Les Mis???rables meets Six of Crows in this page-turning adventure as a young thief finds herself going head to head with leaders of Paris's criminal underground in the wake of a failed French Revolution. Liberty 1828 and the citizens of Paris still mourn in the wake of their failed revolution. Among them, in the dark alleys and crumbling cathedrals of the city, the most wretched have gathered into guilds of thieves, assassins - and worse. Together they are known as The ...
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Les Mis???rables meets Six of Crows in this page-turning adventure as a young thief finds herself going head to head with leaders of Paris's criminal underground in the wake of a failed French Revolution. Liberty 1828 and the citizens of Paris still mourn in the wake of their failed revolution. Among them, in the dark alleys and crumbling cathedrals of the city, the most wretched have gathered into guilds of thieves, assassins - and worse. Together they are known as The Court of Miracles. Family Eponine has lost more than most. When her father, Th???nardier, sells her sister to the Guild of Flesh she makes a promise to do anything she can to get her sister back, even if that means joining the Court of Miracles, the very people keeping her sister a slave. Treachery Eponine becomes perhaps the greatest thief the Court has ever known, finding a place among them and gaining another sister, Cosette. But she has never forgotten the promise she made, and if she's to have any hope of saving one sister, she will have to betray the other. This beautiful reimagining of Les Mis???rables tells the stories of your favourite characters and what might have happened if the French Revolution had not come to pass.
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Seller's Description:
New. Glued binding. B-format paperback. Court of Miracles Trilogy, 1. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published:
2020
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
17451532000
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Standard Shipping: $4.64
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Seller's Description:
New. Library binding. Cloth over boards. 416 p. Contains: Illustrations. The Court of Miracles, 1. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
"Do not cry for me, I am already dead."
"No, not dead, the dead at least are free."
The Court of Miracles was a real Jekyll and Hyde of a book for me. On the one side there is a sweeping fantasy story about the unofficial guilds of the city of Paris (including Assassins, Thieves and Beggars) and then on the other side there is bad Les Miserables fanfiction.
We start with the fantasy element, I enjoyed the character of Nina, the Black Cat of the Thieves Guild and our main character through the story. She is fierce and single-handedly seems to save every situation and come up with the solution to every problem she is faced with. I liked having a strong female lead but I also felt the fact she seemed to be able to do at least 3 things that had been written off by everyone else as 'impossible' was a little unrealistic. I enjoyed some of the other characters; Ettie although annoying in places also had a naive heart of gold and the villain of the piece called The Tiger was aptly evil and his treatment of those around him was vicious. The book is genuinely dark in places and I enjoyed that the author pulled no punches with their plot. I also really enjoyed the folklore stories which are told at the start of each act, these have parallels to the action going on and were a good length to be absorbing and not distracting from the plot. I also liked the idea of the guilds, however I thought a lot of them were very under-explored and I got very confused about one of the ones we did meet. Ettie and Nina go into the hall of the Guild of Assassins to meet with the Dead Lord, but then one of them gets joined to the House of Beggars and not the House of Assassins which really confused me - are they part of the same house?
I didn't like the choppy nature of the acts and the fickle nature of Nina at times though. In Act 1 she has a sister Azelma who is sold to the villainous Tiger. She spends all of Act 1 furious and trying to do everything she could to save her sister. Then Act 2 jumps a few years and suddenly she has an unexplained new sister Ettie who she would give her life for and also tries to spend the entire act trying to save. It seems like she has completely given up on Sister 1 at this point which seemed a little unrealistic. Then Act 3 skips forward ahead in time some more and this is where the Les Mis storyline kicks in.
As someone who works in theatre I love musicals, however I must mention that Les Mis is one of my least favourites. This is not, as I had thought (feared!) a re-telling of the story. It's more that the author plagiarises the material, taking character names and traits and a few very loose plot points and tries to wedge them into her narrative. This comes across as jarring as the plot is so different and having a character called Valjean and then point out that he is Ã?Æ'Ã?¢Ã?¢ââ?¬Å¡Ã?¬Ã?â?¹Ã?"prisoner 24601' made my eyes roll and really took me out of the fantasy world Grant had painted up until that point.
Overall, The Court of Miracles is a good fantasy book, it's just such a shame that the author tried to wedge her Les Mis fanfic into the plot as well. For this reason, I don't think I'll be on the look out for the next book in the series I'm afraid. Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Collins UK Ã?Æ'Ã?¢Ã?¢ââ?¬Å¡Ã?¬" HarperFiction & Harper Voyager for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
