I am going to keep this short because I’ve not really anything to say about this book. From the first pages, it already didn’t get my attention. I can’t say why exactly, maybe because of the way it’s written? Or because of the plot line?
I knew pretty early on it wouldn’t be a book I’d really remember in a month.
I’m sure some will like this book, but it just wasn’t for me. I maybe just need to give up on YA books altogether.

I really enjoyed The Court of Miracles. Hearing that it was Six of Crows mixed with Les Miserables made me want to read it instantly. Set in revolutionary France, The Court of Miracles takes the classic characters from Les Miserables and turns them on their heads. Nina (Éponine) is the protagonist and is apart of the Thieves Guild, one of nine guilds that makes up the Court of Miracles. When her adoptive sister catches the eye of the ruthless Lord of Flesh, Nina must do all she can to save her sister. Action packed and filled with a diverse and interesting cast of characters, I eagerly await the sequel.

I loved this tale of the dark side of Paris during Les Miserables. Paris at night is a place you don't ever want to go--thanks to the guilds of thieves, assassins, etc., who roam the streets stealing to survive. There are some gaps between sections and some "what?" moments, but I enjoyed the ride of this historical fiction with a familiar setting.

I can see this book being very popular, however, the book just wasn't for me. I really enjoyed the idea behind it, so I decided to give it a go (even though it was compared to Six of Crows, which I didn't enjoy that much). It doesn't feel fair to post pros and cons for a book that wasn't the book for me, so I'll just leave it at it wasn't the book, it was me.

Book Review: The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
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France. Criminal guild. Revolution. And one young woman daring enough to go head to head with a monster.
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I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would!
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When I first read the synopsis I thought it said this was a retelling of Les Mis. But that is not what it said. Lol. It was saying there are similarities. Our main character is Nina, a poor girl who is mourning her missing sister. She gets pulled into joining a guild in The Court of Miracles to protect herself. Can she find her sister? Can she protect her loved ones? Will she get revenge for the wrongs done and the rules broken?
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Nina was everything I could have wanted in a main character, she was smart, she was cunning , but she still had a heart of gold and good values. I loved the idea of the Court of Miracles. I loved the Master of Knives (fav side character). And I loved all the heist parts to this story.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and would highly recommend! Thanks very much to @netgalley for the digital arc! I loved reading this one, be sure to check it out on June 2, 2020.

Great book. The premise is very cool and I loved the characters. Les Miserable meets Six of Crows is the perfect way to describe it for sure. The plot seemed a touch frantic at times but all in all I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to the next one. Thanks for NetGalley and Knopf Children’s for granting access to this book. I will post this review tomorrow to my Bookstagram and companion Facebook page @thatreadingrealtor.

as stories go, I thought that this one was quite good.  It was action packed, the setting was quite detailed, and I felt for the main character and her journey for justice and to keep her adopted sister safe. And I liked the idea of it taking place in a France where the French Revolution failed and what would society have looked like in France if it did.

I was really excited for this book, especially since it was getting all this hype and these special editions. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me.

I was worried from the prologue/short story pre-the-first-chapter that this book was going to be unreadable. The author started with a flowery, descriptive writing style that didn't get the point across at all and ended up being confusing. The opening line of the first chapter of the book was so confusing that I had to read it like 7 times to understand what was trying to be said. Trying to start a book with a philosophical line was not really the best route when the sentence wasn't even clear. I think the sentence was missing a couple of words. This is kind of sad tbh, because the first sentence of a book is supposed to draw you in and make you want to keep reading. Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent. Luckily, the writing style evened out after a couple of chapters and ended up being very readable (bless up).

Another quick thing to talk about before I get into plot and characters: the names. GoodNESS! I swear that each character had about 3 different names that were used interchangeably, sometimes even within the SAME paragraph. That just added to the confusion of things. I was able to catch on fairly quickly, but there were still times that I was like "wait, who is that??" I also know that some other people I've talked to that have read this book were very confused by the different names for every character. For me, it definitely slowed things down. For a book with a ton of characters that we need to keep track of constantly, it was not the best choice to give them all a bunch of different names and then use those names interchangeably. The best example I can give is that Nina/Black Cat/Eponine's birth father (because she has a birth father and a guild father and she refers to them both as father at different points) is called Thenardier by most people, but he's also the guild master for the thieves, but he is also referred to as father. It's a lot, and that is just one example out of the like 10 or so characters that we are supposed to be keeping tabs on throughout the story.

Okay, so the plot. There are like 6 sub-plots going on at all times. There is the "main plot" with Nina and her story first being protected by her sister Azelma and then her protecting her (not sure if they are actually related at all) sister Ettie/Cosette. That is the most basic explanation of her plot/character story. The other parts about her becoming a part of the Thieves Guild and going on heists are all interconnected to that main plot point. Another secondary plot involves the Dauphin/Prince/whatever his name is (I cannot remember for the life of me what his name is. He is mostly referred to as the prince anyway) and the dark things that the royal family are involved in doing to the members of the court of miracles and the guilds (they have a name for this group of people but that was just another name for me to try to remember and I gave up). There is another plot involving St Juste and the boys (don't ask me their names, I can't tell ya. Also I had to double check his name bc the whole time I was reading it as St. Jude RIP me lol). Anyway St. Juste and the boys are our revolutionary boys, building up a group to overthrow the government. Another sub-plot is Montparnasse and Corday (?) and the Assassin Guild I think is what they were called. That part was kind of confusing because I thought they were the death guild, but then Nina had to go find the Death Lord guy Orso. Idk. He has his own plot that ropes together with Montparnasse one, kind of...Anyway another sub-plot people are getting sick and dying but there is also a famine. Second to last sub-plot that I remember is the storyline with Kaplan/The Tiger and the flesh guild. And finally, we have the sub-plot with Javert (who is a female in this story and I will have a chat about that in a minute) and Jean Valjean. Okay, so that's a LOT. It wasn't terrible that there were so many subplots because they were mostly all interconnected with the main plot at some point.

The issue is that there needed to be a bit more time with the different plots. There could have been so much done with these different plot points, which could have been given more depth if we weren't stuck inside Nina's head. There are at least three time jumps and some are pretty significant. I, as the reader, was in a constant state of confusion about what the time frame was, how old are these characters. I couldn't even tell you. There are some random dates at the start of some chapters but that means nothing to me. I think that way too much was trying to be shoved into this book. This was kind of a retelling of sorts of Les Mis, which is anywhere between like 950 and 1400 pages depending on your edition, but pared down and shoved into less than 500 pages. The problem with this is that we do get basically the whole story of Les Mis plus this new rendition of Eponine's story in 464 page, which is definitely not enough time. I found out later that this is supposed be to book 1 in a trilogy. What?! Why did the author shove all these plot points into this one book if there is supposed to be more to the series?? We could have gotten so much more development in the plot and development of the characters.

Speaking of the characters, they were all so one dimensional. Nina's personality is made up of trying to find her older sister and trying to protect her younger sister, with a smidge of nonconsentual kissing and snark. Idk anything really about Azelma. Ettie is extremely childlike at all times, which is why I ended up so very confused about her age. I thought she was maybe like 9 at most, but I think she's actually supposed to be like 12 or so?? Not sure. I have no idea. The prince has no personality other than being romantically interested in Nina bc she broke into palace when they were younger, stole a jewel from him, and kissed him without his consent. Cute. I liked Femi, but he was barely in the story. There was Nina's father (birth) and Nina's father (guild) and they were both just there. The Tiger is the obligatory villain who is just all around awful. He could have been a better villain if he weren't such a mustache-twirl villain. Oops almost forgot about Nina's other TWO love interests. There is Montparnasse, who seems to be a favorite among my friends who have read it, but he was just an assassin guy with like 5 lines who shows up like 4 times by materializing out of the shadows like Raven from Teen Titans. Her last love interest and maybe the most richly crafted character, is St Juste. He has the most personality of anyone on the pages as he is able to show sadness and cockiness and a thirst for justice and anger. I actually would have loved to see his POV of things.

Actually, real quick, let's talk about Nina's love interests. She has the 3 different boys, the prince, Montparnasse, and St Juste. All of whom she thinks are attractive and interesting, but that's as far as it goes on her end. She doesn't show a distinct favor towards any of them though I believe we are to assume she likes Montparnasse the most? It's kind of another Hunger Games-esque situation. I assume that we may get more of the romantic development in later books since this is supposed to be a trilogy. But, as of right now, I couldn't care any less about any of these romantic entanglements. Though it could also be said I didn't really feel anything for Nina (oops) she was pretty cardboard cutout YA protag.

Speaking of not explained relationships, this part needs its own paragraph. It's time to talk about Javert and Valjean. At first I was thinking it was super cool to have Javert be female. A powerful, high-ranking officer as a female in this time period? Dope. The fact that all her drive and success in her job stems from trying to get back at Valjean for... something he did? Not dope.

One more thing before I wrap this review up. This book is supposed to be a trilogy according to Goodreads... and it ended with all plot points basically wrapped up. This could have been a standalone. It also ends very, very abruptly. I finished the last sentence and went to turn to the next page expecting another chapter, but there was no more?? What a weird place to end the book. Without giving too much away or spoiling anything, the ending didn't create or promote the stakes for the next book. As I said before, the plot was pretty much all wrapped up.

This book ended up being disappointing for me. I wanted so much more than we got from it. I didn't even get into it but there was also some issues with the rules of the story. I also could not tell if there was supposed to be magic in this world?? Things were not well explained about the different guilds and all that. I think this book would have been more successful if it were split into two books. It would leave the reader with a desire to know what happens next. It would also leave the author with the room to add more depth to the characters and more details and explanations of the world. I think it could have made this narrative more successful.

I really wish I could have given this book more than 2 stars, but I can't. I would not be opposed to reading more from this author in the future, but I don't think I will continue with this series.

I was very surprised at how much I loved this book. As it ended I was beyond ready for the next chapter, the next book. I'm a sucker for books with strong political systems and this book provided well. Not only in the monarchy but also the Guilds- they felt like they were built on a strong foundation.

Pros: Somehow the Les Mis tie in worked- even with the changes made. More of an alternate history/look into the underbelly of the city rather than a true retelling.
I am all about the guilds. 100%. In fact, I kind of wish someone would make an RPG with this setting because it works so well.

Cons: Our main character is pretty indestructible despite everything. She challenges the laws of the guild and is punished but not as severely as she probably should be.


SPOILERS


The ending is essentially a declaration of war- and I am hoping that our main character sees punishment or fallout from this instead of a stern talking to.

This ARC was given to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. When I first heard about The Court of Miracles, I was immediately intrigued. I am a big Les Mis fan, so a retelling I am all for. While it took me a while to read it (due to what's going on in the world and personal motivation, I loved this story. Eponine is one of my favorites from Les Mis, with her as the MC, made me love her more. I loved being able to make connections between the 2 books, and once again loved to hate a couple characters. The fighting was fun to read. Based on Goodreads, there will be a 2nd book, which I'm interested to see where it goes, based on the ending. Originally it was also based on the Jungle Book but that changed to Six of Crows. The only downfall I saw was the Jungle book quotes. They don't work if there is nothing representing The Jungle Book anymore (that's just me though).
Overall 4/5 stars! Can't wait to see what this author does next!
Recommend this book!

Thank you Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I start?

I’m giving this one 5 stars because I think for any kid 12+ this book will be a super fun read and bring them on a true thieving adventure.

As an adult I don’t think I’d recommend to my adult friends because of how juvenile it was. I think if the author wanted to reach a more adult crowd with this one they would have specified Ninas age. But I found myself a little confused at times because sometimes I felt Nina was more young adult (17/18ish) then other times I was wondering if she was more of a child (12/13). Was her age specified in the book? Did I miss that part? Because there were moments through out where I wondered. I think if the author made her more 17ish and put a swoon worthy love interest in it I could have easily felt this was an adult 5 star worthy book as well. But I also agree with the fact of if the author did want to aim more towards children readers and Nina is about 12/13 age range then this story is really perfect. You can’t have a swoon worthy relationship at that age, you should really just be focusing on being a kid. So if that was the goal here then they nailed it. Lol.

I will say by the last 10 chapters I felt most adults that enjoy YA would end up liking this because I think Nina was older at this point and making more adult decisions. There were some nice twists at the end that I really enjoyed and by the last few chapters my heart strings were being pulled in different directions.

Also my favorite Guild was the "ghosts"(not actual ghosts but they were called ghosts) they gave the book such an awesome creep factor that I loved!

All in all would I recommend this to Six of Crow fans? Yes! I think Six of Crows is still a great adult read even tho it’s YA. Just keep in mind that this is a more juvenile version of Six of Crows, if you're going into this book expecting that. Just my opinion.

Do I recommend this book? YES. If the description intrigues you I say GO FOR IT. I don't think you'd be disappointed.

This review contains spoilers. Thank you to Netgalley for the arc!

This book. I have some Thoughts(TM). With such an exciting premise and gorgeous cover, I expected a lot from it, and it just... failed to deliver. I started reading this book almost a month ago to the day, and I really had to power through the first 40 or so percent. I was reading just to get through it, without really processing any of the information given to me. It was only around 55% that things started to pick up enough where I could consider myself invested.

That aside, I didn't expect it to borrow so... heavily from Les Mis? I expected Les Mis inspired, but I didn't expect characters to have the same names, or to be the plot of Les Mis running right alongside the Court of Miracles plotline either, and for what? In the end I guess they had some significance, but I truly feel like they wouldn't have been missed if they weren't there at all. It ultimately felt like lazy writing to me. If you needed this secondary plot, could you not at least have TRIED to make it your own? At least attempt to fool me into believing this half of your story is original — I haven't read Les Mis or watched it in years. You could've pulled it off!

The decision to make Javert a woman was also... a choice. I thought it was cool at first — a woman inspector, so highly ranked. But as the story progressed I realized the decision was only so the author could insert a tragic romantic subplot between her and Valjean, and I hated it. Written off by her superiors for being obsessed with catching this man, and not even for a good reason like justice or some other such "noble cause", but because he broke her heart. Whatever the author's intention might have been, it comes across as homophobic and misogynistic, and I didn't like it one bit. And that's coming from me, the world's biggest enemies to lovers (and all the delicious back and forth that entails) whore.

Smaller notes but still things that bugged me: there were two (2) (if i recall correctly, there might have been one more?) pretty large timeskips. The first one was understandable. The second one, I'm not dedicated enough to sit here and think through if it was truly necessary or not, but it didn't really feel like it. It felt lazy, again, and I feel like we missed out on some pretty sick relational development between characters. But what can you do. The second smaller-but-irritable thing was the ending. Idk if my arc just didn't load all the way through and I had another page or something but??? This is supposed to be a trilogy??? It didn't set up for one at all. It ended and I was like ok, time to wipe my hands of this, and went to goodreads and it said book number oNE. OF THREE. WHAT'S THE REST ABOUT??? Truly could not tell you. Another rebellion, maybe?? Who knows. Didn't tell us. There was a sliver of conflict that wasn't wrapped up in a neat little bow, but not the high stakes set up you expect the ending of the first book in a trilogy to be.

This book disappointed on so many levels, but I stayed for Nina and Ettie's found family sibling relationship. It was sweet, and pure, and what drove the plot, and I'm a sucker for it. I also stayed for the like, 15 pages Montparnasse was on. Why? Because I'm a sucker for characters like him, and around the 60% mark he started having EMOTIONS and it was delicious and I love him. Gonna add him to my murder son collection. Is he the love interest? I don't know. There are two other contenders and I can't tell where the author wants to take it so we'll see! But two stars for Nina and Ettie's relationship, and one star for Montparnasse. It wasn't an awful read, it was just heavy and confusing and slow and ultimately, disappointing. I may yet read the rest of the trilogy (but just for those three. As I said, I love them). After that, though, I think I'm done with French settings for awhile.

So I wanted to love this book but it was simply ok for me. Great idea but overall had a rushed concept and wasnt executed in the best possible way. I think it needs some much needed clarification when it comes to the overall timeline.

First and foremost I want to thank NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for this ARC in exchange for my honest reviews and opinions!

Where to begin. When I heard about this book ages ago I was dying to get my hands on it. I was obsessed with Les Mis for years and Eponine held the keys to my heart. So a book centralized on her and a dark twist element sounded like they picked at my dreams.

There is so many aspects I love in this book rebellions, thieves and espionage all in a France if days past.

Eponine is a character you want to root for, and the Miracle Court is a place you want to go for thrilling adventures. And you get a taste of that in the book but not enough to keep you sated.

There are so many great characters from the original Les Mis tome to make me squeal with delight, but we never linger with them enough to get deep feelings for them. In fact we don’t linger with anyone except Eponine long enough to follow them. We get a flash of what could be a great character and we’re left wanting more. But!! There we many new characters that I fell in love with (and some who I didn’t like before and now I’m swooning for so A+++)

That’s due in large parts to a very confusing time jump aspect where the span of the book takes place over a few years, the exact number is unclear as is the ages the characters are supposed to be during that. This drove me absolutely BONKERS. You’d get to a high point and then it would be stated midway through the next chapter that the events happened two years ago already. so when you were rooting for a certain storyline to grow it was somehow a thing of the past.
A simple fix would be having a date near the chapter title. I know the book from which it’s derived takes place over a span of time, but being clear on the shift could have fixed a lot.

A lot was told and not shown on the page. Which also led to the “found family” aspect and the comp of Six of Crows falling flat for me. There wasn’t enough time for that family to be found in the confusion.

When it was great: the action, the quick dialogue, and drive of the characters, it was great. When it was bad: it was confusing and a struggle.

In total 3.5 stars for me

I was really intrigued by the concept of this book. I think the history and characteristics of each of the courts was done really well. I was eager to learn more and explore each of the courts. However, the book lacked the necessary world building to immerse me in the story. I found explanations to be rushed, such as how Nina and Ettie became close or even how much time was passing. A lot of plot would occur in a short amount of time so I never fully grasped what was happening or why characters were motivated to act a certain way. Overall, I really enjoyed how this was a unique spin on Les Mis but felt the story moved too abruptly.

Thought this was an interesting book. I definitely enjoyed it. At first I thought Nina was ok but as the story went on I started to really enjoy the character. I also enjoyed the side characters they were all unique and very interesting. Overall a great read.

Simply put, I really enjoyed the aspects of this book! Some twists and turns shook me and kept me on my toes as the action kept going and going right up until the end. The Court of Miracles has been described as a mixture of "Les Miserables and Six of Crows," which is a fairly good comparison. As a historical fiction fan, I was drawn in and enjoyed this adaption of the French Revolution. The writing was solid and not overly wordy but still painted the picture in my mind of the different events and settings.

Nina is a character I could get behind and route for with a drive to fight those who wronged her, all while trying to survive the underground Court of Miracles. I loved the relationship and bond she had with Ettie and where it took both characters and how it affected them and the plot. A full set of troupes are piled into this book, and surprisingly most of them worked for me as I read (very quickly as I needed to know what was going to happen next)!

The aspects that I personally found difficult were the time jumps and how the action picked up right away without much background; it took away from Nina's character development in some ways. I admit that I get sucked into the girl and the two boys troupe all the time, but this one was three boys. Without those plots, there wouldn't have been much drive in the book. Three boys are a bit much for me, but I was able to look past it and kept right on reading.

Overall, The Court of Miracles is a fun and enjoyable read that kept me guessing and wondering what else could possibly happen. A lot happens! Sign me up for buying this one and the next in the series as well!

I enjoyed reading this book, but felt it was missing something. The plot was interesting, the world-building pretty good, but the characters fell flat for me. It may have been the time jumps, but I felt like I never really got to know or care about them. So a good story, but missing the spark needed to make it memorable. I likely wouldn't read any more if this turns into a series, which based on the rather abrupt ending I'm guessing it will be.

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced ready copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Court of Miracles borrows heavily on Les Miserables, and instead of adding to the book, I found it distracting. The parts where Grant focuses on the characters and doesn't rely on Les Mis plot points were really great, but then something would happen that I recognized from the other book and it would pull me out of the story. That being said, I don't know if many YA readers will have read or seen Les Mis, so maybe they won't be as distracted from it. I believe this is book 1 in a series. I would actually be interested in reading the second book to see if the story becomes more focused on new material rather than trying to fit in Victor Hugo's world.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion.

The world of The Court of Miracles sucked me in. I loved the historical/alternate historical details and references to Les Mis and the allegorical stories and quotes at the beginning of each section. There is a beautiful lyrical quality to this novel in addition to gritty realism. Even without an ounce of magic, I was spellbound.

Nina - the black cat - lives in a complex world but very understandable. The lines are drawn between the Wretched and Those Who Walk in the Day. Further boundaries are set within the Court of Miracles with each Wretched beholden to their trade master. For example, the Guild of Thieves or the Guild of Assassins.

Nina's motivation is well-grounded for every one of her actions, and she never does anything out of character. Key lines float back into the story, reminding us of what she's trying to accomplish and why. The people she loves are never forgotten. I also loved how this is a story of loyalty, family, and sisters. It doesn't hinge on romance. That doesn't mean there aren't men interested in the little cat. She is fascinating, so no one can blame them for being intrigued. Her focus on her goals is the driving force in the plotting.

Ettie was the epitome of innocence. Evil conspired to ruin her at every turn, not willing to allow her to remain sweet and kind. She looked for love in the worst of circumstances and was completely loyal to Nina. Ettie retains a sense of innocence even when her world changes dramatically.

The scope of this story is epic, drawing the reader into Nina's world completely. This is one of the best novels I've read in recent years. Not that these two books are exactly similar, but I'm reminded of the breadth and stunning world-building in Morgenstern's first novel, The Night Circus, because of the literary quality. I was also surprised by one of the twists, which doesn't happen very often.

The Court of Miracles is compelling, utilizing classic themes of revenge and justice. This book is written for people who love literature.

I definitely recommend this book! It's on my list of favorites.

5 out of 5 stars

Michelle

If you loved The Court of Miracles, try The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern, Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, and The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner.