Arc Review – The Court of Miracles

From Goodreads:

A diverse fantasy reimagining of Les Misérables and The Jungle Book.

In the dark days following a failed French Revolution, in the violent jungle of an alternate 1828 Paris, young cat-burglar Eponine (Nina) Thenardier goes head to head with merciless royalty, and the lords of the city’s criminal underworld to save the life of her adopted sister Cosette (Ettie).

Her vow will take her from the city’s dark underbelly, through a dawning revolution, to the very heart of the glittering court of Louis XVII, where she must make an impossible choice between guild, blood, betrayal and war.

Oh this was gorgeous. I do love a book that is filled with rich world building and the Guilds of the Court of Miracles are just jam packed. We get so much of the history and workings of the Court of miracles, they are spooky and secretive, each is distinctive. I really could have just read a whole book on just the information of the Guilds and been happy. But The Court of Miracles layers a interesting and action packed plot on top of all this lush world building.

I should mention that while this has been burbled as a Les Miserables retelling I have never read nor seen a production of it so I have no knowledge as to how faithful or inventive this has been in it telling. I am only familiar with some character names, so I will not be commenting on how it holds up to Les Mis.

I adored the writing style of this book, old from the perspective of Nina, interwoven with quotes from the jungle book and folk tales from those members of the Court of Miracles, it has a direct and straight forward manages to keep interest effortlessly without info-dumping. It is bolstered by sumptuous descriptions and a fascinatingly interesting court of characters.

The characters have real depth. They are complex and detailed with range of emotion instead of fitting in the neat boxes. They all have their quirks, ambitions and faults which made them so captivating to read about. But Oh the Guilds. The truly are character in there own right. The political system surrounding them is complex yet easy to pick up on and be engrossed in.

The plot is just as dynamic as the characters. With a couple of twists that left me gasping. We have heists, political intrigue, murder plots, revolution etc. However, all this means there are a number of time skips. These are not always that smooth. In the beginning they are quite dramatic and read almost like a perspective change so I did find it a little difficult to get into the plot at the start.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book! I always say there are not enough good heist books. I love a good heist and this book is filled with quite a few. I am looking forward to reading more in the Court of Miracles.