I was sooo excited to read this book. That cover! I’m still in awe of it! Where Dreams Descend is a story full of intrigue and magic, with darker forces lurking in the background.

The prose was so gorgeous; it set a dark tone that’s interwoven with tendrils of magic. This is Angeles’s debut, and I’m so excited to see what she does next!

We follow three characters: Kallia, a female magician and a showgirl who longs to do more with her magic; Jack, the master of the house that Kallia works at and her teacher; and Daron, a male magician who was once one of the biggest performers until he retired at a young age after a tragedy. Kallia travels to Glorian, a city rumored to be cursed, to participate in a game of magicians where Daron happens to be a judge.

The tension in this book was palpable, between characters as well as within the plot. The plot was so intriguing! I never knew where it was going. The worldbuilding was also so detailed. Glorian is a city full of secrets, and the characters soon find out that these secrets can be deadly.

I dislike that sexism plays such a big part of this book, as Kallia is frequently underestimated because female magicians are often forced to channel their magic into more practical paths. However, I liked how headstrong and ambitious Kallia is. She never takes anything sitting down and holds her own against prejudiced, narrow-minded men. Aaros, her assistant, was an exception to this and added a lot of humor to the story.

I will say that the first third and the last third were enthralling, but the middle third dragged a bit to me. But that ending! I desperately need the next book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It was an amazing debut, with detailed worldbuilding and intriguing characters. Where Dreams Descend has the tension and haunting tone that fans of The Last Magician, The Gilded Wolves, or Leigh Bardugo will love.

Moulin Rouge meets Phantom of The Opera in this stunning debut by Janella Angeles. This book was full of wonder and had me on the edge of my seat with sultry performances and dark mysteries. I cannot stress enough how fun and dark this one was! Full of show-stopping magic, secrets galore, and an unsolved mystery, this book is not one to miss!

Semi-love triangle dances with manipulation, secrets, the universe of magicians, dark pasts and intriguing, riveting, high tension story-telling hooks you from the beginning and you cannot get enough because question marks are swimming in your fish-tank head and you ask yourself “Did the book finish? But instead of getting revelations, I got lost in more puzzles!”

Well actually I’m starting the strong parts of the book which I truly like: Its mysterious, eccentric, exotic world building, dark, conniving, and also intriguing pacing, dynamism of trio MCs picked my interest from the beginning.

BUT here are the weakest points that I found: The book circles around three powerful, strong willed, charismatic characters but at some parts I found them so immature, especially the hard boiled heroine turned into arrogant bitch when she competes with the other magicians and we don’t have much clue about characteristics about heroes. (especially Jack) I think the author left the most of their stories and secrets to the other installment and keep us in the dark so we may wonder and continue to read their stories. Well, a little more character building and heart throbbing romance with more hot chemistry (there are already sparks flying around the characters but they need to be ignited more!) work better for me!

I have a very strong feeling this novel will be making its way into book subscription boxes this summer. It's definitely one I can see becoming quite popular.

It's fun, it's daring, it's dark, and it has that magical showmanship quality that I have been missing since ‘Caraval’ and ‘The Night Circus.’ I really enjoyed the exciting cast of characters and the mysterious atmosphere of the story.

My only minor critique would be the overall vibe of the book. I think if the world-building had been a little bit stronger and really played into the whole ‘moody and broody’ tone, it wouldn't feel so juvenile. I understand this is YA, but I feel like the story is holding back, which is doing a disservice to itself and its potential.

Overall, this completely scratched my circus itch and I can't wait to see how everything is resolved!

I decided that my self-isolation time is too precious to waste it on books I don't enjoy... so I'm leaving Where Dreams Descend be at around 22% and moving on. This pandemic is leading me to something I normally never do, which is dnf, now for the second time in a row, but I'm just so weary. Some YA novels really want us to believe that 18-year olds in a magical world act like powerful, hard-boiled adults, huh? Well, I'm not buying it this time either. Were there any semblance of worldbuilding, logical decisions or even a more than just surface-level explanation of the magic system, I would have continued. Alas, 22% into this novel, there isn't, so I'm bidding Christine (Kallia), Raoul (Daron) and the Phantom (Jack) farewell.

Please bear in my that I might have enjoyed this story by the end, as you perhaps will, and that I feel sorry for even rating this without getting to the finale, but I swear to god, I don't have enough patience left in this body.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a change to read this book.

It was really nice to read something new other than contemporary romance. I loved this book. The concept was new and the plot was fill with mystery, magic and ofcourse romance. If you like The Night Circus then it's really for you. I highly recommend it. Janella Angeles is anew author and I loved this book and really enjoyed it. Hope you all like it as much as I did.
Happy reading!

This one wasn’t for me, but I can see it really appealing to a lot of people. Read this one if you liked: The Night Circus, Caraval, or if you enjoy books with magical comepetitions! Also, I really appreciate that this book has so much diversity.

What a great book!!! The characters were relatable and the seam of female strength and power was so dominant in this book that I think young girls everywhere should read it! Also, all female circus left me wanting soo much more! I loved their characters and the bonds between them! A great read and highly recommmend it!

Magical, vivid and enthralling. WHERE DREAMS DESCEND was an action-packed debut filled with intrigue and mystery. The craft of the characters was wonderful, and I loved seeing Kallia own the stage of Spectaulore and understand her own self-worth and talent as a performer—even when others told her otherwise. The plot was convincing and well laid out, dragging through a series of odd disappearances with competitors. I found myself at the edge of my seat as I tried to work out what was happening. The mystery with the mirrors was something that I thought was quite fascinating and added a fresh twist upon this novel. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would highly recommend it! Can’t wait to read the sequel!!!

I can definitely see the Phantom of the Opera + Moulin Rouge influences injected through this debut novel. I saw some Caraval (circus-like vibes) and Ace of Shades (forbidden city and crime families) similarities as well. WHERE DREAMS DESCEND has mystery, magic, angst, action, romance, and plethora of characters but some components were better executed than others.

WELL-EXECUTED
+ Mystery
+ Action
+ Angst
+ Pacing
+ Prose

SO-SO
- Kallia: It's one thing to be confident, but it's entirely another to be downright cocky/arrogant. The moment she escapes The Hellfire House and arrives in Glorian for the competition, she develops this belief she's the best thing since sliced bread. She is way overpowered and her risky stunts only backfired due to sabotage. There are scenes where she's completely exhausted for overexerting herself and she traps herself in her hotel room to sleep for days, but there are no other consequences to her dangerous acts.

- Romance: There is a love triangle between Kallia, Jack, and Demarco. The first act of the story explored Kallia and Jack's complicated but enthralling relationship. The second act introduced Kallia to Demarco. The third act builds upon Kallia and Demarco's attraction with a brief sprinkle of Jack to throw things off kilter. The four act puts this intense love triangle into a tailspin. I like both pairs, but Jack, our story's Phantom, is BARELY in the book to have a POV and be dubbed as a main character even though he's the sole reason I kept reading. Kallia's interactions with him are intense, complex, sensual, and darkly delightful.


NOT WELL-EXECUTED
- Competition: 3/4 of the book revolves around the competition. However, you only ever read about Kallia's performances. The other magicians are glossed over. She has no true rivals or threats to jeopardize her winning within the competition itself. It's stated multiple times she's the star of the show and everyone agrees willingly or reluctantly. External influences, sure.
- World-building: Lots of location names and cardinal directions were thrown around, but 1/4 of the book takes place in The Hellfire House and the rest takes place in Glorian.
- Magic system: Magicians are divided into three categories: labor, born, and acquired. Labor magicians work in all trades. Born magicians are magicians belonging to a magician bloodline, but they are considered rare. Acquired magicians learn magic. While I can get behind these three types, my issue is with the magic system itself. The book portrays the only consequence for a magician overexerting themselves is simply fatigue or fainting. There really isn't a true consequence or sacrifices. A few days of good rest is enough to carry on.
- Supporting characters: Though there were plenty, they didn't interest me at all because they were very one-dimensional.

OVERALL
The story's last act was a wild ride and the cliffhanger ensured my desire to pick up the next installment. The final two chapters inspired me to bump my rating from 3 stars to 4. I have to know what happens next.

First of all, thank you to Net Galley and Wednesday Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was originally worried abut reading this, but it had such amazing ratings, I knew I needed ot give it a shot!

Kallia is a show girl at Hellfire House. She loves performing magic, but she wants MORE. Kalli wants to perform bigger magic, and descending in the chandelier every night isn't cutting it, anymore. She's long since had her sights on Glorian, the ice-encased city beyond the Dire Woods. Until she overhears Jack, the owner, discussing a magician competition in Glorian. Burning down her dressing room and faking her own death, Kallia flees through the Dire Wood to Glorian, entering the Magician competition as the only woman.

Kallia is supposed to be this ambitious, confidant young woman. She obviously has a complex relationship with Jack, but she begins feeling for the young, handsome judge, Demarco. This magical story, unfortunately, fell a bit flat for me. All of the characters fit into stereotypical character charts for me. I was never concerned for the characters, nor was I intrigued by what might happen next. In general, I was just kind of bored. I really wanted to like this story, but I struggled through the entire book.

I'm setting this aside for now at 20%. The writing is very pretty, if vague at times. At this point, I like Jack and hate Demarco. I feel empathy for Kallia. I really want to know what happens, but I'm not feeling motivated to continue. I'll pick it back up later.

This book was so good, guys! The atmosphere kept me hooked the entire time. The characters were interesting and with that plot, I was always guessing left and right. By the end, I still had a lot of unanswered questions but I'm hoping we'll get them in the sequel.

In Where Dreams Descend, you follow Kallia, an ambitious magician who longs to be at the center of a stage, using her magic to surprise and captivate her audience. Her teacher, Jack, has been teaching her tricks but she wants to see more than the Hellfire House where she performs. So when she hears of a competition for "male" magicians, she wants to prove herself and others that women can be more powerful than men. I loved how she didn't stick to the box people wanted to put her in.

However, during that competition, magicians are going missing and it's clear that this city which we don't know a lot about has its secrets and like I said we still don't really have any answers about anything really even though some characters knows more than us but their lips have been sealed so far. This book ends up on a cliffhanger that left me wanting more.


(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Absolutely loved this story! Perfect balance of magic, suspense and romance! I was hooked from the very beginning. I didn't realize this would be a series and I can not wait to read the next one!

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles is the first book I’ve DNF’d (Did not finish) in a long, long time. But after 6 days of drudgery and only being at 35%, I felt I had no choice.

I was gifted an ARC of Where Dreams Descend from NetGalley, so thank you to Wednesday Books and Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Let’s hope straight to the review.

Where Dreams Descend Review

Let’s talk about what Where Dreams Descend gets right.

Take a look at that cover. It’s gorgeous is it not? In fact, it’s one of the reason I looked at this book in the first place.

Then read the blurb.

A group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats.

Oh my gosh, doesn’t this sound amazing?

I love a good competition book. It’s why I applied for an ARC of Where Dreams Descend.

The Star: Kallia, a powerful showgirl out to prove she’s the best no matter the cost.

The Master: Jack, the enigmatic keeper of the club, and more than one lie told

The Magician: Demarco, the brooding judge with a dark past he can no longer hide.

The three heroes of the story sound powerful, amazing, and a little mysterious don’t they? The more I read the blurb, the more and more excited I got!

Let’s look at the part that sealed it for me:

Where Dreams Descend is the startling and romantic first book in Janella Angeles’ debut Kingdom of Cards fantasy duology where magic is both celebrated and feared, and no heart is left unscathed.

Startling and romantic?

I’m in.

The problem?

Everything I was excited about above was near non-existent and left me really really disappointed.

Allow me to explain step by step.

Magician Competition

First, the competition.

There is a competition. But Where Dreams Descend is a LONG book. My kindle estimated 9 1/2 hours to read (typical book is 7 hours).

The first level of the competition didn’t even hit until the 35% mark, a full 3 1/2 hours into the story.

Some of the most agonizing 3 1/2 hours I’ve ever read.

And when the competition finally rolled around?

Boy was it disappointing.

Kallia takes the whole competition with ease. The rest of the magicians are shams or birthday party level at best. The author glosses over every single competitor as boring.

Then Kallia takes the stage and she ignores all the requirements and pulls out a showstopping performance, which was interesting, but just not what I was looking for.

I was looking for equally talented, if not more talented competitors that force Kallia to get crafty and use whit to outsmart them. But nope. Kallia is OP (overpowered) and wholly uninteresting because of it.

From what I can see of the story and where it’s going, the book isn’t about the competition at all, despite the blurb misleading me to believe it is.

Three Powerful Characters

Kallia is about what you’d expect from reading the blurb. She’s the primary character who this story revolves around.

She’s beautiful, witty, and powerful.

But the other two. smh.

Remember, I didn’t finish Where Dreams Descend, so I’m sure there’s more too them, but I don’t have the patience to find out.

I thought Jack was going to be super interesting at first.

Kallia is basically held prisoner by Jack in the first 5 chapters of the book. She tries to escape and he recaptures her and steals her memories so she doesn’t remember trying to escape.

Then he crafts believable illusions. Full on people that care for and teach Kallia. But they aren’t real, none of her meaningful friendships are real, because they’re fake people.

Now doesn’t this sound like an interesting situation? I was so intrigued.

But Kallia escapes on her second attempt and Jack doesn’t pursue her. Which I felt was pretty lame.

For the next 15 chapters, Jack is non-existent in the story. That’s where I quit reading.

Demarco has the makings of an interesting character, but the story was simply progressing far too slowly.

The scenes are wordy and drawn out.

I just couldn’t take it anymore. We weren’t moving fast enough, and there seems to be little point to the story. The one thing I was holding out for (the competition) was a huge let down, so I gave up.

Mystery and Romance

I love a good surprising plot line and an interesting romance subplot.

Unfortunately, at 35% into the story, Where Dreams Descend hinted at neither.

There’s plenty of unanswered questions of course, but I have no desire to find out the answers. There’s nothing pulling me into this story. Nothing compelling me to hang in there and keep reading.

It’s taken me six days. SIX DAYS to get to 35%. By comparison, I can read a book in 3 days average.

I just can’t devote any more of my precious reading time to a book that is wholly uninteresting.

Final Thoughts

The true story in Where Dreams Descend seems to be wrapped around the city Glorian.

Why is it isolated in the middle of an enchanted wood that does everything it can to steer people away? Why is it cold and icy? Why is it basically a dead town, but people still live there? What is this circus? Why are magicians disappearing? And what does Jack have to do with all of this? What’s up with Demarco and his past and is it related to Glorian?

Where Dreams Descend is NOT about a magical competition and it is NOT about Kallia growing into her powers and showing the world a female can be a magician.

Both were my highest expectations for this book, and both fell far below what I wanted.

As with all books I DNF, I’ll not provide a star rating. For the purposes of NetGalley, where a star rating is required, I'll assign it 3 stars as I didn't think the book was bad or poorly written, just not for me.

Where Dreams Descend is touted as a book similar to Phantom of the Opera or Moulin Rouge!

If you like either of those movies, you may enjoy Where Dreams Descend.

Overall, I thought this book was great. After getting approved, I couldn't wait to get started on this book and I finished it very fast. I'm so lucky I got a copy of this. This book featured complex characters and a very captivating plot. No matter what part I was at in this book, I couldn't wait to dig deeper. One thing that I liked was that everyone had their flaws. Not a single character was perfect or stereotypical and I loved that so much. I'd never really read a book like this before but I'm so glad I got to read this one. The magic system of "born or acquired" and the deep pasts of the main characters along with the looming shadows of their pasts made for an amazing story. The romance never felt forced and impacted the plot, not just appeased the readers. I eagerly await the sequel.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys something revolving around entertainment. The female lead is a talented dancer and magician, and a wonderful artist. The fantasy elements flowed smoothly throughout the story so naturally I would recommend this to others who've read the genre too.

I loved this book, but I wouldn't give it a perfect review. I think it was executed to the best of the author's (Janella Angeles) ability, but it left something to be desired. This book was as good as it could be for how it was written, but I do feel like it could've been improved upon.

I’ve recently become obsessed with all things about the circus, and have been reading any books I can find that have to do with the circus. I am surprised at how unique they all have been. They have all been wonderful in their own way!
Where Dreams Descend was absolutely magical. I couldn’t read it fast enough! I absolutely loved the world this author created! I can not wait to read the part of this duology! I can not wait for more!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

This book was pitched as The Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge, but I would also add The Prestige. The story has a bit of a love triangle but I’m not mad at it, I think the love triangle in this was helpful. I loved the way the story was told and how it was set up, it was dark, mysterious, and intriguing. With wonderful world building and the pacing was great for most of the book, I would say it was a little slow in the beginning because of all of the mystery. And the characters were amazing because you can relate to them and they were so interesting. There is more to them than meets the eye that you will discover in this book and then much later in the next book. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I think this will be in my top ten books of this year.

Firestorm, Kallia escapes from her nightly performance to try life on her own terms in the city of Glorian, a chilling place shrouded in mystery and intrigue. She draws upon her magic to put on a show, earning herself a spot as the only woman in the competition, overcoming self doubt, fear, and the predatory Jack from whom she escaped. The magic is mesmerizing and love starts to simmer while mysterious deaths start off as a countdown of sorts and the mystery builds along with the tension. This series will delight fans of Caraval and it builds a fantasy world of dreams and nightmares, but the kind you want to tell others about because they keep you poised, waiting for more.

This was a spur of the moment read and I absolutely loved it! This story was exciting and the plot was never ending. I love stories that keep you engaged throughout the whole book. I also really enjoyed the main characters. I will be purchasing this book for my libraries YA collection.