Nina’s life had basically just started when her father sells her older sister to one of the most notorious guilds in all of France: The Guild of Flesh. At only nine, Nina’s only sibling, Zelle completely changes Nina’s appearance so that she will resemble a boy, and casts her off to a friend who will deliver her to another guild: one that has the power to protect her. As her time with the Guild of Thieves grows, Nina never forgets her sister, but when the Master of the Guild of Flesh casts his eye on a younger girl that Nina has taken in as her own, Nina makes it her mission to stop him.
The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant is a book that sets it’s tone incredibly well; readers will venture out with Nina and a variety of other casts of characters to the seedy underbelly of an alternate France, one in which the French Revolution was not successful. The detail in which Grant writes definitely leaves one tasting the smog and feeling the grit of Nina’s world. The cast of characters is also something of interest: while members of different guilds all vary in their characteristics and races, we also see diversity displayed in class; Nina manages to become acquaintances with all manner of people, including the prince.
The weak points of the novel can simply be contributed to the lack of pages. Over the course of the novel, we have three age jumps in Nina, and her age isn’t the only characteristic that changes in her. Nina’s personality is also hard to follow, as she’s constantly changing her ambition and motives throughout the novel. Perhaps if the novel was spaced out a bit more and gave us more character growth, the novel itself would be easier to follow. As is currently, the fact that Nina ages from nine to eighteen over the period of around four hundred pages makes it difficult to relate to her. This is a novel that seems like it should be divided even further into three separate novels, but instead feels like we got three, half finished novels all shoved into one book.

I tried so hard to like this book. The different courts I thought were cool but the whole story just felt rushed and pieces together. The main character didn’t have many consequences to anything and seemed to never get caught or get in any real danger.

I struggled the last half of the book and St. Juste and her connection was not that’s trying at all for a romance interest.

There was a lot going on in this book. It was an enjoyable read and kept my attention! At first it was hard for me to grasp the concept of the different courts but once I understood what the author was trying to accomplish with the society I fell right into the story.

Yeah. I said it. I think that The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant just might be better than Les Misérables, of which it is a feminist reimagining. There are so many twists of the original story that are exciting and give the story a freshness to it without detracting from Hugo's masterpiece. Plus, there are some sly nods to key aspects of the original, as well as the musical, which are more than a little amusing when spotted.

First and foremost, The Court of Miracles is a female-strong story. Ms. Grant gives the tragic figure of Eponine a makeover, not only by making her the heroine but also by making her strong, clever, and fearless; in fact, she accomplishes things no one else is able to accomplish. Ms. Grant also makes Cosette more than a pretty face by giving her a backbone. Javert is now a woman. There is no love interest. Valjean's identity will surprise you. Plus, Ms. Grant includes the stealing of the bread, the silver candlesticks, and a little fall of rain - just not in any way you would expect.

Better yet, there is a fascinating criminal world hierarchy at the heart of The Court of Miracles that oddly makes sense. You see such things in other novels about criminal activity and its need to organize in order to avoid mass arrests and disruption by the police, but here we get the history, the exact organization, the rules and regulations of the hierarchy, and the reasons for all of it. The details are outstanding and add to the richness of the story.

I would love to describe The Court of Miracles as a romp but while I found the entire story highly entertaining, it is not nearly light-hearted enough to be able to call it a romp. Make no mistake, the story is dark and violent, involving mature themes and may require trigger warnings in very sensitive readers. However, with its clever nods to Hugo's story, the great characters, and its well-written storyline, I cannot recommend it highly enough as an escapist summer read.

The Court of Miracles held such potential for me. The cover is awesome; the synopsis was intriguing. Unfortunately, the delivery fell short.

I am not certain if I struggled due to my lack of knowledge of Les Mis, or just because there was so much going on within the novel and the gaps in time, that I found myself often confused and uncertain

Overall intriguing but I think there were some gaps, hopefully I can catch up with a potential 2nd book

The perfect book for all fans of Les Misérables. The book follows a story of Eponine (Nina), a young girl who was forced to become a member of the court of Thieves to stay safe and away from the cruel lord Tiger. From this time, she dedicates her life to revenge on him for taking her sister away. It’s a dangerous game but it doesn’t stop her. Nina was always an underrated character for me. Thankfully, in this book, she gets attention her character deserves. She had her ups and downs but in the end, she showed how courageous, powerful, and caring she is. I admired the way of her development throughout the book. From a little scared girl, she grew up into a strong and smart woman. She has something in herself that makes people like and trust her. She tries to push everyone away but instead, it makes them want to be closer.

Ettie (Cossette) is a young girl who’s the next girl in Nina’s life who gets attention from Tiger. She is very naïve and doesn’t know what it means for her. However, Nina won’t let him take away from her another person she cares about. Nina is the only person she has, and she treats her like a sister. I think she trusts people too fast and the only thing she looks for in life is to find love for Nina. She is very young so it’s understandable, but I felt so bad for her because at such a young age she needs to fight for her life without even doing anything bad.

This retelling was very fascinating. The author t0ok us into the world of the secretive courts of criminals based in Paris. They are commanded by their powerful lords. Each court is specified in different art like thievery, smuggler, poisoning, assassination, and many others. They live under different rules than other French people. Members are protected by their lords, but it doesn’t make their lives any less dangerous. Nina endangers her life every day, especially after she was trying to save Ettie from Tiger’s hands. I feel like she was never scared for her life. She put herself into situations no one would just to keep her away from him.

On her way through life, she made very interesting relations with high positioned people like a prince of France, leader of the revolution, and master of assassins. She attracted them with her confidence but also her wisdom. However, I liked that the book didn’t include an actual romance in it. There was no place for that, but I feel the romance will start in the second book.

The ending of this book was very powerful showing strength of sisterhood. I was devastated by the twist in the plot, especially that everything was going already so well. However, without it, it wouldn’t make such a big impression on me.

I am very curious about what will be the second book about since I felt that this story got into the end. I hope it will be as good as the first one. I’m looking forward to reading it as soon as it will be released. I would like to thank NetGalley, FFBC and Kester Grant for including me on this tour and for providing me with a copy of this amazing book! I’m a huge fan of the story and I’m happy to spread a good word about it

I featured this title in a June roundup and will provide the details directly to the publisher in the next round of this review process

I'm sorry but I could not finish this book. I got 25% into it but was unable to focus on the story and while the characters were interesting, I really wasn't impressed with the main character. The storyline was jumpy and not easy to follow. I finally put it down around 35%. I know a lot of other reader like this or will like it, but it just didn't catch my attention.

I received an ARC copy via netgalley in exchange for a review.

It’s been a minute since I’ve been enthralled in a book. But the court of miracles changed that.

We are the wretched.

Nina’s dad is terrible and will do anything for coin. That’s how she winds up living an unconventional life that she never knew could exist. When reading the description it claimed it was ‘six of crows meets les miserables’ and while I haven’t read the later, I have read the first. Thievery is involved. Revolutionary soldiers. A Dauphin (which I kept imagining dolphin, whoops) I cant say too much without giving parts of it away, because spoilers suck am I right?

Nina is strong, perseveres, and believes in keeping those she loves safe. She is good. But she is also... bad. Judgment comes for some and if that’s death, then who is Nina to stop it?

The Court of Thieves
The Ghosts
The Fleshers

This book has action and keeps your heart pumped. You’re yelling for Nina and those close to her to make it through and survive. Because all odds are forever always stacked against them, but somehow she makes it work. 100% would recommend.

1 STAR


Maybe if I knew more about Les Mis, I would have had a better time.


As The Court of Miracles is a retelling, I can at least count on the fact that some things escaped me. I know, I know, Les Mis is a big deal, how could I not have known more? But the point is, I was bored out of my mind reading this book, and I don't know if having a better understanding of the source material would have saved it.

For the most part, I felt that plot was prioritized far more over character, to the point that most relationships between characters felt shallow at best, lost in the swirl of forward motion, scheming, and questing for favors. Particularly discouraging was the way Nina seemed to lose sight of her sister for so very long, only to suddenly pivot back to her at the last second. Not only that, but the prospective love triangle appears to be between Nina, a revolutionary student too idealistic to see the faults in his plans, and a prince who is directly complicit in violently stamping out a revolution. In light of current events related to police brutality and the associated protests, I didn't have a great deal of tolerance for a book setting up a prince as a love interest despite his highly engineered slaughter of the people immediately beforehand. 

There are absolutely outside life factors affecting this review, but I think they're worth noting. If you're looking for a read where revolution works and oppressors aren't forgiven without proving true change, this probably isn't it. Maybe as the full trilogy unfolds, it could become that, but as things stand? I don't care for it right now, and I'm not sure when or if I will.

[This review will go live on Hail & Well Read at 10am EST on 6/9/20.]

The Court of Miracles is the complicated underworld of Paris years after the failed revolution (another alternative historical timeline!). The Court of Miracles is made up of the Wretched—the poor, castaways, and varied ethnic groups—who work through an underground network of guilds and their own set of laws to stay alive in a world that exists to benefit the French aristocracy and ignoring the hunger and needs of everyone else.

It was a good, fast paced, intriguing read with a large cast of characters (that was sometimes hard to keep track of) full of thievery and secrets. It’s a story of loyalty, love, and the determination to protect ones own.

If you enjoy Les Misérables, you'll enjoy The Court of Miracles. There are strands of the stories throughout with familiar faces (there are characters named Javert, Eponine, Cosette, Valjean, Thénardier), but TCOM is it's own story.

I also found it interesting that there really was a Court of Miracles in Paris, but it was the slum districts of Paris "where the unemployed migrants from rural areas resided" and the people of the court "were thought to have organized a counter-society devoted to crime and thievery with its own hierarchy and institutions." So interesting!

Thank you, Netgalley and Knopf Children's Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Court Of Miracles is the first book in The Court Of Miracles series. It is a Les Misérables retelling set in the alternate Paris of 1828. The French Revolution has failed and the country is divided into the self-serving and ruthless Royal family and a criminal network known as the Miracle Court. Miracle Court is made up of 9 underworld Guilds to protect the people of the country. If the idea of the network of criminals was expanded a little bit deeper it would be amazing. I felt that the lack of details and background info lessened the impact of the story. We follow our main character Eponine. Eponine or Nina is the cat burglar who gets the protection of the Thieves Guild after getting the Guild Lord an invaluable item from the Royal Palace. How she got the level of skills to be one of the best thieves is beyond me. Adding a little backstory of her life and training would have been great.. I felt there were a lot of elements that were told and not shown in this story. I felt a disconnect with the characters because of the telling and not enough showing. I think the Les Misérables aspect of the story was well done, with the dark theme and grittiness of the Paris setting maintained throughout the story. They were maintained wonderfully. Although there were some drawbacks to the execution of the great idea of Guilds, it was still enjoyable and fun. I am looking forward to reading the next books in the series and I am excited to see how the story will progress. I gave the book 3.75 stars.

I absolutely could not wait to read this book, as Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories of all time. It’s been probably 25 years since I’ve read the book (a re-read is clearly overdue!), but I regularly listen to the original Broadway cast recording. I was actually going to *finally* see the musical in person on March 14 this year, and then…coronavirus hit. So I was thrilled to get my hands on this book to fill that void, and boy was I not disappointed!

Eponine has always been my favorite character from the story, and I firmly believe she got the short end of the stick. So to find a book in which Eponine is the star – and what a star she is! – was just the thing I needed. I loved meeting all the characters from </i>Les Mis</i> in this alternate history retelling, and every time we’d meet a new one, their song would pop in my head :) The alternate version of 1820s Paris that Ms. Grant has created, with the Wretched of the Court of Miracles plus the student revolutionaries plus the royal family in the palace combining into one action-packed story, is just incredible, and I seriously need more. I both raced through the book and tried to slow down and savor it so it wouldn’t end too quickly. I truly cannot wait to get my hands on the next book in the series, and I already know this is going to be one of my favorite series of all time.

I encourage anyone who loves historical fiction, alternate history, retellings, and most definitely Les Mis to snatch up this book and read it asap – and then hit me up so we can discuss all the goodness!

Rating: 5 glorious stars!

**Disclosure: I received an early e-copy of this book for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part and reflects my honest rating and review of the book.

Full review to post on
Librariumdream.blogspot.com 6/10

The Court of Miracles is a mix of underground politics and choosing true family over blood.

I adored the setting of an alternate Paris if the revolution failed. My connection with Nina was a slow build but I appreciated her passion.

A hard part for me was the timeline, it seemed only days had passed for some events but others time jumped ahead a year. That part was the most difficult part to follow.

Overall the storyline of a new revolution and destroying a corrupt society was right up my alley.

DNF @ 61%

I really, really wanted to like this. With its stunning cover and intriguing blurb, I thought it would be so easy to fall in love with this one. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

I felt so lost and disinterested reading this. I felt like I was thrown right in the middle of the story and I never had the chance to catch up. Nina went from no one to someone badass and I had no idea how that even happened? She infiltrated the supposed impenetrable palace with no one the wiser and that was it. She's this legend. I didn't even care enough about what happened to Ettie. The Miracle Court and its Guilds seemed interesting. At first. For the first few pages. But nothing solid happened to keep up the intrigue. It's so frustrating when I lost interest because this honestly felt like something I would've loved.

I received an e-arc to read and review.

When I read that this book is “Les Misérables meets Six of Crows” I knew I had to read it.

Nina joins the Guild of Thieves. She was raised to pick locks with ease. Nina decides to make a trade to save her sister, but doesn’t have the heart to make the trade. From there she sets out on a mission to save the sister she grew up with and the sister she took in.

I loved that Nina is driven by love for her sisters and that Paris is the backdrop of this story. From the catacombs to the Seine, the city of Paris truly becomes an additional character in this story. Readers will definitely eagerly turn each page.

This young adult book was a fun story. I enjoyed it. There was a lot going on in the story that kept everything moving quickly. The story focused on Nina, a member of the Guild of Theives and her attempts at keeping her adopted sister safe from the man who took her older sister years earlier. Luckily we are saved from the typical YA trope of love triangles and love interests in general.

Wonderful storyline and very interesting characters. There were some issues with certain scenes being rushed but in the end it was a great book.

This book was wonderful!! It definitely reminded me of Six of Crows and I am always in the mood for books like this. I can’t wait for the next book in this series!

this was good! it wasn't perfect, but i really enjoyed it! my rating might be more of a 3.5, but i'm not sure i liked it enough to round up to 4 stars. my two biggest issues were with the plot and the pacing

plot-wise, things just felt very clunky to me. there were a number of parts where scenes just felt smushed together and it didn't really flow into one another and i would be left like "wait, what?". like most, if not all, of the chapters were broken down into smaller separated scenes that just led to confusing timeskips. idk if it was me or the book, but there were a lot of times where i had to go back and read a page because i didn't understand what was happening. i get that this is a les mis retelling of sorts, which is quite the chunky novel, but i'm confused as to why most of the events of les mis happened in this first novel of a trilogy? maybe i'm remembering the story wrong, idk.

the pacing might also be a "me" issue, and not the book's fault, idk, but it was a struggle to get through the middle of this book. i was intrigued for the first 25% or so, and then hooked toward the ending, but the middle was rough.

overall, this was a fairly solid novel. i think the world is very interesting - i'm confused about some parts but hopefully things get explained more in the subsequent books, which i'm definitely interested in picking up in the future. although i hate that every other book is being compared to Six of Crows, if you liked that one and like les mis, you'll probably like this one!