So fun, so magical, so romantic, and so easy to devour! I loved this new fantasy world with all of its intrigue and ambiance.

I was really looking forward to this book. The premise of a fantasy magician competition is everything that I would normally love. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too invested in any of the characters or the story and the plot really dragged on. I think other readers may enjoy this, but it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am so late with this review, so I’m very sorry, but it has just been a crazy year!

Where Dreams Descend is a beautifully written book that gave me everything I wanted from books like Caraval and The Night Circus! It had action, mystery, suspense, and romance. It focuses mostly around Kallia, a girl trying to prove that women belong ion the stage, and Demarco, a former magician dealing with a mysterious past, who has been roped into being a judge. The main setting is Glorian, a city that has been shrouded in mystery for years.

The writing of this book really brought the setting to life for me. I was excited to see Glorian from the moment Kallia started talking about it, and when she finally arrives there and it turns out to be something else entirely, I felt the ache of disappointment. Knowing that it must be hiding something behind closed doors was so intriguing, and I felt a lot of anticipation for what was coming.

Kallia is an interesting leading character. We don’t learn much about her past, but her situation at the start of the book is interesting and really makes you need to know more! Her skill with magic is amazing and made me want to know what she would come up with next. Her personality is just incredible. She doesn’t let anyone walk over her, in a society where female magicians are looked down on. She knows what she wants and strives for it with everything she’s got. Overall, I just found her extremely likeable and well developed.

Demarco is our other leading character, and as his story unfolds, I found myself hanging on every fact. I needed to unravel the mystery of who he was, what happened to him, who is sister is, it was just one tiny facet of information after another. At the beginning he seems unlikeable,rough around the edges, but as you read, he really unfolds into someone with a lot of depth.

There are some cameos from Jack, the master of the house at the start of the story. He has taught and cared for Kallia for years, but something about him feels off, and as the story progresses, that feeling of unease about him continued to grow.

The show takes place around Spectaculore, a contest to find a headlining act for the Conquering circus which is a performance that travels. It comes to Glorian to try and breathe new life into the fading city, but the magic seems to dig up some things that should have stayed buried. Each part of the contest gets bigger and bigger, but also brings up some new mystery, until the very end.

This book ended on an insane cliff hanger! I will definitely be on the edge of my seat until I can read the sequel and find out what is next for the characters.

I rated this book 5 Stars, it held me captive with every page, and I adored the cast of characters. I cannot wait to see what happens next in this series!

This is an amazing book with perfect commentary on a woman’s place in society.

Dealing with sexism in a normal world is hard enough but combine that with having magic (and more powerful magic than others), Kallia was put into a tiny box that she couldn’t and wouldn’t fit. Kallia, Daron, Aroros and Jack are such an amazing cast of characters to tell an overwhelming roller coaster ride of a story.

The cliffhanger ending is honestly so well written that I’m not even mad. Kallia was such a well written badass female character that surrounded herself by the same. Canary, one of the circus performers, was a stand out character and I need a short story on her pronto.

I can’t wait what she does with the second book.

I honestly didn't really like the story or the narration. I didn't connect with the characters which is so disappointing for me since i was really looking forward to it

I was very intrigued by the blurb of Where Dreams Descend and the comparisons to a mash-up between Phantom of the Opera and Moulin Rouge. It certainly delivered on those two fronts (Phantom especially), but I struggled quite a bit to stay engaged with the story and characters.

What worked for me:
- The setting and world. It was whimsical and mysterious and described in great detail. I loved the history/stories of magic about the four main families/groups.
- The writing was beautiful and I'm impressed that this is the author's debut.
- Jack and the big mystery. This was teased out a bit too much, but it did keep me intrigued through the book. He had great chemistry with Kallia and I wish we had seen more of their relationship/interactions in the book.
- The nods to Phantom of the Opera. Phantom was the first musical I ever attended and it remains one of my favorites. There were many parallels and references that I found amusing and I loved how they were woven into the story.

What was a miss for me:
- The pacing. I understand that with fantasy books like this, a good chunk of time is taken to set up the world and introduce all the characters, but the pacing felt very slow and the story became repetitive. Things do pick up in the last third or so of the book, but that sadly may be too late for some readers.
- I didn't feel any chemistry between Demarco and Kallia. They seemed to go from annoyed and avoiding each other to grand gestures very quickly. The romance felt very rushed and forced between them. The progression of their relationship just didn't feel natural.
- The number of characters. There were a few too many players to keep track of and it made it difficult to follow what was happening. All of the magicians, circus performers, and townspeople started to blend together.

Where Dreams Descend was entertaining overall, but unfortunately, I didn't love it. I'm curious about how the story will conclude, but I'm not sure I'm invested enough to find out.

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of this book is neat-I can see the comparisons to Moulin Rouge and Phantom of the Opera. However, there was something that seemed off at times, which causes the book to drag a bit. Definitely interested in what will happen in the sequel.

Where Dreams Descend is a very theatrical and atmospheric story, with complex characters and a pace that makes you savor every word. I was really impressed with the magical acts; the author’s prose transports you directly inside the story as if you were a mere spectator of Kallia’s performances.

This book is all about tricky, dangerous games and a complex love triangle. I was LIVING for it. Kallia, Demarco and Jack are such a mysterious and complex characters with many layers to them, as I got to know them better, I knew for sure they were still hiding things. Where Dreams Descend is a game where nobody plays fair, and the stakes are higher that your usual magic competition.

Despite not knowing The Phantom of the Opera, which I know this book draws lots of inspiration from, I had no issues understanding the plot dynamic. It’s no light reading, though, and I recommend everyone who picks this book to take its sweet time with it and enjoy it till the very last page. The author made a fantastic job at putting on a show: this book is DRAMATIC to its core, and there were times I found myself unable to stop reading.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy as much from this book was that it felt a little too slow, as there were many pages where barely anything happened and then you get all the action in a few pages.

I’m really excited to see how the plot will keep unraveling in the next book. Janella Angeles is definitely an author to look out for, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

When Kallia escapes from the mysterious Hellfire House to enter a competition of magicians, she has no idea what she's getting into - and neither does Daron Demarco, a formerly renowned magician, who has coerced and blackmailed his way into being a competition judge. With spectors from Kallia's past emerging from mirrors left and right, and horrible things happening to her fellow competitors, it's clear that there's a little bit more to this competition than anyone first thought.

The writing of this novel is transportive and paints the setting and atmosphere beautifully. Unfortunately, the rest of the book fails to deliver on that atmosphere. There's clearly something mysterious going on, but the reader doesn't even get passing glimpses into that mystery for the vast majority of the book. Instead, the focus is on Kallia's insecurities, Daron's Tragic Past, and their budding potential romance. The side characters are exceptionally strong and for most of the book, more interesting than the main characters. However, once a reporter, who has apparently been doing some investigative journalism into the traveling circus funding the competition, shows up, the book starts to pick up and it ends on a very strong note.

WHERE DREAMS DESCEND is an excellent choice for readers who savor atmosphere over plot progression, and love a slow burn romance. Fans of CARAVAL and THE NIGHT CIRCUS especially may find themselves head over heels for this debut novel.

All I’m going to say about this is that it was just really repetitive and predictable. The world the author has built was beautiful & the writing was good as well, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. So my feelings are utterly mine and you should all still give it a chance, maybe you’ll like it more than I did.

This book was very forgettable. I felt like the magic system was not explained and I was confused from the first chapter. I'll be honest--I got about half way through and didn't finish it.

The below review for WHERE DREAMS DESCEND will be published on my blog, https://princessofink.wordpress.com, on Friday 30th October at 9am UK time.

WHERE DREAMS DESCEND had promise and potential, but unfortunately for me, it didn’t live up to the hype and its execution fell flat. I wanted to like Kallia as a protagonist: she has ambition and won’t let anyone put her down, but at times I felt she was overly confident and arrogant. Of course, she’s far more powerful than any of the other magicians encountered, but we’re never given a reason why. Readers are also never told why female magicians are so rare, and the rules for the magic system are never established. What can a magician do or not do? How does the magic work? These are key questions I would have liked to be answered, fairly early on. It seems as though any problem could be presented and magic could very easily solve it without there being some kind of cost.

Once Kallia makes her way to Glorian after escaping the Hellfire House, she enters a competition for magicians. It’s never established why she wants to enter this competition, and the stakes are only introduced much later on. She auditions for a panel of judges who clearly don’t like her, but she seems eager to please them nonetheless. It is clear, from the repeated demonstrations of Kallia’s power, that she’s going to win the competition and solve any problems thrown at her, so without her struggle to achieve her goals, it was difficult to care and made reading WHERE DREAMS DESCEND more of a struggle than I’d have liked.

There are, of course, other characters in the book besides Kallia. Two “of note” are Aaros, a pickpocket who Kallia hires to be her assistant immediately after he tries to rob her, and Demarco, a retired magician, POV character and Kallia’s love interest. Aaros is featured in the first half of the book and then promptly disappears and I found Demarco to be incredibly bland. I wasn’t invested in his and Kallia’s romance at all, sadly (as a romance is usually one of my favourite things about a book, if done right).

I thought things would start getting a bit more interesting and enjoyable once some of the competitors started disappearing, but that was not the case. We’re given little description of the competitors and never get to see any of their performances, only Kallia’s. The rest of the plot, by this point, was boring and I found myself reading super quickly just to get the book over and done with.

I really, really wanted to like WHERE DREAMS DESCEND. It seems, from looking at others’ opinions that I’m in the minority here. Perhaps I’m just not the right reader for this story? It’s safe to say, though, that I won’t be picking up the sequel, but I might, depending on what she writes next, read more of Janella Angeles’ work in the future.

This book was not for me. There is definitely an audience for this book. People who like a more poetic writing style and a heavily character-driven story will probably love this.

And I mean, character-driven is fine for me normally, but I didn't really care about the characters so, that didn't help me any. I feel like for something that hinged so heavily on character disappearances, they should have been characters we cared about. I'm not sold on the romance either, it felt creepy and forced.

I did like the "down with the patriarchy" vibes and I loved Aaros and the Conquerors. I would have loved more backstory about literally anything. I think this is a case of the author trying not to give away too many clues or foreshadow too much and just reigning it in too far and not giving you enough. And the breadcrumbs we did get, either led to nowhere or I got lost along the way because I had fuck all idea what was happening for 85% of this book. Which is weird because it felt super repetitive and like nothing was ever really happening.

Honestly, if not for reading this as a backlist ARC that I need to review, I would have DNF'd it. I do not plan to read the sequel. I will consider reading more Angeles in the future.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! The story, the writing, the characters, everything about this book is lush and lovely. It is a brilliant debut and I can't wait to read more by Janella Angeles!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a free e-arc of this book for review!

Not gonna lie to you but I've been attracted by this book because of its gorgeous cover and because it made me think of Caraval which is a beloved trilogy of mine. I've also been seeing this hyped up a lot during summer and then the hype died down, unfortunately.

This debut is an amazing fantasy story surrounding magicians competing against each other. When I heard the synopsis, I immediately thought of The Night Circus. However, both are very different.

Where Dreams Descends follows Kallia who's always trained and learned how to be a showgirl for Jack's fancy nightclub. Jack's her master and we're introduced to him very earlier as this mysterious dark being who has been teaching her a lot of tricks. He's also spent his time helping her use her magic abilities. However, Kallia always dreamed of going to this magical city lost in the woods, and when the day comes... when the opportunity arises, she receives an invitation to this competition held at Glorian, the mystical city that she's dreamed of.

I absolutely loved the atmospheric writing, the world-building and the characters. I really loved the magic system, it was unique and very entertaining. I adored the precious friendship between Kallia & Aaros. He's such an amazing friend. His humor was everything. The slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance in this story is thrilling. There's so much tension between Kallia and her love interest, I loved every second of it. Another thing that I loved is Kallia's character. She's such a strong and fierce woman who doesn't shy away because men told her too. In fact, the competition is only for male magicians but she doesn't care. She wants to be in it and she will do anything to show them that she's worth it. I was rooting for her all along. Kallia was a true queen, she never gave up under the harsh criticism that men kept throwing at her. She was slaying through and through. The competition was so entertaining. However, I wished we could see the others who participated. I also would've loved a more in-depth world-building excluding Glorian, who's the only city we've got to learn so far. I hope we will get answers in the next follow-up!

This was a wonderful debut, I'm so excited for the sequel! If you loved Caraval or The Night Circus because of their atmospheric writing, you should totally pick up this book!

Rating: 4,5/5

I did not finish this one. I gave it a hundred pages and I was not invested in any of the stakes or characters.

Even as a three-star book, I really enjoyed the concepts of the story. I just don't know if the execution really worked for me.

Pros:
- Kallia was a really interesting main character and was probably the best part of the whole book. Her character was well developed and seeing her persevere through everything was amazing. She was the number one reason I kept reading.
- I loved the details about the Conquering Circus!
- Jack was actually very intriguing (although I would've loved to learn more about him; he felt too flat when he should be a stand out character)
- I loved the mystery that was created for Glorian and the woods around the Hellfire House.
- Aaros was the best side character and I loved having him in scenes. I would've loved to see more of him.

Cons:
- Daron was a lackluster love interest; I didn't really understand the connection between Kallia and him.
- The story moved SO slowly. Something action-packed would happen and then the story would drag on until the next thing, but with nothing being solved, I was more frustrated by anything. I understand that there needs to be some things left hanging because of a sequel, but it felt like I read this whole book and didn't learn a thing.
- The plot of the magicians disappearing was just meh. I didn't care about any of them (don't remember one of their names) and it was always forgotten about until something else happen. I never felt like there was any imminent danger happening throughout the story.

I did enjoy this book, but it took me forever (over a month) to finish because of the cons. Although, I will keep an eye out for the sequel for sure!

Loved the magic, writing, characters, and setup of this world, can't wait for the second book!

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Set in the backdrop of a world where magic can be anything from commonplace to deliriously entertaining, this novel pits magicians against each other in battles of wit, illusion, physical feats, and matters of the heart. The danger in taking the stage is overshadowed by the fill to bewilder, and I cannot wait to see what happens in the finale act of this duology.

I don't think it was fair on either the author or readers to compare this novel to the Night Circus. Very few books if any are likely to measure up to that comparison and Where dreams descend is not similar to Night Circus in any way. Basically its just 'OK' - the world building, characters and writing are just OK and similar to many other YA fantasy especially with regards to the romance aspect and the love triangle.

Overall it was entertaining enough in terms of the plot and the descriptions of the setting were interesting but ultimately I was underwhelmed. I didn't really connect with either the writing or the characters although I did like the character of the Master and I found him intriguing. The other main characters however were insipid and I wasn't drawn to them.

In conclusion I was disappointed as I wanted to love this but thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book