I finished the first book and went right into this one afterwards. I was not crazy about When Dreams Descend but then decided to give the second one a chance. I just could not get into it and eventually just did not finish it.

I love the setting of this series and the characters are great. I was immediately intrigued by the new characters introduced in this book. I enjoyed the answers that were revealed to the questions from the first book though there were still a few things I was left wondering about. That said it was still a very satisfying read and I greatly enjoyed the ending.

This is the conclusion to the Kingdom of Cards duology, and it was a really good sequel. I didn’t love this book as much as I did the first because for me the story wasn’t as engaging, it didn’t have me on the edge of my seat. But the plot had a lot of strong moments especially in Kallia’s chapters because it was set somewhere new. The world building was really good, but I wish there was more because the new setting was really intriguing. There was also more tension in those moments where you can feel for her and the other characters. As for the characters I personally didn’t like Kallia as much as I did in the first book, while the side characters I liked a lot more including the side characters. Also, those other characters including Daron went through a lot of emotional growth in this book that I wished I also saw in Kallia. Also, for the romance for me lacked a lot in this book because Kallia and Daron were mostly apart. And the ending, while it was good I kind of wanted something more.

This is the follow-up book in the duet to Where Dreams Descend. The story picks up shortly after where the first book left reader hanging desperately to the edge of a cliffhanger wondering what happened to Kallia and Jack, how would the others be even able to save them, and is there even a chance to save Eva.

The good news is that the author does a brilliant job of tying up all those worries, all the while keeping the reader entertained with delightful characters and ingeniously creative scenes that truly bring the imagination to the forefront. As Kallia and Jack are forced to work together to free themselves from the mirror realms and Demarco frantically searches for his lost sister (all the while longing and thinking of Kallia), the author takes us on an adventure as they explore ethereal beauty of illusions and are confronted with the great truths it may hide, but will always demand to be seen. Characters great and small are forced to look into themselves to see if theycan face that truth, that ugliness they hide.

Though it may start out slow, it picks up and soon becomes a story I couldn't put down.

** Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to leave an honest review in exchange of a copy of this book **

I must admit the book started off a little slow. I think there was necessary world building to continue the story. A quarter of the way through it gets fast and faster till the end is warp speed. I need time to digest the end but I think when I do it is perfect. The beauty of this story is that it does and does not go the way you think it would or should. I'm glad this story was only over 2 books. I'm not sure I could have waited for another. I really enjoyed this read and look forward to more from Janella Angeles.

magic, love triangle, long lost family members, and another world, this book has it all. after the cliff hanger of the first book (was seriously left with my mouth HANGING open when I read the last few pages) I was so excited to get an advanced copy of this beautiful novel.

I think that it’s hard to follow up a book like WHERE DREAMS DESCEND, but this book two did the characters and storyline so much justice I loved it. most of my love of book one was the chemistry between Daron and Kallia so I was hesitant when I realized the two would not be with each other for a majority of the plot. I was very pleasantly surprised that the distance made the characters other relationships even more important and connected me to the world even more.

I definitely recommend this duology to fans of CARAVAL and The Greatest Showman. book two has even more Moulin Rouge vibes than book one which was also SO lovely and cozy. a really great fall read if you enjoy fantastical atmospheres.

Thank you Wednesday Books for the ARC of this book!

This book brings all the things people loved in the first - the atmosphere, the romance, the mystery. Unfortunately, it fell just a little flat for me.

I loved being able to see Malice, Ruthless, and Vain. I felt like they added so much to the story, and it was the history I was missing from book 1. The magic was still spectacular and I loved diving back into that world. Jacks character development was also a huge plus for this book. He might be my favorite. We saw in book 1 that there was going to be more to his story, and I appreciated seeing it here in book 2!

I really think one of the reasons I didn't love it as much as the first was because we were missing the connection between Daron and Kallia until close to the end, and separately they're not as fun to read. Kallia was a different character in this book, and while it's totally understandable with everything she's been through, she felt a bit unlikeable.

That said, book two wrapped up the duology well, leaving us with just enough questions to keep it in our minds.

After absolutely adoring Where Dreams Descend, I have been eagerly anticipating the sequel. I love how fiery, talented, and ambitious Kallia is. And in When Night Breaks, Angeles has the characters re-evaluating what they want and their future. It's glorious and glittering. Keep reading this book review for my full review. When Night Breaks is a sequel about shadows, secrets, and magic. It explores whether we can ever escape. Whether choices made without information are free. And what would happen if we chose to remain. Angeles' second book is full of characters playing with the line between illusions and perception. Of us (re)defining what we think of ourselves. Like Where Dreams Descend, When Night Breaks has magic, performance, and danger

The book continues after the end of the first book in this duology by Janella Angeles. As the heroine wanders through a new world she had fallen, her love interest also is trying to find the heroine and his sister. As they go through their own dangerous journey, they encounter obstacles that will determine their destinies.

The first book of the duology should be read before this book. This brings more facets to the main characters as they strive to overcome what they are facing in their individual journey as well as when they gather together at the second half of the book. Though this book brought resolutions to some unanswered questions in the first book, as a personal reference the book still have some missing information that would have been nice to be added in the story. Some characters brought a strong image in this book while other ones were disappointingly flat. The world of magic and illusions are strong, expanded in this second book. Overall, it's a nice read of a fantastical world that Janella Angeles created.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**

Wowowowowowow!
I was dying for another carnival themed book after Caraval and this series delivered!!!! I was hooked from book 1 and book 2 gave me what I wanted. If you want a gorgeous, atmospheric book for the autumnal season then look no further!
Thank you so much to St Martins for this book!

When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles is an atmospheric novel picking up after the Spectaculore comes to an end in the first book of the series. However, the stakes are just as high as when Kallia, Jack, and Glorian find themselves in a world filled with mirrors that plays tricks with their minds. Will they make it out of the darkness and will Daron be reunited with Kallia if she escapes?

First off, the cover is stunning with such vivid colors that capture your attention. Similarly, the mood of this novel is captivating, with an immersive atmosphere that sucks you in from the start. I found the world of mirrors to be dangerously intoxicating, so curious on what this world is like, but tense with anticipation. Kallia's complicated relationship with Jack also adds to this tension as she can't trust him, but still must rely on him.

Speaking of Jack, I enjoyed getting to learn more about Jack and his motivations for his actions from the previous book in the series. Jack is a complex character as he has some good motivations, but not in all circumstances. As for Kallia, you can clearly see how she has grown since the previous book and she is not a simple girl, but instead is clever since she knows so many aspects of this new world are an illusion. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and felt completely drawn into the story, highly recommend!

Many thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

What I loved
- JACK JACK JACK even when I hate him, he keeps me guessing
- Introduction of new characters
- a more ruthless and dangerous energy throughout, the gloves come off and the stakes are raised
- Hadestown retelling/Orpheus and Eurydice
- Continued focus on magic and performances
- Foreshadowing, plot twists, and lyrical story telling
- this book made me FEEL things

What I missed
- the tension and romance of Kallia and Daron
- updates on characters from book one
- development of side characters
- some plot points jump with little explanation, making it a bit confusing

Overall, regardless of wanting a bit more, this book left me a mess and I will continue to be in awe of the show stopping story!

I was so disappointed in this book. I loved the first book -- gave it 5 stars and actually reread it in preparation for this one and still loved it -- and was really looking forward to this one, but it fell flat.

The editing was atrocious, and the writing not much better. I realize it was an arc, but it should have had *some* editing at that point. There was no reason for it to be littered with sentence fragments, missing words, jumbled phrases, and sentences that jammed together clauses that started with 'while' and followed with 'though.'

It didn't help that it was a mess of illusions and memories and not knowing what was going on. None of the characters knew, which of course left me with no idea at all. It was a confusing mess to wade through and by a quarter of the way through I was done. It didn't help that I was just bored -- there was nothing to keep me interested. The characters were unlikeable and the plot was... rather like staring down at a shattered mirror where every shard showed a piece of a different image.

edit: I went back to this to see if it would become more interesting and it did.... sort of. I read a bit and then began skimming and gave up again at 7o% . I still don't care enough to read to the end. Things are too jumbled and confusing for it to come to a satisfactory ending.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an e-arc for review.

Was unaware that this was a sequel when I started reading, so I didn't finish in order to fully enjoy the first one! However the writing was strong and the characters were interesting so I look forward to exploring this world in the right order soon

Myth: 3/5

After the show stopping conclusion to Where Dreams Descend, Kallia is thrown into the mirror and Daron is left to pick up the pieces in the true world. I thought the characters had sizzling chemistry together, but being separated for over half of the book took away from a little of the magic for me.

Kallia had to face her demons or devils in the mirror world, I did appreciate that she had a lot to overcome, but in the mirror world she seemed so much more off-kilter, she didn’t have that lethal confidence that she brought to the magician’s competition in the first book.

Though Jack became a more central character, with curious motivations, I couldn’t get fully behind his character arc.

Magic: 3.5/5

Much of the atmospheric magic continued to be quite lyrical.

“Just because it couldn’t be did not make it untrue.”

This quote, though late in the book, definitely summarized the magical mood.

Overall: 3/5

When Night Breaks brought Kallia and Demarco’s story to a satisfying close. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief with the characters as their journey’s ended even if I didn’t get to experience my favorite parts of their characters as much in this installment.

When books are often compared to established pieces of media, they hold the promise of being as good as them, and Janella Angeles did not disappoint when her Kingdom of Cards duology met with the expectations that came with being compared as a cross of Moulin Rouge and Phantom of the Opera.

I find it always hard to get aquainted to a new world and system of magic as most books have been similar in ways that they're hard to separate one from the other, but Janella's expert hands in writing this duology have made her books distinctive enough through its complex characters tangled in this intricate web of mystery and deceit, which closely reminded me of Christopher Nolan's characters from The Prestige. More so, the descriptive stage performances that made me feel like I'm seeing them through the eyes of her characters' audience were so impressive that I had to pause reading some of those parts out of nostalgia and remembrance from the personal experience of performing on stage in my high school and university years. It felt like every word pulled me into the fictional world of Glorian and that I belonged as one of its spectators too.

I guess what also makes this duology a genius craft by Janella is its subtle nods to Phantom of the Opera's dark and sensual tone and how elements from it were used as central figures to the duology: the mirrors, the chandelier, the manipulative, romantic anti-hero; they're all right there in its context and I love how she pulled these elements from a known classic and twisted them as her own to fit into her imaginative, fantasy novels.

All in all, the Kingdom of Cards duology by Janella Angeles delivered with a dazzling, show-stopping, and spellbinding story that shouldn't be missed by readers. Highly recommended for all!

When Night Breaks lures readers back into the spellbinding world of Where Dreams Descend, where illusion and reality bend and break together, crafting a finale full of shocking twists and turns.

I adored reading Where Dreams Descend and the intricate world Angeles created surrounded by magic, illusion, and romance. I found it mesmerizing how she developed the foundation she built in the first book into its sequel with more twisted games and warped realities.

While this story’s pacing is much slower than the first book, I did enjoy how the world and characters expanded into a larger, intense plot. I loved how the characters questioned everything, confronted their demons, and found their inner strength to stand up for themselves. (Also, Daron is still such an adorable cinnamon roll, and I love him!)

Overall, this series is so magical and the perfect read to escape into! Especially if you love the world of Caraval, add this series to your list!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Kingdom of Cards duology. I got an eGalley of this book to review through NetGalley.

Thoughts: This book picks up where the last one left off. Kallia wakes up in the mirror world and Daron is desperately trying to find a way into that world from the “normal” world ro find her.

This did a good job of wrapping up this duology and is beautifully written. Some things about the story remained a bit ambiguous and the story felt a bit long at points. I am still a bit confused about some overall concepts here; for example how did the mirror world form and why were people trapped there and what exactly are the devils? This was a long and wandering story and it’s possible I just missed some of that. I kept falling asleep while reading this, so it is possible I just wasn’t cohesive enough to make complete sense of all of this.

The story is written in a way that is beautiful, glittering but it wanders a lot. I felt like this book was a lot longer than it needed to be, a lot of the things that happened in the mirror world with Kallia felt unnecessary. There is also a lot of page space dedicated to characters standing around thinking about their lives rather than doing anything.

Despite all of my complaints, this does wrap up the story well. Even though parts of this did drag for me, I still enjoyed the pure spectacle of it. The descriptions of things that exist in the mirror world are glittering and unique and you never know what will be around the next corner.

My Summary (3/5): Overall I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first book in the series. It does a decent job of wrapping up the duology but wanders a lot as well. It felt like parts of this book were unnecessarily long. I also felt like by the end I still didn’t understand why a lot of things had happened. This is beautifully written and some of the descriptions are amazingly creative. I do think Angeles has a very unique writing style and I would like to see what she comes up with in the future.

You know. I didn't have the highest hopes for this because after the first book ended all I could think was that it would've made a brilliant standalone, and could've even been one of those "cycle-type books" where it ends on a cliffhanger that leaves you reeling but also leaves you guessing in the best way and subconsciously, you don't want a sequel because you're actually happy with how it ended on a shocking note. (*cough* The Burning God *cough* If We Were Villains *cough*) That's just my take, but I'm sure many do and will feel the same.

(I just feel the need to drop in and say it honestly makes me sad sometimes when I really only have negative things to say about books, especially after reading the Acknowledgments and understanding how difficult the book was the write for the author…It makes me sad, but also I have to be honest, I guess?)

Okay, let's do good first. I liked that Jacks was in this more than the first. I like that he got to see his character develop almost in a way that wasn't possible in the first. I liked feeling like Kallia was justified in her "like" of him and that it wasn't bordering on Stockholm Syndrome like it did in the first.

I loved Vain and Ruthless and Malice. They were the trio that was missing in the first book, for real. (I do think the author mixed up Ruthless and Malice a few times though, hopefully that's fixed in the first edition since I guess this is less edited because it's an ARC.)

Also, can't deny that I loved the magic of the world. It's not original by any means, but it was written quite well and the world itself was nice too. (I'm upset I can't think of a single thing else to say about liking it uGH.)

The repetitiveness straight up killed me. I swear, everything that happened seemed like it happened at least twice. Every show felt the same, the duels kept happening, the random conversations and moments were no different than past ones. Especially when you consider the first book, the plot in this literally seemed like a Walmart version of the first; which is so sad because the first felt really interesting at times, but this was just: no.

Along with repetition, I truly just felt the book was confusing. To me at least, I thought that no message was actually portrayed, no event that happened actually seemed like it happened? And there were time-skips of sorts where things would just kind of abruptly end and I'd be like um and…? Nothing really made sense, and everything felt rushed even though the book felt incredibly long and slow.

Another thing I disliked was the questions. Where Dreams Descend admittedly ended with a lot, but all in all it had so much intrigue that it didn't matter. When Night Breaks literally just answered all those questions that were left unanswered in Where Dreams Descend, but where was the oomph! It was just plain old sitting and q and a…It reminded me in a way of The Crown of Gilded Bones which if we know me, we all know I truly despise and wish i could get that part of my life back.

The romance was also so iffy. In the first book I already didn't love Kallia and Demarco's relationship and honestly felt like the chemistry that could've been possible wasn't there at all. It really just felt like a convenient thing, but I was hoping When Night Breaks would fix that issue and just make me ship them like crazy; and yet, it did the exact opposite.

Hence, I truly can't make myself recommend this book to anyone…But if you don't mind starting and never finished series, then definitely consider reading Where Dreams Descend and maybe ignore the last few chapters.

When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles is the final book in the Kingdom of Cards duology. In this finale, Daron has lost his reputation. All that matters to him, though, is finding Kallia. He will do whatever it takes to find her and bring her back. Meanwhile, Kallia has Jack by her side. She also meets a dangerous magician who has big plans for her.

This sequel takes the story in a surprising direction. I enjoyed how dark is was and the friendships that Kallia made. I hope to read more from Janella Angeles soon!