I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

What else is there to say? Another cliffhanger where I wanted the next book. This is such a good series and everyone should read this.

The Memory of Babel

The Mirror Visitor Book 3

By: Christelle Dabos

Europa Edition

Publish Date 8 September 2020

Sci Fi and Fantasy/Teen and YA

#TheMemoryofBabel#NetGalley

100 Book ReviewsProfessional Reader

I would like to thank both the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Good Reads Synopsis:

In the gripping third volume of Christelle Dabos’s best-selling saga, Ophelia, the mirror-travelling heroine, finds herself in the magical city of Babel, guarding a secret that may provide a key both to the past and the future.

After two years and seven months biding her time on Anima, her home ark, it is finally time to act, to put what she has discovered in the Book of Faruk to good use. Under an assumed identity she travels to Babel, a cosmopolitan and thoroughly modern ark that is the jewel of the universe, and where automata have taken over the most humble jobs from humans. But under the surface of this pacific and orderly ark social unrest stirs, fed by the memories of a fateful purge long ago, and the inhabitants’ growing fear of being replaced altogether. Will Ophelia’s talent as a reader suffice to avoid her being lured into a deadly trap by her ever more fearful adversaries? Will she ever see Thorn, her betrothed, again?

Book Review:

I gave this book 4 stars. So far, this is my favorite in the series. It is hard to review this book with it being the third one and revealing spoilers. I will do my best. In this book Ophelia ends up having to apply to go to a school to seek what she is looking for. It is a lot harder than she thought. There she discovers some things that both surprise her and makes her mad. She makes enemies along the way as well as friends.

Meanwhile back home her little sister isn’t doing well. People are coming after her family, but they refuse to leave because they are hoping that Thorn and Ophelia will return home.

You need to read the books in order to get the full story. I am going to finish this series soon since there is only one book left.

The Mirror Visitor series in incredibly original and a delightful breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre. I was absolutely blown away by the first two volumes. The world-building is on level with the best fantasy I have ever read, the story is compelling and best of all: it hits none of the over-used tropes we often find in fantasy nowadays! I implore all my friends, and all of you, to look the first book (A Winter’s Promise) up, and add it to your TBR.

For this volume specifically, I was a little disappointed in the plot progression. This didn’t hold the excitement of the first two volumes, nor the political intrigue and the nerve-wracking that I got used to from the second volume. It was a little disappointing to feel like we took a step back into high school feudes and petty drama, as well as a very slow search for answers with a cast of characters who were not as interesting as the casts of books 1 and 2.

But, that being said, I still enjoyed it a lot! It was a page-turner for me, mostly because of my need to find out what happens between Ophelia and Thorn, if she ever finds him. The worldbuilding is still incredible, and I loved learning about Babel and its society. The 500-something pages really flew by, it felt more like a 300-page read, if that makes sense. I also have a strong feeling that whenever I get around to rereading this series, at some point in the future, this book will be lifted up to a 5-star read.

I absolutely adore this series and I can’t wait to jump straight into the fourth one! I highly recommend The Mirror Visitor series, especially to all you fellow fantasy lovers!

I loved the third book in the series just as much as the first two. Dabos really knows how to build a world that is fully formed.

As with Christelle Dabos’ previous novels in this series, while I am enticed by the premise and Ghibli-style setting and atmosphere, I felt too distanced from the characters and so I wasn’t able to fully appreciate this novel the way I wanted to.
Ophelia’s actions often came from a place that didn’t make sense, and I felt as though I were missing large chunks of information (only to find that when I went back to re-read and see what I missed....the background I was searching for didn’t exist).
Over-all, The Memory of Babel was entertaining, and I am interested enough in this world and Ophelia’s relationship with Thorn, that I will continue on to the last instalment.

This series is fascinating and consuming. I admit I missed the world of Citaceleste and the pace of this volume felt a little faster and less atmospheric than the first two, but I could tell it was serving as a connecting arc between the first two books and the upcoming fourth. Lovely.

Having consistently enjoyed the books in this series so far, I was eager to see what was coming next for Ophelia and Thorn, particularly given the cliffhanger ending of book 2. I am happy to say that this third installment was just as enjoyable and has taken the story in interesting directions that I wasn't expecting. I loved the training school setting for this book and thought that the world of Babel was incredibly well drawn and vivid. In general, I thought that the translation was good, but there were a few instances where I did think more appropriate and non-ableist terms could (and should) have been applied. Overall, I found this to be an exciting and intriguing installment that has set things up for the concluding book in wonderful ways.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately I could not get into it. I do not think this was the one for me. The premise was super interesting, but towards the end to me it just fell apart. There were some descriptions that the translation had that felt very much against what I believe.

** spoiler alert ** Dabos continues to be the best -- and the quirkiest -- at worldbuilding (here we start off at a waffle stand at an animated clock festival, and things just get weirder from there). And an absolute master at suspense, not to mention romantic tension. She can and does throw every stale old trope in the book at us with regard to Thorn, and to Thorn and Ophelia's relationship, and STILL has me dying to see them finally get it together. (It should not take a woman three years and an entire book to figure out that the man is waiting for her to say "I love you too"!) What can I say, this writer has a gift. I'm still not the biggest fan of the religion/mythology angle (even if it's more based in pagan mythology, the idea of fighting God just does not sit right), but the characters and storylines keep enthralling me, and I can't wait for the next book. (And I'll be worried sick about Victoria until the next one. As I said, master of suspense.)

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I ended up not being able to finish this book. It didn't capture my attention and I have come to the point where I have too many books I want to read to spend time on books that don't capture my attention.

I loved this book so much. I really want to read more Thorn and Ophelia and I don't wanna wait until next year to read more. Ugh. I guess I'm just gonna have to wait though.

So excited to dig into the full book. The world building is the most unique series I've ever read, can't wait to read about Babel.

I think in this edition of the series Ophelia really wants to be seen as an adult and not some child that doesn’t know what she’s doing. The fact that she embarks on the apprenticeship when she gets to Babel even though it pushes her right to her breaking point really shows how much she has evolved over the course of the series. I just wish she would of asserted herself a bit more and didn’t let people get under her skin so much.

Thorn I struggled a little bit with in this book. He is incredibly cold and standoffish when he is reunited with Ophelia and even though he did finally expressed his feelings to her he doesn’t display it. For the majority he is present in the book I get the feeling that he didn’t even miss her at all and the way he spoke to her didn’t really give her cause to express her feelings back to him. He only really opens back up to her after she bears her soul to him and then we finally get some concrete answers to what’s actually going on.

Babel was a completely different setting to the previous Arcs. It definitely made me more invested in the book as I was eager to find out about what prompted Ophelia to come here. We are introduced to a lot of new characters and I appreciated some of the new friendships that were sparked, mainly Blaine and Augustus. I think they are going to have more focus in the coming book!

I was surprised by the direction this book went in. I genuinely thought this was the last book in this series so throughout the course of the story line I was waiting for all the plot points to come together and make sense but it seems as we were getting some answers more questions were popping up. There were certain twists that I predicted from the start but then there were others that completely took me by surprise.

⭐️4/5 stars A slow build but the end ensnared me once again!

The Memory of Babel is book three of the Mirror Visitor Quartet, and Ophelia has spent over two years on her home ark of Anima after hearing words from Thorn's mouth she didn't know how to handle, and then they were ripped apart. After everything that happened at the Pole, and returning to Anima, she's had her hands full, but she is ready now to continue her quest for truth. Traveling alone to the Ark of Babel, Ophelia finds an ideal world of peace and automatons that carries dark secrets beneath its sanitized appearance, and she must deal with the trouble on Babel while searching for the information she traveled to find. Meanwhile, Victoria and the rest are searching for their own elusive quarry. The stakes are higher than ever as the Arks mark their way in the heavens.

Ophelia's journey has been quite interesting, and I appreciated this new entry in her journey. Written by French author Christelle Dabos, this series has excellent world-building and offers new twists and turns around every corner. The setting has shifted away from the court setting to a more scholarly environment, which I had a lot of fun with. The first half of this story is focused on setting up all the dominoes for the plot and characters, while the second half spends its time knocking them down and keeping your eyes glued to the pages until the end. Ophelia grows a lot as a person during this entry, more than the previous books, and I'm thrilled and excited to see more of her journey and the finale to this series when book four arrives in the future. Until then, book three is a solid new entry in this accomplished fantasy series, and you can't go wrong with its top-notch world building and relatable protagonist.

The Memory of Babel by Christelle Dabos is the third book in The Mirror Visitor series. It follows a young woman named Ophelia, whose unique powers have thrown her into an epic adventure that completely disrupts her once quiet life. I’ll try to refrain as much as I can from spoilers in my review, but if you really want to avoid any information whatsoever about this book, then you may want to avert your eyes.

What I Loved:

- Ophelia. I really love this character. She’s unique, she’s interesting, and she’s human. She makes decisions that you know are not the best, yet you root for her anyways because she’s selfless and she always makes decisions with other people’s interests at heart.

- Ophelia’s relationship with Thorn. I usually don’t get too invested in the love components of YA books, but these two pull on my heartstrings.

What I Liked:

- The setting. I found Babel very interesting and I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the apprentices and the citizens of Babel.

- The new characters. I really liked Ambrose and Octavio. I found Mediana really intriguing as well, and I was sad we didn’t get more time with her. Hopefully, she’ll pop up again in the next installment.

What I Didn’t Like:

- The cutaways to Victoria, Berenhilde, Madame Rosaline, and Archibald. I think because there were so few of these, they weren’t very impactful. I think the last glimpse of these characters we get was supposed to be a big moment but it fell flat for me because we had so few interactions with them throughout the book that I kind of forgot they were a part of the story.

- The villains. There are a few villainous characters throughout this story (including the above mentioned Mediana) but there’s so little time spent with them, either through discussions or interactions, that they never felt as threatening as I believe they were meant to be. Honestly, I have a hard time pinpointing just exactly who the biggest threat in this series is at this point, which is odd to say three books in.

What I Hated:

- Nothing.

Overall, I had a great time with this one. The characters are really interesting and my only qualms with them come when we don’t get enough time with them. I was nervous about the change of setting in this book but I ended up enjoying it very much. The ending was definitely a fun cliffhanger and I’m really excited to see where this story goes next!

Thank you to Europa Editions and Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Is anyone surprised that my I loved my most anticipated book of the year? You shouldn’t be. The Mirror Visitors has become one of my favorite magical series since Harry Potter. I adore the magic systems, the world building and of course, Ophelia!
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Seeing how this is book three in a series I will remain spoiler free... If you are looking for books with a Slooooow burn romance, a timid yet fierce female lead, an interesting cast of characters and outlandish political intrigue... Look no further!
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These translated books read like a classic fairytale. I would recommend to those who love Grimm’s Fairytales, Disney classics and their retellings. Perfect books for cold nights wrapped in a fuzzy blanket!
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Thank you @Netgalley and for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date September 8, 2020!!

4.5 Stars

This book is an amazing continuation to a series that is nothing like any YA book series on the shelves today. Ophelia is the type of character I love to read about: great at some things, terrible at others, brave at times, cowardly at times, brilliant at times, and frustrating at other times. I could read about her all day. And her relationship with Thorn is just so real it's beautiful.

I also love how much French is left in this translation. And I don't understand a single bit of French, but it made the story feel more real and hopefully a more accurate translation.

I agree with some of the comments that I would have liked to see more of the characters from books 1 and 2, but I'm hopeful we will see more of everyone in the final book, and hopefully we will get a date soon?!

Thank you very much to netgalley and the publisher for the early copy. I've already raved about it to my customers.

After The Missing of Clairdelune, I had to read the third book in the series. Thank you to @netgalley for the arc of The Memory of Babel! I absolutely loved the change of scenery from the previous 2 books. We’re on a new Ark (a piece of Earth after the Rupture, the catastrophic event that broke the world into pieces) called Babel and it is an entirely new world for Ophelia. I won’t mention more of the plot because of spoilers for the first two books! What I can mention was the stakes are higher than ever, new rules are in place, and the increasing mystery of the entire world is unfolding.

Ophelia is a true heroine and not of the particular “standard” heroine. She’s short, plump, wears glasses, and has an animated scarf. Her development throughout the three books so far have been amazing and I love seeing her assert herself with confidence and intelligence. I love seeing Ophelia understand what she wants for herself and not what her family expects of her. There are old and new characters in the third instalment, but again, I don’t want to spoil you. But they are also very interesting people!

Originally written in French, the translation to English is done quite well. This was the arc so there may be certain sentences that are different in the final version. But besides that, I truly loved this book. It may not be up to everyone’s tastes, but when Persue Project from YouTube recommended this series, I was intrigued and was not disappointed. I cannot wait for book 4!

This excerpt of Book 3 shows Ophelia at the brink of her next adventure. It's set 2.5 years after her last adventure at the Pole.