Kallia is the star showgirl at a secret nightclub, but no one knows what she looks like hidden behind her mask. When she escapes to the city Glorian, she enters a competition for magicians. She is the only female magician in the competition. Kallia catches the eye of Demarco, a retired magician with a dark past who is judging the competition. Things spin out of control when contestants go missing and everyone gets closed down in the city.

The magic in this world was different from typical fantasy novels. The magicians were born with their talent, which was a performative magic with illusions and transformations. Some had more skill than others, but the magic would wear out the magician after the performance. This kind of magic seemed more real, because it reminded me of watching magicians or illusionists perform on a stage or on TV, rather than the fantastic magic in other fantasy novels.

This story was exciting and unpredictable. The competition was largely a mystery to the magicians, with their props given to them right as they had to perform. They couldn’t prepare for the act ahead of time, so the performances were a surprise for the judges and the reader. There were some hints about the characters’ mysterious pasts given throughout the story. I still had some questions at the end of the story, so I’m looking forward to learning the rest in the next book.

This is a great, magical story!

Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved everything about this book and will impatiently awaiting book 2. I hope it comes out soon I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles is beautifully written. I am so glad that I got the exclusive edition from Owlcrate because I love it. The characters are very well done in this book. I would like to start with them.

First we have Kallia. Kallia is the star of the show. Literally. She has a great personality. I loved her right away. She has been trapped inside of Hellfire House her whole life dreaming of escape. I found that Kallia is super relatable because she feels stuck. All she wants in life is to move forward but she is terrified of the past that she is leaving behind. I felt like this was something that all readers could relate too. Next you have Daron Demarco. Daron is a young and very powerful magician. Daron is on a mission to find his missing sister. I think his story is one that is quite interesting. These two make up our point of view characters and I found them quite interesting.

Then I feel like if you are a fan of Caraval like I am, then you are going to love Jack. Also known as The Master. We get these small mysterious glimpses that keep you guessing. It made me really excited to know what will happen in book two with Jack. I really want more of him. Jack is a character that is always on Kallia's mind and we aren't sure why he has had Kallia holed up in hellfire house for so long.

My only negatives for the book is I wish there was a bit more world building. I would like to understand this world that I have gotten myself into a bit better. Especially the magic system. It doesn't seem to be a huge part of the story, but it is there. I also was not a fan about how the story began. The first two chapters really made me want to give up all together. I can definitely say from experience push through if you can because this book is a little treasure. I can't wait for more.

This book is about a magical competition in a dark, corrupted city. Our main character Kallia escapes the clutches of her master/instructor, Jack, and flees to this city to participate in a (confusing and poorly described) magical competition. Like a bad ghost documentary ~~something in the city doesn't like them~~ and magicians keep getting picked off like daisies. Meanwhile, Kallia engages in a drawn-out flirtation with one of the judges, a "retired" magician who has some secrets of his own.

As other reviewers have pointed out, there are plenty of questions presented by the story, but nothing is actually answered. Why was Jack keeping Kallia caged up and what connection does he have to this city? Furthermore, what's the deal with this city? And what really happened to this magician - Demarco's assistant? Don't get too invested in any of those mysteries, because you'll have to wait until 2021 when they'll be answered. If they'll be answered.

I don't read many YA series, so maybe I'm unused to the formula - but HOW is it okay with readers that they're asked to invest money and time into what is essentially an incomplete story? Series of all lengths are fine, but each book needs to be it's own thing, and ideally, it should be able to stand on its own. Where Dreams Descend is - at best - half of a story. This whole "let's make one book into two because authors and publishers like money" thing makes my blood boil.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I assumed I would love this as soon as I heard Phantom of the Opera, and oh my gosh did I ever love this! The setting and the writing were so atmospheric. I was thoroughly hooked by chapter 2. The setting was fantastic. We follow Kallia, a former showgirl, as she flees her master to take part in a magic competition. The town itself felt like a whole other character. It felt dangerous, a little unsettling and shrouded in mystery.

The characters were all wonderfully flawed. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Kallia and her master (who I can't wait to learn more about). Marco became more interesting as the story went on. He, like all the other characters, wears many masks and hides many lies. The competition part was honestly fine. I did enjoy the way it showcased the different ways the magic takes form in this world, it just didn't feel as important as I thought it would.

The pace did start out a bit slow, but I enjoyed the build up. The way the characters and magic built up to the cliff hanger was really well done. This cliff hanger is low key killing me. Overall I absolutely adore this world and these characters. If you like Phantom of the Opera, and Caraval I would definitely give this book a shot.

This book did not live up to my expectations, unfortunately. I didn't think the initial world/magic system setup was great. Honestly, at the end of the book I felt like I hadn't really learned anything. I had all the same information that I had at the beginning of the book and I was so confused as to what was going on.

I liked Kallia as a character, but I didn't feel like her backstory matched how she acted. She supposedly grew up super sheltered with Jack (and his dad), but when she gets to the city, she acts super street smart. I just would have expected her to be a little more naive.

I really liked the overall concept of this book. The performances and the circus were both really great elements that I was excited to read about, but everything else was just too confusing. I probably won't continue with the series.

Overall Rating: 3
Language: Mild
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book. I TRIED to love this book. I honestly thought I would fly through WHERE DREAMS DESCEND. The description is everything I love about YA Fantasy Books. Somehow its' months later and I still haven't made it past Act II (approx 50 pages in) and I'm not connecting with the plot or the characters. I'm not driven to pick up the book and read more. This makes me so sad!

In this mysterious and magical debut by Janelle Angeles, we follow our main character Kallia, a feminine, strong and powerful magician who will not let other people define who she is. The story follows Kallia has she enters a magician contest despite the unapproval of the master, Jack, of where she resides; the hellfire house. Upon arrival to the strange and mysterious city of Glorian where secrets are everywhere, the story unravels quickly to many twists and turns. The city is not what she thought it would be and the people aren’t as welcoming has she might have hoped. Kallia’s journey is an important one. everyday she fights for gender equality and for recognition as the powerful magician she is. Despite angering many with her determination to win the ”Spectaculore” contest, Kallia does not let anything stop her, she shows no fear.

While reading, we meet many intriguing characters who bring many mysteries and questions with them, especially, Daron. An ex-magician who doesn’t perform anymore who is now judge of the competition and who the town likes to share many rumours as to why he doesn’t perform anymore. A forbidden romance arises between Daron and Kallia but neither of them dares to make the first step, too many secrets and mysteries are keeping them apart.

What is Daron’s secret? What is the town’s secret? Why was Jack so against Kallia’s entering the competition? Will he figure out she left the house of hellfire for Glorian? Who will win the competition? Will Kallia make it through?

If a magical and whimsical setting about a mysterious town and forbidden romance is something that interest you then you should definitely give this one a shot. Janelle Angeles’ debut did not disappoint. I will be anxiously waiting for the sequel, When the Night Breaks, which is expected to come out early June 2021!

While I genuinely enjoyed the writing style and the characters were interesting, I had a hard time investing my interest in the plot. I just could not get into this book and it makes me incredibly sad.

I know this book will be beloved by so many readers, but it wasn’t for me.

My Thoughts
What I Loved
THE PREMISE
A competition for magicians, a city with secrets deep in the woods, mysteries surrounding all the main characters, and a cool traveling(?) circus make this book’s premise super cool. I have always been enamored by the circus (and of course magic) since I was little.

GIRL-POWER
While the story’s world is male-centric, the story is not…It is a lot about girl-power and I cannot say I don’t like that 🙂 There is one female character who does annoy – in the form of the mayor’s pampered daughter – but the number of strong female characters makes up for her.

CHARACTERS
To be honest, I loved the supporting cast even more than the main characters (Kallia, Demarco and Jack), though I did not get to spend enough time with them(the supporting characters, I mean). It will be nice to see more focus on some of these characters in book two of this duology.

I loved Aaros (Kallia’s first friend and her assistant), Mistress Ira (who is the seamstress, a magician of sorts, and seems to be more than she is made out to be), Canary the Conquering Circus’ uncrowned ruler, and even Erasmus Rayne, the proprietor of the circus and the one responsible for the competition.

THE WRITING AND OTHER THINGS
I truly enjoyed the writing in parts of the book (more on this later) and the beautiful descriptions of some of the locales and events. I also enjoyed the parallels to the suit of cards simply because I always enjoy things like this. ;though how the suit related to the city was still a bit unclear at the end of the book.

THAT ENDING
First things first, I love-hate cliffhangers, especially when I am not sure how long it will be before I can find out what happens next; and this book (is it a spoiler to say so?) ends in one “really?!!? (both in a good and not so way)” cliffhanger…

And of course, the cover!!!

What I Did Not Enjoy as Much
THE PACE AND WHAT IS SAID
It started off slower than I would have liked; and then there were a couple of other places where the pace seemed off. While I do love lyrical and descriptive prose (which this book definitely has), sometimes those additional words are simply more than needed. And this book does have a few such sections.

THAT WHICH REMAINS UNSAID
A little more emphasis on other characters and other things would have been better. Kallia enters a competition with nine other magicians; and they almost seem like non-entities in the book. It would have been cool to see at least a couple of the competitors as ones that challenged her, a bit.

And maybe a little more fleshing out of the other characters. I know I would have liked to know more about the powers of the members of the Conquering Circus, as well as the Circus itself.

Those Character Issues and Such

The characters, places and events sway between being a little too sensuous for a (younger) teen read and being a little juvenile. Also, as I pointed out earlier, the characters, locales, as well as the events that would have added more substance to the story were overlooked more than I wished they had been. For example, the other magicians – I knew only the minisculest about them; even Kallia seemed to have issues remembering their names. The competition which was supposedly about ten magicians just focused on Kallia. And that wonderful circus seemed like just a side-act:( (except for a couple of spectacular scenes!)

THE REST
The beginning of the book was confusing; it took me a while to get into the book between the slower start and the confusion. And then the story, as it progressed, while it picked up pace, also seemed to be setting up a list of questions; most likely (hopefully), those will be answered in the sequel. So many questions and all that mystery definitely left me feeling, a bit, like they say, too much of even a good thing….

Quotes
While those things I noted above would have made this book a whole lot better for me, I did end up bookmarking many many quotes (proof that I did enjoy the reading overall!)

Here is just a sampling of all those (too many to include them all here):

“…he played the devil on all shoulders, leading patrons to his bar and game tables, guiding them toward his enchanted smoke lounge to drown in curated memories. The warmth of first love, the heady rush of triumph, the immense joy of dreams come true.”
“A dream broken up into pieces, longing to be chased.”
“He stole the shadows of objects and gave them new masters… “
“There was something tragically forgotten about it all, this place that yearned to be remembered.”
“…the Glorian sky was a blinding gray white in the morning. It always looked like it was close to raining –eyes a breath away from crying, though tears never came.”
“Exhilarating performances always exhausted her until everything seemed a little funny.”
“His heart skipped a heavy beat, running faster than it should. Even as time slowed.”
“He was just there to be there, and for that, he’d become her truest friend.”
“If you can’t stay small in the box they’ve built around you, they will make you feel small until you fit right back in it.”
“Everything whirled faster, until she couldn’t see straight. Dancing always made the world stand still.”
“He would’ve vanished from her periphery altogether had he not become such a thorn, always catching at her.”
“It was wrong to justify what sort of hurt mattered and what didn’t. Anything that left scars came from hurt. “
Note that the quotes are from an advanced reader copy and may differ from the finished edition.

In Summary
The ending (as well everything else I liked about it) made up for the cons in this book. It has me creating all the possible sequels to it myself 🙂 While I know some readers might not enjoy such an cliffhanger-ish ending, for me, it simply wowed!

So yes, this book is worth a read for all that is good about this book and will definitely appeal to audiences who enjoy the elements that make up this book.

And – I want more company while I wait for the sequel to this one!!!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing me with digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A review of this title is avaliable through Goodreads - and later through my blog. The Goodreads link is available below!

A lovely book. It reminded me of The Night Circus and a little of Sarah J. Maas books. Also Caravel. Some of the plot was hard to follow in the beginning, but I really enjoyed the magic of the story.

2.5 stars.

Whelp. This was not how I expected things to go. Billed as Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge with a little bit of The Night Circus, this had ALL of my attention and I was pegging it for a potential 5-star read. It may have been my most anticipated read for the whole of 2020. That's probably what makes this so stinking painful.

The general overview of the plot was a decent one, as is the premise, but the execution unfortunately fell very flat for me. I am SO SAD that this didn't work for me.

The writing honestly flummoxed me. It was beautiful in spots and then choppy for large segments of time in a way that lacked transitions. There were wordy and unnecessary chunks of narrative that did nothing but drag the pace down, but then there would be moments of spectacular magic and beautiful atmosphere. It felt like two different authors attempting to write the story together without communicating to help blend their approaches. It was disorienting and frustrating. I kept finding GREAT moments in the plot where I was simply mesmerized and fell in love with what was happening. I would starting thinking "okay, it's really going to take off now" and then it would be like a light switched off and I was right back to slogging through the pages.

I think I would have really enjoyed it quite a bit more had it been shorter. Had the pace been faster and the magical bits sprinkled closer together, it may have kept my attention more. As it was, it was something like taking a walk headed for a surprise destination, but then you just end up walking around the block a bunch of times and wind up at the neighbor's house.

Don't get me wrong, it did have good parts and there was some promise here and there in both the writing and the plot, but I just could not connect with it. I loved the magical bits and the circus bits and wanted more of that. Instead, the romance was weak and wishy-washy, the misogyny was just plain annoying, and too much time was spent futzing about town instead of getting to the action. I'm sure there is an audience out there for it, but it doesn't contain me.

The initial marketing, which was Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge, feels a bit misleading. Where Dreams Descend certainly feels much more like a read-alike to Caraval than anything else! I would absolutely recommend this book to fans of the latter series. The pacing was curious; at times it felt agonizingly slow, and then at other times it moves at a rapid clip--rather like the way that time passes in the cursed forest that borders the mysterious town that centers the story. A cliffhanger ending is a bit of a disappointment, although there are clearly pieces in play for a sequel.

While I really wanted to love this book, I struggled. I found myself easily setting it aside, and when I went to pick it back up, it took a lot of focus to get back into the story. I think the lack of desire to get into this world and stay was that the characters weren't fleshed out--more like stick figures rather than the real life portrait you hope for when reading, your brain taking the details to form the scenes in the intimacy of your mind. I also found the world-building lacking as well, and confusing frankly. While I was into some of the writing, occasional one-liners shining out to me, I was disappointed. This book was hyped and hyped and hyped, but it didn't hit that hype-worthy mark for me.

I do want to know that I am a mood reader, so this book also could have been not for me in that moment. I had a final copy preordered, which I kept and didn't return, so I'll be giving this book a do-over in the future. Perhaps if I'm in a different mindset and mood, I'll vibe better next time.

I came in this one with high hopes, but I could never really get into it! I guess I was trying to expect a Caraval-type read and this was different in my opinion. I wouldn't want to read this one again. A slow start that was just hard to even want to finish.

<b><blockquote>DNF at 25%</b></blockquote>
I'd been waiting for this book since its announcement, it was shelved as waiting-and-dying-for which means a lot, I requested and got it on NetGalley, and I wanna thank the publisher for providing me with the arc! Thank you, guys! Too bad I didn't like the story((

The premise is awesome, isn't it? The prologue promised me something good too. And then I suddenly understand that I force myself to read <i>Where Dreams Descend</i>, not even disliking but having no interest in it.

1/4 of the book isn't the book as a whole, but when a story can't grasp my attention at this point, I give up. No one has to suffer when reading, maybe this book is just not for me or maybe I need more. More of worldbuilding, more of characters, more of the plot. All I got was a few locations and a lot of sexist dialogues.

I suspect that feminism will win, but I can't stand the process. I know how it works, I have enough IRL, I need something new in my books. Something that won't irritate and anchor me to reality.

The characters lacked personality. Only names, only cliches. The plot might intrigue me to continue no matter what, but it wasn't suspenseful or intriguing. I know that not each story has to be twisted as hell, but when the plot is simple I need some depth in the characters. As I said, there was none.

A spark. This book needs something to ignite. Instead, it feels like a draft. I still think the idea is great and has potential, but it didn't live up to my expectations.

This was an excellent debut novel that was lush, descriptive and extremely imaginative. I loved how I felt transported into the story and the world of the novel. I was invested in the characters and the romance. This book is not for everyone as it can be overly poetic for some, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Think Night Circus, but with a YA audience. Think Caraval, but much darker. This was a great first book that gives so much to the imagination while leaving some suspense to how things will unravel in book two.Each character was lovable in their own way -- even the "villains" of the story.

The pacing was great, the magic was fun, the mood felt dark and I was sold. I'm excited to read more from Janella!

This was a beautifully atmospheric book but it did seem pretty slow to start. Overall I couldn't really get into it but it's a beautiful book and I love the cover!

This was such a dazzling debut with an air of mystery and suspense and a dash of romance. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I’d easily say that for me it’s Ace of Shades meets An Unkindness of Magicians. It’s a magic competition with a sinister backdrop and everyone is forced into a deadly game of sorts. I absolutely adored Kallia right from the start! She’s sharp, witty, independent, and simply wants the freedom to live her own life. Ambition plays a huge role throughout this story and it can be both rewarding and punishing. Jack was an interesting player because he’s hardly a clear-cut character, which just made me want to know more, especially about his ties to Kallia. Demarco is a pretty complicated guy overall. There are so many layers to his character and one second I thought I had him pinned down only for him to reveal something else. I also really enjoyed all of the secondary characters as well that Kallia befriends when she gets to the city. There were so many theories swimming around in my head the entire time, but I guess I’ll have to wait for the sequel to get my answers!