sincerely hope the next installment comes out soon. There are a LOT of characters with a LOT of balls on the air, and it will not be easy to keep them all top of mind enough to maximize the magic of a second book if a lot of time passes before I read it. It's good enough to warrant a reread if need be though - and that right there should be all the affirmation you need in order to pick this one up post-haste!

At the 50% mark I DNF'd this book for now. I love the concept and the different houses for all of the unwanted but my biggest concern was the main character. For what I read, she spent all of her time trying to right a wrong that she made herself. I didn't really want to root for her. And when she was able to to 'complete' her goal, it got reset again. I wanted little Ettie's story to begin rather than just her needed protection.
Once I read another book to give my mind a break, I plan on coming back around to this book and finishing it.

There’s a scene in Kester Grant’s The Court of Miracles, where an entire room of nobles is hypnotized by the head of the assassin’s guild into doing something horrific but which they are wholly oblivious to. It’s an apt scene to note, because while this first book in a trilogy is far from horrific (really, far from it), Grant is such a fluid writer that she lulls you into a sort of readerly trance, a smoothly flowing journey that carries you effortlessly along, leaving you if not oblivious at least uncaring with regard to the story’s several flaws. As such, it’s one of those occasional odd novels where I’m going to say there are lots of places it isn’t very good, but you still may find yourself enjoying it anyway.

The blurbs label it a retelling (of sorts) of Les Misérables, and sure, several of the characters appear here with the same or similar names — Eponine, Javert (here a woman), Valjean — and it is set in revolutionary France, but honestly, I’m not sure the linkage to Hugo’s work, which is pretty minor and surface-level, adds that much to the story or isn’t in fact more of a distraction than a plus. In some ways, I’d even say it’s a negative, such as choosing to make Javert a woman seemingly so her obsession with Valjean could be because they had something a few years back. Why not just keep Javert male and have that same backstory? (apologies to Grant if there turns out to be some other motive). Meanwhile, some of the connections feel forced, many feel overly light, and I much preferred Grant’s more original additions to the storyline. So, I’d say don’t think of it as a reworking or retelling and think of it as more “kinda sorta inspired by” and then just forget the whole thing.

Grant sets her story in a Paris where the French Revolution failed and Paris is split amongst the nobility, your basic poor (those who walk by day), and the “Miracle Court” — nine criminal guilds, the most important of which here are The Legion of Ghosts (beggars), The Guild of Assassins, The Guild of Thieves, and The Guild of Flesh. After her sister is sold off by their father to “The Tiger”, leader of the Flesh Guild and feared by all other guild lords, our main character Nina becomes a “cat” (burglar) in the Guild of Thieves. Despite a sworn oath to the Thieves’ leader not to try to rescue her sister, Nina of course does just that. It’s not much of a spoiler (but if you want to avoid even a small one that arrives early in the novel skip to the next paragraph. No, really), to say she fails. But then her protective nature turns to her new sister (not by blood) Ettie, who also catches the attention of The Tiger. To save her Nina will not just set herself against The Tiger, but against any guild lords who refuse to help her, any police, any revolutionaries, the Dauphin, even the Queen herself.

To start with the positives, as noted, Grant’s writing is smooth and engrossing, and while the overall worldbuilding of 19th Century Paris is relatively slim, Grant does a nice job describing characters and specific settings. Her descriptions of the significant guilds are particularly atmospheric and striking. Nina is an easy character to root for thanks to her determination and resilience. The Tiger, meanwhile, a somewhat standard if enigmatic villain through much of the novel ends up much more complex than he at first seems.

As far as my issues with the novel. One is that everything comes a bit too easily to Nina. That isn’t to say she doesn’t suffer consequences — some are especially terrible — but that there seems little she cannot do. She breaks into the most impossible of places with the greatest of ease, charms nearly all, is brilliant at long-term strategy and short-term improvising, etc. One of the pleasures of heists (and while this isn’t a “heist novel” there are several heist requirements) is the slow build-up, the planning, the execution, the inevitable wrinkle, etc. but here they’re pretty much introduced as a goal and then just as quickly completed. Even for a YA story, and this has that YA vibe (and is marketed as such), she’s a little too brilliantly competent.

There’s also no real character growth in her story, even with the (sometimes abrupt) jumps forward in time of several years. Other characters also lack depth, serving as basic villain, stalwart support, reluctant-but-won-over-by-her-plucky attitude support, or victim-of-her-plucky attitude love interest (three of them fall, unnecessarily I’d say and implausibly, into this role). Though “love interest” really lends them more seriousness than they contain in the story itself, given that we only know they are that by Nina musing on how attractive they are or Ettie giggling over a brief interaction. Finally, the entire plot feels rushed.

The Court of Miracles is, as noted, a YA novel, and the younger end of its target market will probably be less bothered by the book’s flaws. Older ones, and adults, will certainly find themselves wishing for more fully-fleshed out characterization and more of a sense of struggle/difficulty for the main character, but both groups will still mostly likely find themselves zipping through the story thanks to its quick pacing, intriguing guild structures and rules, and smooth flowing prose. As a first book in a trilogy (and this one does resolve itself enough so it can stand on its own if one wishes), it’s not a bad introduction to a world that is interesting enough to convince me to pick up book two, with hopes those weaker elements improve.

I have never read Les Misérables and I've never been a particular fan of the musical, but I still enjoyed this book a lot! I do think that knowledge of Les Mis might have enhanced my enjoyment, however, as this seems to be a fairly close adaptation?

The writing was lush and evocative and the plot was fast paced, which made The Court of Miracles a quick, compelling read. I love fantasy books that explore the seedy underbellies of their settings, and I thought this was particularly well done here. I will also say that I'm always a sucker for stories about the sisterly bond, and the first chapter of The Court of Miracles was a gut punch. Overall, really fun and really well done!

Thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really thought this book would be amazing. Six of Crows is my absolute favorite dulogy so I may have expected too much. Once I started reading it, nothing in this book kept my interest. To start, there was just too much going on in the Court. Too many pieces to it and too much to even try to remember. Unfortunately this was a big turn-off for me.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

This was a well-written book with intricate characters and setting but it was not my favorite book. I gave it about 150 pages to see if I could fall into the story. But, it just was not for me. I know that some of my students would enjoy this and find it highly entertaining. I would recommend it to my students, especially the ones who love fantasy. Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I am interested in checking out anything else by this author.

The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant is described as a mix of Les Miserables and Six of Crows and is an accurate description. Being a fan of both Les Miserables and Six of Crows, I found The Court of Miracles to be an immensely fun romp. Fans of Les Miserables will enjoy the references to the book and musical, and Six of Crows fans will enjoy the strong teenage characters navigating the guilds of the underworld of Paris.
The Court of Miracles was engaging and entertaining. I enjoyed the characters and the fast-paced plot. My only complaint was that the ending felt abrupt and I would have liked a little more time spent wrapping up the story. But overall a fun book that I recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for this ARC.

You know in the beginning of the The Phantom of the Opera, when it is all dark and nothing makes sense? and then the chandelier drops and light explodes unto the stage? Yeah, that is how I feel about this book.

The Court of Miracles is wild. I mean come on...Le Mis, SOC, the JUNGLE BOOK, alternative history, and all in the city of lights. The books follows Nina, a young girl in living alternative history France after the failed revolution. She is sold by her own father into the guild of flesh. Her sister takes her place and Nina is send into a world full of thieves, assassins, poisons, loyalty, family, and mistrust. Nina is desperate to save Ettie from the claws of the feared Tiger and this set a plan into motion that takes years to complete but Nina is patient while gathering loyalty from important people.

Ok, so this book is WILD. I haven't read/seen the Jungle Book in YEARS but I vaguely remember. I have never read Le Mis but loved the movie and have seen it on stage. Do you need to know either one to understand the book? No, but it doesn't hurt to have even a rudimentary understanding of both books. I absolutely ended up loving this book and will probably think about it until book 2 and 3. Nina is amazing...she is clever and brave while also being kind. She saves people not knowing who they are and how they will help her. Sure, she also steals from them but no one is perfect. She is fierce and protecting those she loves and never forgets the person she swore she would save. I am hopeful that the romance part of the story will be further developed in the rest of the books and I am cheering for a certain shadow (my sense of romance has been warped so vowing to place the head of a certain lord in the middle of the table if she is killed made me swoon).

Tiger, the main villain is horrible. He is one of the lords of the court and is feared by everyone. He broke the law many years ago while the rest of the court turned a blind eye. Nina is not one of those people especially since he has taken someone from her and has set his eye on another of her loved ones. As horrible as Tiger is (and I mean he is literally the worst), there was a point that made me realize that he is as much a victim of his circumstances. I adore what Grant did in this book, there are zero good people, just good moments fueled by what that person perceives as justice.

I hope we see more of the lords of courts and their backstories in book 2 and 3 as well as more about Javert. My one issue with the book is that the timeline is a little wonky. I had a hard time trying to figure out how old Nina is at any given time or how much time had passed. Some scenes felt a little weird but I read an ARC so maybe it wasn't the polished version. Definitely purchasing a personal copy.

Shout out to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in advance in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this concept. I'm a sucker for anything set in Paris, and this is the city as we've never known. It is an alternate history set in Paris where the revolution failed, and the kings and queens live on, causing torment to the poor with their opulence and frivolity. The Court of Miracles itself the underbelly of Paris' crime. It is a group of heathens separated into nine separate guilds. Each guild specializes in something unique—thievery, drugs, assassination, etc—and all are governed by laws that keep them in order and prevent interference from others in their business. It's super fun world-building, even if it was a little overwhelming in the beginning when you're trying to fit all the pieces together.

Our main character is Nina, the infamous Black Cat of the thieves guild who can get into any place, from Tuileries Palace—the remains of which we now consider the Louvre—to one of the most well-guarded prisons in Paris. She is a fierce and brave girl whose biggest weakness is the one she loves most, her adopted sister, Ettie. It's a flaw I have always enjoyed in main characters, and it was utilized beautifully here. We follow along with Nina over the course of several years. from when her sister is sold to the Tiger as essentially a controlled drug addict, through joining her guild and becoming the Black Cat, to trying to exact revenge on the Tiger. The problem is he is untouchable, with none of the laws of the Court applying to him.

The way this unfolds over the years is very interesting. It's surprisingly clever and feels like there's a lot of nuance and depth to it. A lot of love and thought went into building up this world and Nina's plans to take the Tiger off his throne, and I can admire the author's efforts. How Nina used her sister Ettie as a pawn, worked with the other guilds in unconventional ways--*chef's kiss* I finished this in three days because it was so fascinating and near impossible to put down. That said, I did struggle to get into it at first. There was some extra material at the beginning of my e-arc that either rubbed me wrong or went right over my head because I had no context yet. The writing also felt very ... superiour? Pompous? Before it settled into itself and I could enjoy it.

This was an odd sort of book in terms of romance. There isn't one, just to be clear. Nina is far too busy kicking ass and saving her sister to be distracted by men. I have no problems with her not needing anyone, personally. I find it absolutely refreshing, but this book doesn't seem to know what it wants to do. Nina is assumed to be unattractive, does not lead anyone on, and yet there are three love interests who pop up all over the place. Two of them are very subtle, with Ettie perhaps making them into more than they really are with her romantic lens on their every interaction. And maybe one of them actually is properly into her. The third is the freakin' Dauphin of France, who is both smitten, and frankly, dumb as hell. I needed him punched in the face. Not his whipping boy. Him.

When I originally received this ARC, it was The Jungle Book meets Les Mis. Now it's Six of Crows meets Les Mis. I'm vaguely familiar with the original Les Mis, and this felt more like "I'm going to name these characters this and call it that." Nina is Eponine, Ettie is Cosette, plus a rather random Jean Valjean with a gender swapped Inspecter Javert. There's a few subtle parallels plot-wise, but nothing striking. The Jungle Book comp has me at a loss. I only know the Disney adaptation, but I still don't see how this tracks. Each act of the book starts with a Jungle Book quote, and that's it. Now Six of Crows. This is the first book I've read comped to it after having finally read Six of Crows. Not only is that a risky choice because of how beloved it is, but don't comp it unless you actually have something to comp to it. It's inevitable disappointment since there is no proper gang of misfits, no magic, and the major heist can hardly be called that.

I am very curious how this is going to develop into a series. Aside from a few minor loose ends, this can hold it's own as a standalone. Although I struggled a little with what to rate this (I'm going 4.5 out of 5), I want so much more of Nina and this world. Looking forward to participating in the blog tour in June.

As someone who has never read or watched any version of "Les Miserables" movies I probably missing out on many elements of the source material. However I do recall the names and that is where the connection ends for me. There are so many characters and not enough insight into their POV during this revolution at the turn of a century. The story is told through Nina our main character who is brave and venerable in her journey to fight to save the soul of the city Paris and her sisters. All we know about her is that she is a thief and will go to the end of the world to save her sisters. Nina makes connection with intriguing characters throughout the guilds, royalty, and revolutionist and yet we don't really know their story or how they see the world.

I liked that this story was fast paced although I felt at times that I was missing something or maybe over read it only to find out I didn't, so the flow for me at time was a bit messy. Beside Nina the only other characters who jumped off the page were Ettie and St. Juste I felt I got more of their personality than anyone else. Since the book was broken into parts I would have loved it if Kester could have told the each parts of the story from another character point of view. Also I would have loved to know there ages, Ettie was the only age I knew on the timeline like how old is Nina? I only know she joined the Thief guild at age nine. Thankfully this is book one of a trilogy so I hope to get more answers and insight into a lot the characters in the next installments. Overall I think this was a pretty good read but should have went through at least one more edit to be polished. I look forward to reading more of this intriguing mash-up revolution re-telling.

Rating: 2 / 5 stars

This was an interesting read. There were some parts I was super into and some parts I was just confused. I think this could definitely be some people’s cup of tea, but it just wasn’t mine.

Summary:

Described as Six of Crows meets Les Mis, Court of Miracles is a retelling of Les Mis where the French Revolution failed. Paris has been divided into nine underworld criminal guilds or the Court Of Miracles. Nina (Eponine) is thrown into the Thieves Guild in an attempt for her older sister to protect her. Nina has adjusted to her new life when her abusive father “adopts” Ettie (Cossette). Nina will do anything to protect her, even if that means starting a war between the guilds.

Review:

I struggled with this one a bit and was pretty disappointed. There were time jumps between parts that weren’t really explained. Sometimes it seemed to be a couple months, others a couple years. But through those time jumps, none of Nina’s problems were resolved and it wasn’t really explained what she was doing during that time. The story starts out with Nina trying to find her older sister and rescue her, but then she completely ditches that and focuses on protecting Ettie instead. I felt like I never really got to know Nina. She had multiple “romantic” interests but nothing was ever developed and it felt like the author was just trying to plop them in with every young male in the story. There were also aspects of the story that weren’t explained well or hardly at all. Like all of a sudden Nina grows claws and scales a wall?? A lot of things also just seemed too easy for Nina. While she is described as a skilled thief, everything just seems to go exactly the way she wants or in her favor.

While this was clearly not my favorite, I think some would really enjoy this. If you love adventure stories, you may really love this. I think there were a lot of really interesting concepts, but for me just weren’t executed well.

Nina is the Black Cat, the greatest thief France has ever seen. She’s been stealing ever since she was a small child, when her sister was sold to the Tiger, one of the Guild Lords of the Paris underworld. As a member of the Guild of Thieves, Nina is protected, but she’s determined to also save her sister from the Tiger, and prevent him from hurting anybody else. But with one failed revolution in the past and the nobles still in control, is the underworld of Paris ready to rise up against those whose have kept them subjugated for years?

I received an advanced reading copy of The Court of Miracles in exchange for an honest review.

The Court of Miracles is a young adult fantasy novel by Kester Grant. But when I say fantasy, I don’t mean magic or anything. This is more of an alternative history than anything else, which basically means changing some aspect of history and writing a book about it. In this case, the “what if?” is: “what if the French revolution had failed?” And the answer is: all sorts of interesting things!

The book is divided into four parts, and each is separated by several years, which was not something I expected. Every section is split into a mini plot of its own, which kept the sections interesting, but I struggled initially to try and figure out the overarching plot that was leading the story. It eventually makes sense, but the split sections still stand apart as individuals, only connected by Nina’s main goal: to get rid of the Tiger.

The description for this book has this as a combination of Les Misérables and The Jungle Book, and it’s a pretty good description! The influences of Les Misérables are especially prevalent in this book, not just in another revolution, but familiar characters come out of the woodwork every so often. They’re very different from Victor Hugo’s original work, but I enjoyed seeing how Grant changed them to suit the story better. It was a lot of fun finding these influences, and there was one moment in particular that I laughed out loud as it jumped out of the narrative. Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.

Anyway, I’ve talked enough about the book in general. Now I want to talk about the characters, and Nina, especially. Who is Nina? She’s a character who’s determined like no other. She has one goal, and one goal only, and she will do absolutely everything in her power to achieve it, no matter who she has to cross or what insane things she has to accomplish. It took me a while to actually get a feeling for her, actually. At the very beginning, we see her willing to sacrifice a girl to try and get her own sister back, and while she suddenly has her own conscience rise up and stop her, it was hard to figure out exactly why she became so fond of Ettie. Ettie was pretty much a plot device, created for the mere reason of giving Nina another reason to do all she has to do in this book. But, Ettie felt sort of flat to me until the end. For so much of the narrative, she just felt… there…

There are so many other characters in this book, but all of them seemed to have more depth than Ettie. Montparnasse, the Guild Lords, and even the Dauphin (French crown prince), who makes infrequent appearances throughout the book. I felt like all these characters were deeper than Ettie was, and they all had stories and pasts to overcome. I think what helps bring them to life is Nina’s relationship to each. She knows them, she talks to them, and we, through Nina’s eyes, get to know them. Since I struggled with the relationship Nina and Ettie had, I struggled with Ettie. But all the other characters, as Nina slowly got to know them, I did too, and I ended up enjoying so much of their stories.

Speaking of relationships, I loved how this novel barely touched romance. There was very little of it going on, with only a few hints here and there, with the potential for much more in future books, but the narrative was clearly occupied with much bigger and better things.

And there were so many plot points going on in this narrative! It sort of makes my head swim to think of them all. The main plot might be Nina trying to rescue her sister and Ettie to seek revenge, but there’s many significant subplots that grow to take up quite a large part of the book, weaving in and out of Nina’s own story and becoming very significant in the end. And, speaking of the end, I also really loved how this book could in theory stand alone, despite being the first of a series. A plot comes to an end, and it’s a satisfying conclusion, but it leaves plenty of loose ends open to welcome the second book. It’s one I think I’ll be picking up when it comes out.

The Court of Miracles was a fun read about one of my favorite cities, changing the most important part of its history to make room for a story that was compelling, fast-paced, and full of such a strong and determined character. I had a great time reading this book, and I think I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes alternative histories and exciting stories.

The Court of Miracles will be released by Knopf on June 2, 2020. You can pre-order your copy from them here.

My thoughts

Would I recommended it?Yes ( In fact as soon I a got it I went ahead and told some of my friends about that we ended up doing a buddy read of it and they loved it as well)

Would I read more of this series ?Yes

Would I read more by this author?Yes



What I loved about this story:

guilds, known as the Court of Miracles

Nina

the written style

Gothic feel to it

the interesting characters



What I didn't like

The Tiger

how confused i was on how old Nina was at the very start of the book ( but so was some of my friends )



Now on to my actual thoughts of the story itself, first off a big thanks to Random House Children's for letting me read and review it, because I tend not to read a lot of Young Adult fantasy, And this time I took and the a chance on it based on the title as well as the cover and where it said SIX of Crows ( which I read for the first time this year and loved it),And in some ways it was kind of like Six Crows but in others it was also different.

And what really surprised me was how I didn't want to put down the book and that I just wanted to keep reading, even though at the time I was reading other stuff as well but I did put it down since I was doing a buddy read and we had how many chapters we could read each day and I was having fun reading it with my friends.So here is my question to you guys what can I do or say that will enable you to give this a try as well? And yes I'm an enabler when it comes to books , just ask my friends.I could say that if you liked or even loved Les Misérables and Six Of Crows ( then you need to check this out), a story that a big slow but that's a good thing in this case because it helps with the development of the characters , the world building and over the story setup, a story that pulls you into it, and the atmosphere that makes you set on the edge of your set, so with that said I hope you decide its something you want try and also give NetGalley a big thanks as well for letting me read read and review it and a a shout out to my friends who read it with me.