I am so sad, I had to DNF this book. The cover is gorgeous and the synopsis sounded great. I wanted to love it but I just could not get into it. The world building was practically non-existent and the characters and their relationships were pretty flat. It just didn't work for me and no one is more disappointed about that than me.

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles

Where Dreams Descend is a circus fantasy novel that will appeal to fans of Caraval. It features a magical competition with much higher stakes than anyone anticipated. The story is full of secrets, rivalries, and lovers. The characters are vibrant and entertaining. The plot and world/character building took some time to establish, but by the end, the plot moved quickly and kept me engaged and wanting more.

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles will be published on August 25, 2020.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC.

I have been waiting for this book all year and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT!! This book just feels so lush and magical from the very first page. I found myself skimming as I read as quickly as possible because I just couldn't wait to see what happened. The characters were brought to life on the page and I cannot wait for more of my friends to read this so we can talk about it! I anticipate a reread coming very soon!

This book fell short for me. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this. The Phantom of the Opera vibe was the best part of this for me. I did get a bit of the Moulin Rouge feel as well. The book started off so stinking powerful that I had high high high hopes for this one.

A wonderful. mash-up of Night Circus, Caraval and The Phantom of the Opera (basically if you love circuses and magic then this book is right up your alley).

I loved getting caught up in the semi-love triangle, secrets, dark pasts, and riveting story-telling that hooks you in from the beginning. The story centers around three fierce main characters: Kallia, Jack and Daron. Kallia is a strongly independent (and at times arrogant) orphan who works as showgirl in a magical club since her childhood. She lives at the magical club with Jack who is doing whatever it takes to protect her, but he has a mysterious past and seems to manipulate Kallia to keep her safe.

And then we’re introduced with Daron Demarco was a successful magician till he stopped performing two years ago (something world changing happened, but we still don't know what it is).

When Kallia learns about a magical competition so she wants to participate immediately, but the competition takes place in the nearby town and going there alone is a big challenge for the young woman like her. She runs away from the magical club and Jack and accepts the challenge to participate in the competition.

The ending of this book leaves you with a lot more questions than answers so I'm looking forward to getting more background information on these characters in the next installment.

What an intriguing book...reminded me of both The Night Circus and The Arcana Chronicles. The story grabbed me from the start. The characters kept me engaged. And I can't wait for the next installment!!!

This book is absolutely stunning from start to finish. I couldn't put it down, and has that romantic atmosphere that just makes you want to keep reading it. There are not nearly enough pages, and I honestly cannot wait until I get the opportunity to read the next book in this series. God, the magic especially. It's so mysterious, and you'll wind up with even more questions afterward than you do answers. Those are some of my favorite stories because you get to speculate quite a bit!

I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I think that the beginning and the ending were the strongest parts of the story and I wasn't really interested in the competition part. I think the characters lack some depth and additional information about them to make them more interesting.

I thought about DNFing this, but I felt like something big was coming at the end and I wanted to see what so I kept going, but around 40-50% I stopped fully following the story and after 70-80% I just read the dialogue.

It wasn't that bad, but it really didn't spark my interest that much.

As for the characters, I liked Kallia's character and Demarco was also interesting, but I felt like Jack was supposed to be the villian of the story and we didn't really learn much about him or why he's really important. Aaros was also nice, but I didn't care for the others.

All in all, it reminded me of Caraval a bit, but still 3 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

Where Dreams Descend was one of my most anticipated books of the year. AND LOOK AT THIS COVER! I loved this book. The atmosphere was everything I wanted it to be. I loved the plot and the storyline in the book. It did not disappoint. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

I received an early e-arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
As soon as I heard this book compared to The Greatest Showman I was excited and intrigued and Where Dreams Descend did not disappoint.
With Angeles's atmospheric writing and well-crafted characters that felt real, this book is one of my favorites of this year. I liked Kallia's character, the strong fiery leading lady who doesn't let the story's gender roles dictate how she acts. Aaros, Kallia's assistant was one of my favorite characters, his friendship with Kallia felt sincere and his dialogues made me giggle a few times. 'The Master', Jack felt really possessive and creepy to me so I didn't like that aspect of the story.
Now I am highly anticipating the sequel.
Overall I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars, I think fans of Caraval and The Crown's Game will also enjoy this story.

this book. THIS BOOK. i had such high hopes for this book and it surpassed everything i was hoping for and more. it was JUST. SO. GOOD. the writing??? the characters??? THE ROMANCE???? wowowowowowowow. kallia is one of my new favourite characters of ALL TIME. AND DARON???? I JUST WANT TO HUG HIM. this is definitely one of my favourite books of the year, probably one of my new favourites of all time really. i read the second half of this book in one sitting because i literally couldn't put it down, i NEEDED TO KNOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING. i honestly can't say enough good things about this book it was EVERYTHING. i can't WAIT to get a physical copy so i can just hold it and cry. also i need the next book like now??? pls???? because THAT ENDING???? one of the best last lines in a book i think???? OOF i just can't deal with my emotions right now. Y'ALL MAKE SURE YOU PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK AND READ IT AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT BECAUSE IT'S AMAZING AND ALSO I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT IT OKAYYY. anyways in case you can't tell i LOVE THIS BOOK AHHHHHHH

The publisher provided me with the opportunity to read this in exchange for providing feedback. (via NetGalley)

4.5 stars. I was pretty excited to see that I got approved for this on Netgalley. Once I started it it was pretty hard to put down. (Boo needing to sleep and work.) Really the worst part about this book was that it hasn't even come out yet which means I have to wait for the sequel!!

Lush and enchanting, this was a fun read. It reminds me quite a bit of The Night Circus, but it certainly does things its own way.

Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted to love this, as I am obsessed with all things magic, but unfortunately this fell a little flat. I liked Kallia and thought she was a very strong, independent protagonist, and she had great chemistry with Jack. For me, it was the language itself that I had the most problems with. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but to me it was so fantasy-driven that it made it hard to get through. There were a lot of descriptions and almost too much magic, and while normally I think telling and not showing is a problem, in this instance, it was the opposite. The magic itself was fun, but after reading Caraval, I may have had too high expectations, so that's also definitely on me. I think I'll be in the minority of those who don't enjoy this, so take my review with a grain of salt! I can definitely see most people absolutely loving this if they're into magic and fantasy, and I know that mostly everyone will enjoy the lush world that was built.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw this was a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera, but this was a fairly nice rendition.

I liked the male characters, Jack (the keeper of the club who might have hidden prerogatives), Daron (the magician judge who wants to leave magic behind him), and the thief that Kallia takes under her wing. Kallia herself, she was alright. I never connected with her, and while I liked seeing the romance play out, I wasn’t super invested in it.

I liked the magical acts Kallia does. It would be even better to see them. Sometimes I had a hard time visualizing everything.

If you really love magician, circus type stories, definitely check this one out! It has all the flair of a professional magic act well done.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of Where Dreams Descend!

Magic, competition, a traveling circus, and mystery all meet in a hidden city in the woods and when I read the description, I knew this book was written for me!!! It had a Moulin Rouge vibe at the beginning which I loved. I absolutely enjoyed this novel, the descriptions of the magical performances were fascinating, the friendships formed were meaningful and the mystery is intriguing. The ending left so many frustrating questions and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the follow up.

Kallia is such an easy character to root for and she’s surrounded by incompetent men who think women shouldn’t be allowed to perform and are constantly trying to undermine her talents. There are quite a few unlikeable characters but so many others that were amazing. I loved the strong female members of the circus and how they immediately support and befriend her.

If you enjoy teen fantasy and amazingly magical descriptions, I highly recommend Where Dreams Descend, which comes out in August!!

I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book was surprisingly enjoyable for me. I'm usually not a big fan of high fantasy books, but this retelling mash up was very well written. It has a strong plot that Janella Angeles follows through with and it gives just enough of a mystery feel for me to stay interested throughout the book. There were a few issues I had with it like the main characters. I didn't enjoy that they became slightly annoying at times by being arrogant and slightly immature for my liking. I also felt like some things had been left out of the book that would have made it a little better. I know the author did this to leave room for other books, but it would have been nice to have a bit more information at times. I think this was a very interesting book that anyone who enjoys YA and high fantasy will love.

Thank you to the publisher for the early copy in exchange for a review.

4/5 stars
I was hesitant going into this one because the closer release got the more hyped it got. Then it was pushed back to August thanks to COVID and I was a little bit more nervous. While I didn't find it a 5 star read I still really loved it.

This story took a lot of different elements as inspiration and I definitely see them throughout the book. It's definitely heavily inspired by Phantom of the Opera and there's a competition to make it a bit more exciting. It was a really fun read and I liked the characters. Kallia is daring and confident and has some fears and a little self doubt which makes her more relatable. While Demarco is more reserved and private but more forward thinking. Jack remains pretty mysterious and dangerous the entire book which adds to his allure.

I really just wish there was a tad more world building as its mentioned the rest of the world uses magic more, but we really know nothing of the world outside Glorian except a couple snippets here and there. And Glorian is supposed to be really mysterious but without knowing how different they are I feel like I didn't connect with the story as much as I could have. I also wish the danger felt a bit more dangerous to be honest. Every time something happens we get a couple paragraphs and then it's back to Kallia, her act, and Demarco. It didn't give as much suspense.

I still really enjoyed it and recommend and I definitely will be reading the sequel.

I was really disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this book more. I started reading it expecting it to be similar to Caraval or The Night Circus or The Crown’s Game, but instead, Where Dreams Descend had confusing and far too little world building, and the competition itself was not fully fleshed out. The book as a whole seemed more like a collection of (very well-written) descriptive scenes, rather than a cohesive plot.
I did like the characters a lot, especially Kallia. She constantly shocked the men around her with her confidence, skill, and irreverence, and by about halfway through the book, I was entirely reading for Kallia’s interaction with men.
Other than that, I thought the conflict was very low-stakes, I didn’t understand why we rarely got Jack’s perspective or even who Jack really is. I thought Daron was kind of bland, and I just wasn’t very interested in the outcome of the competition.

The Good
The atmosphere: The beginning of this book is very ominous. I was so curious the entire time about what this place was, and I was itching to learn more! It was such an aesthetically pleasing story- especially because I love all things circus and magic related!
The feminism: Our main character, Kallia, is strong and fierce. She does not get intimidated by the men who are clearly trying to sabotage her performances, and she does not quit. She stands up to them the entire time, which I admired a lot.
The ending: My favorite part of this story, and what probably ended up saving the book for me, was the ending. It leaves off at just the right part- I want to know what happens next and I can't wait to read the second book now.

The Bad:
The writing: This story felt quite choppy in a few places, and it didn't always make sense to me. I was getting lost by it. It felt like it was strung together a little awkwardly, especially at parts where the POV changed. I feel like the book focused a little too much on having beautiful prose instead of explaining the plot.
The character and story development: The characters didn't feel fully developed to me, either. For example, Aaros, Kallia's assistant, felt very one dimensional. I wished we could see their development more, but they instantly became close and it felt a little unnatural. We also don't get to see much development from Jack, and I feel like his history (and Kallia's) was never fully explained. That part left me a little confused as well. Also, I feel like too many things were left unexplained. The magic system could have been so interesting, but instead, I was left really confused by it- especially the mirrors (you'll understand after reading it). I'm hoping that all will be explained in the next book, which is what I'm really holding out hope for.

Overall, this duology has a lot of potential, and I am excited to see where the next book goes!