The Good:
The Court of Miracles was by far my favorite part. I'm a sucker for organized crime and put it in 1800's Paris, I'm sold. I loved the careful navigating required to prevent a war and the bending of the Law to suit a purpose. I was most intrigued by the Assassins Guild naturally and would have loved to have seen more of them.

The Not So Good:
Things seemed a little too easy for Nina all the time for my taste. Whether or not she'll be successful isn't ever called into question. I didn't particularly care for the big jump in time either. A lot seemed to happen in that time that left some character development to be desired.

With tweaks, this has the potential to be a 4.5+ star book and I'll definitely read the sequel!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

I got about 70% through it before i stopped. I didn't quite get what was happening or the motives of the main character. I thought the prose was beautiful though!

So I was disappointed in this book. There was nothing really wrong with it overall, but I just had really high expectations for it and it really just fell flat for me. I was confused a lot by the events taking place, I couldn't keep up with what was going on! Things kind of jumped around for me, and I also kept getting the names of the characters mixed up a lot. I also felt that the writing wasn't drawing me in, so I would find myself getting really distracted and I really had to push myself to read this book. I just couldn't keep focused in this book for very long. I definitely want to check out Grant's future work, but sadly this particular book just didn't hit the spot for me.

Overall this was a really cool read that I was not expecting .While there were nods to Les Mis, this was 100% something completely it's own, full of plot twists and violence, all kinds of darkness and betrayal, surprises I never saw coming. I am super surprised to say that while this was a VERY dark book/plot (with human trafficking, abuse, child abuse, drug use, slavery, death, torture, starvation...just to name a few of the topics) I was not dragged down into despair while reading, instead I was engaged and caught off guard most of the time, never knowing what would happen next.

The one downside to the story was the occasional awkward transitions in the book, where the book would jump ahead to two years later, or the main character would be somewhere new dealing with a new issue with no warning, which made me confused as to what was going on until I could put the pieces back together.

Don't expect a romance with this story (at least not in this book, fingers crossed for the next since there are plenty of eligible options!) but do expect a great and complicated revenge plot to fight for sisterly love! I thought this was a standalone book when I began it, but based on Goodreads and the left open ending there is more to come and I am so there for it.

3/5 stars

This fell in the middle of the road for me. The writing was decent and the plot was good. My major annoyance was some of the characters after so long there were parts to me that felt a little repetitive. I'll admit I was entertained by the story. I could see people absolutely loving this, it has that potential. Like I said before it was just alright for me, but if the synopsis calls to you I would highly advise picking it up and giving it a chance.

I was given this book from the publisher through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

And honestly, I loved it!

Kester brilliantly writes this dystopian Paris into existence. They brilliantly give you a great overview of each house in the miracle court but not so much that you wouldn't enjoy learning more.

They brilliantly build up the characters giving them constant build up. Developing them so you fall in love with them more as you go.

It has a great pace, with a to die for plot. It never slows or becomes too dull.

Nina it's strong, independent and masterfully manipulative. I am dying to see where this is going bc you know it's gonna be awesome.

This is, by far, the best book I have read of 2020! It is a "sort of" retelling of Les Miserables but considering I have yet to read Les Miserables, none of the storyline was familiar to me. For once, I'm glad I have never read Les Miserables or seen the movie. The story was well-told and I love Nina aka The Black Cat as the protagonist. The book's characters were developed well and the storyline flowed very well. This book kept me fully engaged and was a real page-turner. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this ARC..

I enjoyed this one and commend the author for trying to retell an epic novel. Overall I appreciated a lot of elements of the story. I did think there were some slow parts, especially in the second half. Numbers wise this was 3.5 for me but I’ll round up for here.

*Think more Les Miserables retelling not so much Six of Crows and you’ll enjoy it more.

i was given this ARC for honest review and opinion from netgalley and publisher

i have never read anything by this author and i'm not big into YA but wanted to give this a try. i was drawn by the description and cover of the book and thought i was going to enjoy it.
i found that i did not particularly like the book...the writing and plot were good but there was something about it that i did not get involved in when reading.
there was a lot of hype regarding this book and im not sure really what it was all about.
i'm not sure i will be continuing to read this series

What attracted me first was the wonderful cover and title. Inside was a wonderfully realized world of early 19th century France and all its intrigue. I loved this novel and dearly hope for a sequel sometime in the near future. Highly recommended.

This was such an interesting plot yall!
I loved the different courts and rebellion. i was never bored in this story and loved seeing our characters arc change through out the story to fight for what she believes even if she is the only one thinking that way. the ending blew my mind and i seriously cannot wait for book two

I enjoyed this so much. Enough to the point where I read the whole thing in a span of 6-7 hours. The characters were so fun to read about, and seeing Nina’s journey in how much she loves and cares for Ettie. I’m very excited to see where the next book will take us.

*Note: This was received as an arc through Netgalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Honestly, I DNFed this book at like 14% and that was a bummer as I really wanted to enjoy it. The alternative-historical setting is fascinating and fun, there's already a number of interesting characters I wanted to know better, and the story did start flowing pretty decently at a certain point. It's just that the copy I received was an unedited arc, and I was struggling a lot with the writing early on and wasn't sure if it was just the way the author wrote or related to it being unedited. I powered through a bit though as the story started to just flow for me which was promising so I thought maybe we were over the hurdle. Until we come to a time jump and learn that the main character has a made a choice that left me feeling deeply, deeeply uncomfortable. And I just felt like it's not a decision the main character would make especially as another character that was important to her would not have approved. And that was where I decided to DNF. Perhaps, in future I'll give this book another shot, but for the time being I just. . . I'm not interested in finishing it.

Marketed as a take on Les Mis??? Sign me up! The concept of this book was something I never knew I wanted. I practically listen to the soundtrack of Le Mis everyday as I'm studying, making me all the more excited and anxious to read this book. Anticipation was high.

This book is very bold in its scope, spinning together a retelling that still stays true to the original, while adding fantastical elements against the backdrop of the French Revolution. The premise was great, but I honestly felt that it was lacking in execution. Initially, I absolutely loved the world-building, from the factions of magic, to the law. Simply put, it was fun. The magic system Kester Grant is clearly defined, and when new elements were brought up, it added to what was already fleshed out, rather than confusing the reader. But what I did have an issue was the pacing, which was very inconsistent. There was so much time spent building something that attributed to nothing, and when the resolution came about, it sped through everything too quickly to process. It often felt like Grant was assuming the reader would just make all the connections themselves, which to me, felt a little lazy. Now, I'm all for sprinkling a couple of clues here and there to make the reader feel like they're in on the storytelling, but combined with the already fast pacing, it was too much.

As for the Les Mis connection, I actually liked it quite a lot. The references in the beginning of the book were great, and it was nice to see Grant give well known characters gender-bent identities. Small quotes here and there were perfect in setting off that little bell of recognition in my head, without pulling away from the story line. It really helped to put a unique spin to the story. But the second half is where it drifted apart. The climax of Les Mis and other iconic points fell to the background of the story, which is totally understandable because this book is focusing on Eponine's story. BUT..... compared to the first half, it was like a 180, and I just wished there was a little more. Some of the key moments were there, but they felt like they were added halfheartedly, for posterity's sake.

That being said, I won't be rushing out on release day to read the sequel, but who knows? Maybe I'll give it a shot when I need something to read.

An ambitious and unique premise spread too thin and bogged down by a recycling of Les Miserables characters and themes. I was intrigued by the politics and drama of the Court, but couldn't get over the lack of characterization and not being able to visualize one character from another (a personal pet peeve of mine as a character driven reader). The narrative structure was episodic with large gaps of time in between, which only enforced the distance I felt as a reader to the characters. Most of the time I felt out of the loop and unable to connect to any of the secondary characters. I wish it didn't incorporate Les Mis so literally and adapted a more subtle approach, because it really had enough unique elements on its own to be successful. For some reason incorporating the characters from an old classic felt cheap and unsatisfying.

Overall, I'd recommend reading if you're a big fan of Les Mis interested in a reimagining.

Thank you to netgalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

While I really enjoyed this one it also did not live up to its potential. 

With her debut novel The Court of Miracles Kester Grant weaves a unique retelling of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. I loved the characters, the stories, almost everything about this book. I'm really looking forward to the next book and I'm also hopeful Grant will write a novella or 4 for this series. 

But so many things were glossed over and underdeveloped. This should have been 2 or even 3 books in my opinion if Grant had gone into more detail about some of the events, and nearly all of the characters and their relationships with each other. There's so much happening and for most of her story Grant doesn't give nearly enough detail about what's happening, why it's happening, who the key players are and their relationship with one another. Because of this skimming over I never really connected with any of the characters or what they were going through. I liked them, but I wasn't invested in what was happening on the pages.  

However, despite the whole book being underdeveloped I did in the end enjoy the story and I do think it is a fun, intriguing book. My only real dislike with this book is the romantic relationships of the main character. 

Nina, the main character, has not 1, not 2, but 3 potential romantic relationships in this book. An assassin, a revolutionary, and a prince. I just...why? Because these characters, including Nina at times, are so underdeveloped, these romantic relationships all feel very superficial and unnecessary. 

The reader is given so little information about these three boys that even they can't decide on who they think Nina should pick. These relationships are just so poorly developed. 

Anyways. I really did enjoy this book. But it just did not live up to its potential. And I really do think it could have been split into 2 or even 3 books had Grant developed the story and the characters more and had gone into more detail.

The Court Of Miracles by Kester Grant is a young adult fantasy take on Les Miserables (is this a new trend by the way?). Of course, I was IMMEDIATELY intrigued. After all, Les Miserables is one of my favorite classics – even getting through the Waterloo bit. I get excited when there is a fresh voice and twist to the classics.

The Court Of Miracles is about Eponine (Nina) Thernadier. The year is 1828. The story diverges from reality and the classic, as in this story the French Revolution has failed. France is ruled by royalty and the streets are run by nine guilds. Of course, Nina is part of the thieves guild. If you know the original story this should not come as a shock to you. Cosette (Etti) catches the eye of Tiger who runs the Flesh Guild. And so, Nina must reach out to the Death Guild for help. She’s got some big choices to make in this story.

Honestly, I wish I had read a physical copy of The Court Of Miracles instead. It is very grand in scale and I just kept getting confused during the audiobook. I listened because I am trying my damnedest to get through my TBR and this book was available via Libby. I listened varying between 1x speed, 1.25x and 1.5x speed. At times it feels so slow paced. Then there’s some interesting twists that I missed out on the context because I zoned out during the slower parts. The audiobook is narrated by Ajjaz Awad and John Lee. I did like that there were two narrators – one for the interspersed information documents about the guild – John Lee and the other for the actual story part – Ajjaz Awad. I think both narrators did do a fine job. Personally, I am just out of practice listening to speculative fiction audiobooks.

I am not sure yet if I’ll pick up the sequel or not when the time comes. Overall, I want to be hopeful. However, you know the saying – so many books, so little time.

Okay.
First of all, I'm not really sure why so many people are comparing this to Les Miserables, because other than the names of the characters and the fact that it's set in historic France, this book wasn't really anything like Les Mis.

I should have known to be skeptical.

That's not to say the story wasn't good. In fact, I actually really enjoyed the plot. It was fast-paced, interesting, and clever. I liked the different Courts, and there was a fair amount of action scenes to keep me entertained.

There were just a few things that bothered me:

a) there were so many time hops. Seriously. In one chapter, it would be a certain time, and then in the next chapter, the main character Nina would casually say, "I've spent two years trying to _______ since _______ happened." And the event that she was referring to was the same event that happened in the previous chapter. It was so confusing. Sometimes I had no idea how much time had actually passed or what was going on.

b) 3 love interests. Need I say more?

c) I was not a huge fan of Nina. I don't feel like she went through a lot of character development. For a main character, she felt pretty flat.

Overall, this was a great debut novel. It was a quick read with an engaging plot. For the reasons listed above, I think it missed the mark of being a five-star read.

I wasn't as in love with this story as I wanted to be.

The story itself held my interest fairly easily, but the pace moved so quickly and conveniently. Something wild would happen and then right away it's fixed, forgotten, and we have moved on to something else.

I wasnt as in love with any of the characters either. I found the MC hard to feel any emotions for and therefore just did not care about what happened to her.

I can see why people would enjoy this story, it has a great concept, but at the end of the day, it must not have been for me.

(From Instagram @between.these.paiges) The Court of Miracles was billed as mix of Les Miserables and Six of Crows and while I've never read (or watched) Les Mis, I do feel like it lived up to what I expected in that regards.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
It was a quick read with a compelling main character. The writing was very poetic, so I feel like I have to be in a certain mood to read it but overall, I definitely enjoyed this one and if the plot sounds interesting to you, make sure to pick it up!⁠⠀

To Add--My true rating for this book is 3.5 stars, primarily because of the writing. It was poetic and beautiful but at times did get to be a bit much. However, I'm a fan of more direct writing and this could very well be something that makes it 5 stars for you.