When I see Moulin Rouge and Phantom of the Opera in the pitch, I know I have to read! It gave me more Night Circus vibes (which is a book I love, so that's a complement) than the two pitched stories, but it had a really rich, dark atmosphere that I enjoy from this kind of novel. The writing style was lovely to read and created such a captivating tone, but I wanted a little more from the world-building and character-development.

Wasn’t able to finish this one. I had a really hard time getting into. Read very slow and didn’t capture my interest.

I put this book on my TBR as soon as I saw it had a magic circus but I honestly don’t really know how I feel about it. I didn’t dislike it but I can’t say I fell in love either. I promptly forgot the book almost as soon as I finished it so clearly something wasn’t engaging my brain, but I finished it so there’s that? To be honest, I think it had a lot to do with the amount of mysteries going on. I started losing interest the longer they were drawn out but I had just enough interest to keep reading. All the pieces were there too. The vibes were on point, the worldbuilding enticing. The characters intriguing (mostly). But it wasn’t quite enough for me to really want to stick it out after finishing it. I think I’d recommend it to certain readers but don’t think I’ll read the sequel myself.

I’ve tried several times to read this one, even got a hardback copy but I just can’t get into it. The cover is stunning though and I hope to give it another try in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

First of all can we talk about this cover!! 😍😍😍 SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!

I truly don't know how I feel about this book… I can definitely see how the description of "The Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge" is very fitting. I enjoyed many elements of the books but is what somewhat slow for my taste. I wasn't able to fully immerse myself into the book until the very last part.

Don't get me wrong, the characters were amazing, as well as the setting and the writing was impeccable. It was just the pacing that throw me off. I truly enjoyed it but I would only recommend it if you are prepared to push through and be rewarded with an amazing ending.

I really enjoyed this book I gave it a four out of five stars. The first part I didn’t think I would enjoy it but I was hoping it would get better. Which it did get better, and I really enjoyed it. I totally recommend this book.

This book is the start of an adventure. It captures you in the beginning and may have you thinking the story will go one way. By the time act two starts, it can feel like you are suddenly in a different book. The story is beautifully told and I can’t help but wonder what happens in book two.

This book was amazing and I can’t wait to read the second book. The characters, the storytelling, and the cover also were awesome

I was so thankful to receive an arc of this book from the publisher and netgalley. I love the way the author imagined this world and look forward to sharing my favorite parts with my friends who are currently reading this series!

i enjoyed this one, and the settings and descriptions were so beautiful! I am very excited to continue on with this series and see what else this author does with everything she has laid down!

A solid debut that deserves a higher rating than I'm giving it, but I felt like it all could have moved faster. The world was interesting and the plot, overall, well developed, but the pacing needed some work to really hold my interest.

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

I am a huge fan of the Phantom of the Opera. So it should come as no surprise that I jumped - not fell - into love with this book. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if the pacing were more consistent. That being said, I didn't dislike it, I just probably won't be picking up the next book.

I loved Caraval and now I’m adding this to the list! Absolutely magical and spellbounding! I loved the voice and world building!

This book was one of the roughest reads for 2020 for me. The first half of the book felt slow but when it started speeding up things weren't too bad. I felt like on paper, theoretically I should have really enjoyed this book. It was romantic in the tingly way that I love most but it just was so incredibly long and drawn out. I have to say though that Kallia is SO COOL. She's strong, and witty, and obstinate, and tough and gritty, I just really really enjoyed her. She made the book worth the read.

I feel like there was a chunk missing somewhere--as in, I didn't really understand the conflict? Things were happening, but no one seemed very upset by them, and I'm not certain the overall story. Beautiful setting, but limited world building and a plot that doesn't have much to do.

YA fantasy isn't really my thing, but the premise of this book sounded interesting enough that I agreed to review the novel. Since I received an e-ARC, I didn't realize until about 1/4 of the way through how LONG this book is. In paper form, it's 464 pages! In my opinion, at least 100 of them could have been chopped, if not 200. That being said, the story was engaging enough that I finished. I'm not sure there was any point, though, that I couldn't have put the novel down. It's not that the plot doesn't have any action, it's just that it gets redundant and somehow wasn't tense or suspenseful enough to keep me riveted to the page, at least not for 464 pages. In addition, the finale leaves a lot to be desired. The story ends on a cliffhanger, of course, but without satisfactorily wrapping up much at all, which makes the ending feel unsatisfying, especially after wading through so many pages to get there. Its disappointing end decided me on the sequel—no thanks. WHERE DREAMS DESCEND leaves plenty of questions that need to be answered, but I just don't have the patience to plow through another thick tome to get them.

In addition, the characters are pretty ho-hum, with none being super original. Kallia provides a strong female lead, but while her confidence and determination make her admirable, her vanity and coldness make her difficult to like. For leading men, neither Jack nor Demarco has much personality or freshness. The women of the Conquering Circus are the most interesting characters in the book by far, but they are not fleshed out nearly enough. Same goes for Glorian - for a city full of secrets, it's not nearly as mysterious as it should be. A shame because it is the most intriguing part of WHERE DREAMS DESCEND for me.

All things considered, then, WHERE DREAMS DESCEND was just an average read for me.

This one was a DNF for me. I couldn't get into the world or writing. I also was not a huge fan of the Night Circus, and this felt like a combination of that and Caraval. I think fans of Night Circus will like this though.

Where Dreams Descend was a better book. The first book in a duology, it follows a young magician—Kallia—who escapes from a more powerful and dangerous magician that runs a club in the woods. She makes it to the nearest city and enters a competition with the intent to prove that women can be just as good as magicians as men. Ultimately, the narrative was mostly centered around romance—around Kallia and a infamous retired magician named Demarco, around Kallia and the man she ran from, Jack. The competition, the mystery behind it all, the magic, it faded to the back in favor of the romance getting more time and focus. Had the book not been so distinctly about challenging the patriarchy it might have seemed less egregious but as it is, there’s a subplot about challenging misogyny that is decentered in order to present a romance.