This is a nice mash-up of Phantom of the Opera and Moulin Rouge. I love the world we were brought into and how the magic was explained and the performances, but I didn't like how immature Kallia seemed to get sometimes, I know we all do act immature sometimes but it seemed like she was for most of the book. , I do wish we had a little more background for Jack and the others, but I'm hoping we will in book 2. I have a lot of questions and hope they are answered in the next book. That being said I do agree that it is annoying how there are a lot of almost happenings with things in the books. I like a good tease but i'm dying here. I do think this would make a great movie though!

Thank you to Negalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for something a bit dark with shadows that bite, something enchanting with magic that will set you back with awe, and something a bit mysterious with twists that pounce around corners then WHERE DREAMS DESCEND needs to be your next read. Darkly dazzling and written with a captivating prose, the first book in Kingdom of Cards is sure to whet your appetite and have you clamoring for more.

I requested this book from NetGalley because it was pitched as 'Moulin Rouge' meets 'Phantom of the Opera'. These are two of my all time favorite shows, and I've never come across a book inspired by Moulin Rouge, so I was all about it. After reading it I would say it is veeeeeeery loosely based on POTO and the only comparison to Moulin Rouge I could see was in the opening chapter when the main character descend from the ceiling on a chandelier.

The book follows the magician Kallia as she escapes from 'The House' where she's been performing for...forever? Not too clear on that. She manages to escape and enters the mysterious city of Glorian where she enters a magic competition. Since women are not allowed to practice magic on stage everyone is against her from the beginning and she needs to overcome these obstacles in order to perform and try to win. Strange things begin happening during the competition and magicians start to disappear, which has Kallia wondering if she really left her past behind her.

The beginning started off very confusing and nothing really made sense until I reached chapter 5. Although it was a confusing start I thought it might be promising, but it never really got any better. I would have DNFed at about 25% if I hadn't received the book through NetGalley. The main character enters a new city and has no problem at all fitting right in and meeting people even though she's never left the house before. During the competition it is so clear she is more powerful than all the other magicians and we only ever get to see her acts. The other competitors are simply side characters and are not fleshed out at all. We "hear" they are nowhere near as good as she is but we never "see" it. There is barely any world building at all. There might have been a paragraph about the background of the city of Glorian and the 4 families that used to rule it, but I forget immediately after I read it and it was barely ever mentioned again until it played a big part in the ending. The book felt like it was 200 pages too long and nothing happened until the last 20.

As for the main characters, Demarco is a flat love interest and really offers nothing to the story except apologizing over and over. Jack was the most interesting to me but he played the smallest part. For someone who is most likely based off the Phantom he was not that intimidating and also pretty absent. Kallia was annoying and overconfident, and I didn't really like her as a main character. I don't know how old these characters were supposed to be or what they looked liked due to lack of description. I kept going back and looking for descriptions because I thought I missed them, but I just think they weren't there. Apparently all the main characters are PoC/Southeast Asian, which is awesome, but I wouldn't know that if I hadn't read it in other reviews of the book.

Also, I know ARCs aren't the final version of the book but there were so many errors they actually interfered with my reading in a couple places. At one point one of the characters states "Ah, answering a question with a question" and I searched for 5 minutes for the question that was apparently asked but it was nowhere to be found.

There are so many positive reviews of this book so I know it will appeal to a lot of readers. It just wasn't the book for me.

Did I just discover a new favorite book? Potentially! Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for granting my an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book and was hooked on it from the first page. I really loved Kallia as a character and even the antagonist was super interesting to me. I'm hoping to read more about him in the next book! I felt immersed in this world, the setting felt alive and was nicely described without being too flowery. The pacing of the book was good also, as I didn't feel there were many parts that lagged. Overall, I found this to be a super entertaining read and a great introduction to this author for me. I'm really excited to pick up the second book.

This book was like taking The Night Circus, The Phantom of the Opera, the movie Now You See Me with a little sprinkle of Caraval on top.

A lushly detailed fantasy romance that is sure to appeal to fans of Furyborn and Caraval.

Janella Angeles takes great care to set scenes and relishes in descriptive language, but the book is a bit light on characterization for me. Kallia is so clearly competent and powerful that there isn't much tension - the stakes in the competition didn't feel real, and the other competitors aren't fleshed out enough to really invest in them.

I would definitely recommend if you're looking for a fun escape or if you love a good fantasy romance. It's not the densest of books, but some times it's fun to just skip dinner and eat the dessert!

This book is absolutely one of my favorite reads of the year.

Phantom meets Moulin Rouge is 100 percent up my alley and I loved all the angst and feelings that came with the story.

Kallia is a great protagonist. She learns and grows and is fair to the situations around her. I enjoy that she wants independence but also gets a bit in over her head. It feels authentic.

Jack is obviously the phantom type character, he has taught Kallia how to use her ability but at some cost to her autonomy. I'm intrigued to find out what happens next on this front as we know what happens with phantom and I wonder if itll play out that way.

Daron is also a great character and full of his own drama. I feel for him so much throughout the story and also cant wait to see how his tale will end, tragic ala moulin rouge or not? We shall see.

I recommend this for fans of Stephanie Garber's books and for anyone who enjoys some proper angst. Cannot wait for the sequel!!!

Dark, sexy, alluring, and mysterious. This book encompasses these words and so does it's characters. It's a book so reminiscent of Carival and I loved it. The allure is as much the magic it contains but also the duality of it's characters because it's not everyone is completely good or bad. Kallia is a bird with so much fire to live and want to be free. She's a woman of agency and she's excellent. This book really acted almost like a mystery and it gave me murder mystery vibes minus the murder. The cliffhanger at the end is great and it just solidified that this book is a great book one to what I feel will be a a fun and enchanting series.

Arc provided by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own

I love this book, simple as that. It was a highly addictive read about a woman trying to make it in a male dominated world and escaping her literal master and his power over her while finding new friends and even more when she decides to compete in a magician's tournaments of sort. However, there's a looming threat and too many secrets.

The world is very interesting and has that old style glamorous feeling. At first I was a little confused at how they chose to weild magic until our dear Demarco pointed out that they're humans not tools. It's a rather broad type of magic where you can basically do anything and the cost is that it drains you of energy. The world is still very mysterious and so many unanswered questions that have to wait until next year.

I really enjoyed Kallia's character and how she was "not like other girls" (in this particular town) but still it wasn't used as a nasty competition between woman but rather as a way to show that she was a threat to the fragile men of this place. Her friendship with the circus was really sweet, as well as her friendship with her assistant.
One complaint I have is that everyone is pretty superficial and we don't really get to see much of who they are, only how they benefit the main character.

Also, love me some slow burn romance

Totally recommend!

Janella Angeles’s writing is so beautiful and hypnotic. She really knows what she’s doing, and she knows her audience. If you are looking for a lush, magical performance/competition story similar to Caraval or The Night Circus, this is it. The characters are vivid and complex, which is something I always appreciate. I felt like it dragged on a little in the middle, focusing on the romantic storyline, but that’s my only complaint, and totally just my opinion. If you enjoy romance you won’t be disappointed, and if you usually find it “meh” like I do, you don’t need to worry about it being too saturated. There’s a lot more to keep your attention. Highly recommend you pick it up when it’s published on August 25!

Thank you net galley for providing me this eBook in exchange for a fair an honest review. As soon as I saw this was a book that had circus elements, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. Definitely had night circus and caraval vibes which I adored.

The magic system in this was great. I liked that I truly got sucked into these characters and stories which put me right there. Then came the world building, not the strongest but definitely satisfactory. I found myself being sucked in and really dealing like I knew these characters. I would definitely recommend!

I don’t know why, but this story just fell flat for me. I couldn’t get into the writing or connect with the magical world. I liked Kallia and her fight for freedom and independence, and I really enjoyed Daron. I wanted to like the Phantom of the Opera influences, but I don’t know. I just couldn’t get into this one. But if you’re a fan of magical contests and POTO, this one might still be up your alley!

Ok, wow. When I read the description of this book, I had high hopes - and it never disappointed. It's like Janelle Angeles took all of my favorite dark, magical, romantic mysteries and wove them into one incredible story. Hints of Phantom, Caraval, Night Circus, Darker Shade of Magic, Moulin Rouge and dare I say Howl's Moving Castle? Reading that sentence back, it sounds like a lot, but it delivered. I can't go on enough about how much I loved this book, how unexpected the twists and turns were, how beautiful the prose is, and how much I can't wait for the sequel. The atmosphere and world-building of this book was beautiful and the characters were so complex. I only wished that we got a little more of Kallia's origin story, and I hope the sequel delivers. For a debut novel, Angeles blew. Me. Away. This is a must-read for VE Schwab/Stephanie Garber fans, and I can only hope for a Baz Luhrmann adaptation in the future.

Where Dreams Descend is a magical escape into a dangerous world of magic and mystery. For Kallia, a female magician trying to escape the life of a showgirl, the Conquering Circus is her ticket to something more. She is the protege of The Master, Jack, a master magician who owns the club she works at and who, it seems, has not been entirely truthful with her. Kallia decides to take her fate into her own hands and plans her escape to Glorian where she meets Judge DeMarco and a number of wonderfully enchanting characters. Each of these main characters has a mysterious background and dangerous magic. The world is so beautifully written that you cannot help but get sucked into the dangerous, dark, and wonderful world of Spectacular!

I loved the different point of views between each of the main characters and seeing what each was going through during each trial throughout the book. My personal favorite character was Aaros, the enigmatic thief turned Magicians assistant. He is full of energy and support for Kallia and has nothing but love for her. I am definitely excited to see where this dark and magical adventure goes next and look forward to the next installment.

I want to thank Netgalley St. Martins Press and Wednesday Books for granting me this ARC in exchange for my honest reviews and opinions!

Janella Angeles’ debut novel reads like a instant favorite. Many times books are compared to other works and as a reader I only see hints at it. That is not the case here.

Compared to Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge The Night Circus and Caraval, this book takes the vibrant and mysterious aspects of those and weaves it together into something completely spellbinding. The description and world building here are splashes of colors popping up over a grey mystical background that make it come alive.

Like a magician that never reveals their tricks, this book never reveals the twists and turns fully, drawing you further in page by page.

Kallia is such a fun character, who strives to find her way in a world that doesn’t want her to have the power, running from a past that refuses to let her go and getting insnared in a life changing and possibly life ending mystery. The cast and crew that surround her are some of the more colorful and spunky characters I’ve seen in books lately, I just wish we got MORE of them to know who they were outside of Kallias journey.

It starts out slower, giving you hints of what’s to come. By the second half I was losing sleep to find out what happened next. Thank goodness this book is a series because I cannot WAIT to know what happens

Ok where do I begin? Let me first off start by saying JACK AND AAROS ARE THE ONLY REASON I AM 100% ON BOARD WITH THIS BOOK AND THAT IS JUST STRAIGHT FACTS.

ok *ahem* now that I got that out lets talk about the rest of the book shall we? This book is the dark magician game of tango that I did not know would sparkle in my eyes for days after reading.

First off, the beginning of this book is straight fire. There is no denying it. Kallia and Jack give me all this hate love relationship where you don’t know if you are supposed to hate Jack…. or if he is being too tricky and deceitful… he even border lies on straight evil at times which makes the dialogue and the banter between the two that much more delicious. I just could not bring myself to “hate” him even as he became darker in the eyes of Kallia #villianlove #maylikethevillianmorethanyou. And plus that ending omfgggg I am dying I need the next book thank you next (yes I just went there)

But than things get a bit tricky after Kallia runs away to enter a wee magic competition in the city Jack had been warning her about… and by tricky I mean *ahem* *enter Demarco*.

No matter how hard I tried I just could not get up to full swoon with Demaro?! While he did grow on me I just was not in love with him as a character. I thought he was a bit of a dry bagel if I’m being honest (I mean towards the end I guess you could say my opinion of him changed to that of a dry bagel w cream cheese?! But still a bagel is a bagel) So that bit of romance between him and Kallia was overall ok for me.

However I just ADORED Jacks impromptuness. Like if this whole book was about this dark evil magician mentor (who is also the owner of an underground club just beyond the forbidden woods) I would be forever intrigued for days (I pray we see MORE of him in book two I just NEED this too happen)

And also I am dedicating a whole paragraph to the love of my life Aaros who is the flirty sassy thief/ best friend we all need in our lives. Seriously his quick wit and banter and jokes about Kallia and Demarco GAVE ME LIFE!! That boy is funny and not one can deny he is now needed in every scene please and thank you. He really is what a true friend should be and even when Kallia could not open up to him about everything that was happening to her he was there for her in ways were words were not needed. Love this boy.

Kallia overall was an ok character. I liked her, dont get me wrong, she just did not blow me away. I’m looking forward to her character growing and showing her bold side more because I feel like her sass was dimmed in a lot scenes here due to some scary stuff that went down…

That all being said (and by that I mean my character ranting lol) THE WORLD BUILDING WAS ALSO VERY GOOD. Like was obsessed with how we did not know if the town Kallia ran away to was cursed for not… like WHATTT. And also the whole world gave me a total Ace of Shades, Night Circus feel that very much enraptured the essence of a dark card game, filled with circus tents, entertainers, and a deadly game of cat and mouse in which the villain is not who you would expect.

Very twisted mind bending teacup of a book that will keep you flipping the pages just to see how it all unfolds in the end. Loved this dark magic game playing book and demand you all check it out imediently and tell me your thoughts! (and also what you think about Jack because I feel like to me he is a dusty heart of gold hidden by deceitful eyes and desires…)!!

I was giving a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a very good read. And it leaves a lot open ended. I'm still not sure what exactly is going on and it is great! Often, it's easy to predict the nature of the evil in a book, sometimes even see the villians immediately. For this one, I'm still not exactly sure who is truly against our main character. The next installment will be fantastic if the mystery continues. Our main character has a murky background and I can't wait to find out exactly what's up with her. The rest of the characters are equally fascinating and I'm invested in the assistant's role going forward. The magic is fun and I can't wait to see some fan art for this. The loss of one star does go to the aspect I like most, too many unknowns and unexplained aspects. For me, it's frustrating and intriguing at the same time. I will be getting a hard copy of this book.

A thrilling, entertaining ride that is charged with magic and a hauntingly intriguing backstory that grips you to the very end. It's an amazingly complex story with various other plots going on below the main storyline. I kept having this little itch that there was more to this story, more to Kallia and Jake than what was given. Like a flower that is so often when about in the story, I believe the plot will unfurl as this and subsequent books follow.
This book can be a little confusing with the shifting of POVs between characters, but I felt that it only strengthen the story to be able to 'see' the thoughts of sooner of the characters. It allowed the book to move fluidly. Having the POV shift between various characters perspectives can be tricky but the author managers it well. I only wish that she would state it somewhere. I times I would have to glean it from context to know it was a character change as there was even a page break or chapter change. Even a space and then saying "Jake. " would work. Other than that I really can't wait for the next book

** I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. **

This book was not for me. I found the writing to be confusing and jarring. I also felt like the book opened up in the middle of a narrative I was not part of for the beginning of the story. I did not understand Kallia's motivation. The switch of POV from one paragraph to another was also really poorly done. I loved the idea of this book and found the ode to Moulin Rouge in the opening scene very cool but the rest of this book and writing honesty made no sense to me. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book for review, I'm sorry it didn't work for me but I hope for the best for other readers.

"Kallia is a powerful magician haunted with nightmares. She dares to look beyond the club where she performs her deadly, decadent magic tricks: to Glorian. In the frozen, sparkling city, she will compete against other magicians to join the illustrious “Conquering Circus.” Are there enough tricks up her sleeves for her to come out on top?"

First off I want to thank NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review of Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles. When I saw #POCDebuts trending on Twitter, I came across this book and it became one of my anticipated releases of 2020. This is also my Divination choice in the Magical Readathon for 2020 as well as my Outro: Ego choice in the 2020 Bangtanathon.

Since that’s out of the way I’ll just get right into it. I will probably rate this lower than three stars after sitting with this but ultimately I just thought I would like this book a lot more than I did. Getting compared to Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge, and The Night Circus leaves pretty huge shoes to fill. I became a fan of Janella Angeles after participating in her Twitter chat of Phantom of the Opera and knowing that she was inspired to write a fantasy about a Brown girl based on Cinderella with Whitney Houston and Brandy solidified my loyalty for her. There are good things and bad things about this book. It’s a solid debut and I have to remember that this is an ARC so there might be some room for improvement.

The book starts with a dramatis personae of characters and a very promising prologue that immediately catapults us into this lush world. Kallia is the star of the book, she is a showgirl and aspiring magician who wants more out of her life. She escapes from the Hellfire House and her mentor/lover Jack for a lost magical city of Glorian to join the Conquering Circus. They’re looking for their next magical headliner so they have a competition that quickly turns dark as competitors start to go missing and the daring feats get out of control. Immediately Kallia meets people like Aaros who is a thief turned assistant, Canary a flame-breathing (or throwing) entertainer, Erasmus who is the ringleader, Mayor Eilin, the judges, and the women of the circus. The city is hugely patriarchal and a dark magical force lies beneath everything.

The main thing that I enjoyed about this book was the fact that this is about a woman of color and several main characters in this book are POC or perceived to be based on what I read. I like that aside from characters like Kallia and Canary (whose skin color is explicitly mentioned as being dark) it’s up to the reader’s imagination. I love how lush the writing is, a lot of the details are rich and it’s not overwhelming with an information dump. Jack and Kallia’s dynamic is hot and intriguing. At first I was surprised by how established their relationship is at the start but I was pleasantly surprised with how she left Jack’s side so early into the story. He is never fully there with her once she leaves but I enjoyed his appearances throughout.

I loved Canary as soon as she was mentioned and I really liked the small glimpses of Aaros’s personality that we saw beyond becoming Kallia’s assistant. I loved how confident Kallia was at first and the story was pretty exhilarating and interesting.

Unfortunately I became annoyed relatively quickly.

One of my main issues about characters like Kallia is the fact that she is written as someone who is extra-special to the point where people are obsessed and fall over themselves to impress or serve without them doing much to earn that level of blind loyalty. Everyone Kallia meets seems to bend to her will purely because she’s the main character. Her personality isn’t very likeable beyond the fact that she sticks it to the patriarchal men from time to time. Even then the “feminism” is so forced because everyone but Jack is watered down to make Kallia more interesting, powerful, honorable, etc. Aaros started out interesting but didn’t have anything going on aside from being her assistant.

This is a petty gripe but for someone who was supposed to be a caged bird, I found Kallia’s biting criticism for worldly topics to be unrealistic and weird. She was way too woke for someone who has never seen anything in the world who had a Stockholm Syndrome-esque relationship.

Speaking of forced feminism, Kallia has limited interactions with people who don’t want to have sex with her. She has scenes with Canary and Canary’s crew but none of the women are developed enough to be fleshed out characters. Even Canary who is a tough, street smart girl who says she’s not interested in friendship with Kallia seems to fall in line relatively soon.

Aside from Jack, the main love interest is Daron Demarco who has/had a lot of potential. His sister vanished and he was once a powerful magician but he lost his powers. Daron seemed like a badass and he even got his heroic moment but his back story became so repetitive that by the time his reveal happened, I was disappointed.

Finally the plot development just didn’t make sense to me. There is this idea of female magicians possibly going missing because they were too powerful but it doesn’t go anywhere. I don’t understand why Kallia is so interested in this competition because we don’t know about her ambitions aside from this. The pacing was weird and the book spent too much time trying to set up Kallia as being better than literally everyone around her. The trials she faced were overshadowed by the lack of resolution or acknowledgement from her.

I will continue the series purely because it seems like Canary and Aaros will be joining Daron and Lottie to find Kallia and Jack so there is more potential for Canary and Aaros to develop a personality aside from aiding Kallia.