I think if you enjoyed ‘six of crows’ then you ll really enjoy this book.
It seems like a lot happens in a short space of time, and for anyone who likes french history this is sure to be a winner.

3.5 stars

Paris remains divided after the failed revolution and even The Court of Miracles, the combined guilds of assassins, thieves, and more, has its own cracks.
When Nina's (Eponine's) father sells her sister, his very own daughter, to one of the guilds, Nina vows to do everything she can do to get her back and joins the Guild of Thieves.
Nina soon integrates herself into the court and makes a name for herself as one of the best thieves.
Then Nina acquires a new sister in Cosette (Ettie), a young girl who is in the care of Nina's father. But Nina will do whatever it takes to save her sister, even if it means betraying Ettie.
Will Nina be able to go through with her plan?
Can she save her sister?

The idea of a Les Mis retelling where Eponine is a thief intrigued me as I've always felt very sorry for Eponine and wished that she had a different story.
I found Nina to be a likeable and relatable protagonist and I liked how determined and capable she was. I also liked Nina's relatonship with Ettie who I liked more than I thought I would.
Montparnasse was probably my favourite character, but I also liked Enjorlas a lot.
I enjoyed the author's take on the characters as well as the Court of Miracles and the guilds themselves.
One thing that did bug me was the whole 'Those-Who-Walk-By-Day' thing. I'm not even sure why it annoyed me, but it did.
The setting of 1800s Paris was intriguing and well done.
The plot was interesting and held my attention, but it did feel a little repetitive at times. I enjoyed learning more about the Guilds and the Court.
The writing style was easy to follow and flowed well, although a few scenes were a little abrupt at times.
This was quite a dark book at times, but Nina and Ettie were the heart and soul of the book and both brought some light to it, the themes of family and friendship being one of my favourite things about the book.
I can see any fan of Les Mis (be it the book, film, or TV show) finding joy in reading this, but I also think that someone that knows nothing about Les Mis would enjoy this too.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc. I was intrigued by this YA historical read because of that stunning cover!! And comparisons to Les Miserables and Caravel, whose sisterly relationship I adored. There’s also comparisons to Six of Crows, which I haven’t read but have heard many good things about, and Games of Thrones. My interested was highly piqued!! Overall if you suspend your disbelief this was a fun melodramatic albeit flawed read that was more style than substance, unfortunately for me.

This is narrated from the POV of Nina, a nine-year old girl, who wakes up to discover that her older sister, a fifteen-year old teenager, Azelma, is being sold by their gambling, thieving father for money. Ever the protective older sister, eager that her young sister doesn’t befall to the same fate, Azelma cuts Nina’s hair off and instructs her adopt a boy’s avatar to keep safe. Azelma passes Nina onto Femi, so she can escape their father’s clutches. Femi instructs Nina to steal a boy’s necklace from a palace in the middle of the night. Nina does it like a pro and then Femi takes her to the Guild of the Thieves, where she becomes part of the family. It’s here Nina learns that Azelma has been sold to Tiger, Lord of the Guild of the Flesh i.e. a brothel owner where Azelma is now a prostitute. The Lord of the Guild of the Thieves, Thenardier, forbids Nina to seek revenge against Tiger lest his friends/allies become enemies of the Thieves’ Guild and incite a rivalry/war. But our plucky child protagonist is not to be so easily deterred. Once she finds out where her sister is she sneaks into to help Azelma escape the brothel she now lives in, but Nina is almost caught by some guards and Femi, who promised Azelma to protect Nina, tells her that if she truly wants to win her sister back she needs something so powerful that Tiger would be willing to exchange it with Azelma. Nina is certain that no price is too heavy to pay for her sister...And that prize is Ettie, a twelve-year old girl whose mother is paying Thenardier to lodge her. But the money from her mother has stopped coming and Thenardier won’t be able to keep her on anymore and Tiger has set his eyes on Ettie. Nina kidnaps Ettie, by manipulating her, planning on exchanging her for Azelma, but Nina is unable to go through with this plan. Instead she’s determined to save them both...

This was quite a pacy read. I can’t fault this for not having any plot. However the problem for me was the way Grant just throws the reader into the story. There’s chapters after chapters chock full of dramatic scenes, but there’s no set-up. Everything is instant. The way Nina perfectly steals the necklace on the same night she’s been separated from her sister and renames herself the Black Cat comes so suddenly that I was like “Oh I just have to accept this character is a professional thief”. I wished this was more fleshed out and developed. Even though the writing is in first-person I couldn’t get a sense of Nina’s personality and her voice didn’t read like a child. I just couldn’t connect with her. I wish the author had taken up her time to set the story by introducing us to the characters and slowing down the action. There was just too much going on, and the story didn’t give me time to slow down and process it. The structure of the Guilds and the Court of Miracles is just thrown at you and accepted immediately by Nina without any hesitation didn’t feel plausible. I wished the author had slowed the pace down and built up the world first which would’ve allowed for some suspense which I also found lacking in this book. I was never scared for Nina, because she always got away in tricky situations rather easily, further widening my lack of connection to her as a protagonist.

Overall I flew this rather fast because I just wanted to see how the story would come together in the end, and for a fun melodramatic popcorn escapist read this wasn’t too bad. But I just don’t know if I’m invested enough in Nina to read the next book. 3/5.

The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant is inspired heavily by Les Mis, and Six of Crows. This is narrated from the point of view of Nina, whose older sister is about to be sold, so her sister palms Nina off to Femi, who is a member of the Guild - an organisation of sorts that constitutes of marginalised communities who band together against an oppressive French society, specialising in their own rules i.e. Robin Hood of sorts. Nina finds a home with the Guild, until one of the members sets his sights on Nina's younger sister and plans to take her...Nina must work against the people who been like a family to her if she wants to rescue her sister.
This was an odd book for me tbh. I wanted to like this, but I just felt there was too much story and things happened really quickly going from second gear to five within a few pages. I found the pacing wasn't consistent and the whole story happens so suddenly that I just couldn't connect to the characters. Nina doesn't question anything and accepts things literally, also the way she just becomes The Black Cat, and is scaling walls without any explanations of back story, I just wasn't worried about her and began to lose my emotional investment in her. With another draft had the author slowed the pace down, and allowed time to set the story up more this could've been a better and more tighter read, which is why its 3 stars from me.

I'm a big fan of heists and Les Mis, which is what this baby is marketed as. Unfortunately, heists are super cinematic and lend themselves to visual media. But I still enjoyed this reimagining. Fun time. Thank you for the ARC.

My thanks to HarperCollins HarperVoyager for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Court of Miracles’ by Kester Grant in exchange for an honest review. It’s available now in ebook and audiobook with the hardback due to be published on 18 June.

I obtained its audiobook edition, narrated by Kristin Atherton, and listened alongside reading the eARC.

This is the first in Grant’s ‘The Court of Miracles’ trilogy, which is a retelling of Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Miserables’ and an alternative history in which the French Revolution failed leaving France a deeply divided country.

In the 12th Century members of Paris’ underworld came together and “formed nine guilds: Thieves, Beggars, Assassins, Gamblers, Mercenaries, Smugglers, Prostitutes, Opium Eaters, and Men of Letters. The Lords of each guild sat together to form the Miracle Court, bound as brethren by Laws that they had written.”

Nina (Éponine) Thenardier is the novel’s narrator and main character. She becomes a member of the Thieves Guild under the name Black Cat after her sister, Azelma, is stolen by the cruel Kaplan, known as the Tiger.

Later she fears that her foster sister, Ettie (Cosette), will also be taken by the Tiger and be trafficked. To prevent this she seeks to ensure that Ettie is under the protection of the Court of Miracles. Many adventures ensue including an encounter with the royal family. Other characters from Les Mis appear and the famous barricade scene during General Lamarque’s funeral occurs near the climax.

Grant’s world building is excellent, revisioning early 19th Century Paris in exquisite detail. In her Acknowledgments, she writes of her lifelong love of “French kings and violent revolutions.” and how her desire for vengeance over Éponine’s treatment in Les Mis inspired the writing of this book.

I am not that familiar with ‘Les Miserables’ though knew enough to recognise aspects of the original tale and its characters. It will be interesting to see how the material is developed in subsequent volumes in the trilogy. I certainly will be counting the days until Book Two arrives.

The cover art on the print edition is stunning. One odd thing though were the quotes from Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’ that prefaced each of the four parts. Perhaps this links to Kaplan’s nickname and sense that the world Nina moves in being a type of jungle.

Highly recommended!

Rating 4.5/5

This was the type of book I really needed after finding myself in somewhat of a reading slump again, something that I could completely lose myself in, I had been excited about this book for a while and I was thankfully not disappointed.

I absolutely love it when an author can take an existing story and then create something entirely unique from it and I think that Kester Grant has done a fantastic job of borrowing from Les Mis whilst giving a fresh and exciting new story. I haven’t actually read Les Mis before, I’ve only seen the film and that was quite some time ago, and whilst knowing its inspiration added to the atmosphere of the setting and helped with aspects of the world-building I enjoyed that it wasn’t strictly a retelling.

There is a lot that happens in this book and whilst that did keep me gripped to the story, it did mean that I maybe wasn’t as immersed with the characters motivation the way I would have liked to have been. I think in the beginning there maybe could have been a little more on the development between Nina and Ettie to really solidify Nina’s actions and give them a slightly higher stake from the outset, I feel I would have been more engaged with them from that start had that happened. I did get there eventually, especially toward the end where the suspense starts to build as Nina’s plans are put into motion but I can’t help but think I could have been even more captivated by this story.

The court and its different factions and array of characters were fascinating, I love the almost family-like quality set against the tension of knowing that there is limited trust between all its members and that people can be deceived at any time. It was also interesting to see how that compared to St Juste and his student revolutionaries and the royalty and nobility, it made it more compelling that Nina had ties to a mix of people and that I was never sure how that was going to affect her end goal.

I enjoyed the fact that Nina was cunning and at times an underestimated asset, that she knows how to play the game and forges connections from unlikely places always with a mind to her own cause. I am of course also drawn to Montparnasse and his mix of mysteriousness and ruthlessness, I am looking forward to finding out more about him in the next book.

The Court of Miracles is a brilliant story with immersive writing and characters that I am eager to know more about and I am fascinated to see where the author leads off from this book for the next as there are a lot of exciting avenues the story could take.

Absolutely amazing !
I was so happy to be approved for an ARC of this book and I was even more ecstatic reading it.
This is a wonderful story, it’s extremely well written, I loved Kester’s writing style so much. The world building, character construction is just superb. I love les miserables and six of crows so this was a dream of a read for me and if you love both those things you will love this too.
I just absolutely adored this, it’s brilliant and will stay with you long afterwards, an unforgettable story.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I need to be able to give books 6/5 stars please.

The Court of Miracles is so so *so* good, I absolutely devoured it. This book is very reminiscent of Six of Crows in the best possible way although I loved it far more than SoC personally. Although I'm familiar with the broad strokes of Les Miserables I can't attest to how in keeping it is with *that* story (although Javert is a woman and I know that bit isn't the same!) but I certainly loved exploring this world. Kester Grant describes it so richly and thoroughly. We focus on Eponine, or Nina as she is here, and her various exploits to try and save her sisters. She is clever, quick-witted, has integrity, honour, and a keen sense of justice. She was a fascinating character to be our guide through Paris during those dark days.

I'm not usually a book hangover person but I waited a day before starting another book just so I could keep savouring the last bits.

I absolutely loved this, a passionately reworked telling of Les Miserables, focusing on the powerful women and telling a story from their perspectives- in particular, Eponine and Cosette. It's really great to reconsider the tale from the viewpoint of these women who have such emotional depth and a real sense of sisterhood. This was a refreshing read and I can't wait to see more.

A fast paced fantasy re-telling of Les Mis, filled with wit, danger, and betrayal.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.
3.75 Stars

The Court of Miracles, by Kester Grant is a unique retelling of the popular Les Mis that incorporates fantasy and is filled with danger and betrayal. Now this is a mini review because this book is far too easy to spoil and I really don’t want to do that because I hate spoilers!! Also as a disclaimer, I love the Les Miserables musical and have yet to read the book (Please don’t hate me!) but I really loved seeing the characters that I know in this book it was so interesting and fun.

Kester Grant did an excellent job with this book, it has a lot going on but doesn’t feel like a heavy read at all and this is significantly due to the writing style. The style is simple and direct, with some beautiful character descriptions, it is incredibly easy to read and avoids ‘info-dumps’ very cleverly. The structure of the book allows us to learn a lot about the world, and specifically The Court, organically instead of all at once, which is incredibly helpful due to the Court being made up of multiple ‘Guilds’. A few scenes/settings lacked detail for me personally but as a whole this style worked very well in conjunction with the story.

The pacing is decent, but I felt it dragged slightly in the middle, however the last 1/4 of the book really picks up again and makes you want to continue reading. There are also a few time jumps in the story, which means a lot is covered – this is fantastic as we see some long term effects of prior events. However, a couple of the time jumps were slightly confusing as they took me a few sentences to pick up the jump.

I also really enjoyed the perspective, which is that of Nina – our main character. Nina is clever, headstrong and smart, she has clear goals and is a capable person. I quite liked her character and as the story goes on she develops well. The only thing that was a little annoying was the numerous ‘romances’ it got a little irritating after a while. Having lost her sister to a cruel Guild master, Nina joins the Thieves Guild for protection and to bide her own time so she can save her. I loved the sisterly bonds that are formed throughout this story and found it to be a fantastic element running throughout, familial bonds are crucial be it by blood or by loyalty within your guild. The idea of family that underpins this story is unique and effective – I love the familial loyalty that exists within the guilds but also those created between individual characters, Nina and Ettie are a prime example – though initially Nina has other plans, the two become as close as sisters and this bond becomes unbreakable.

My favourite thing about this story had to be the Guilds themselves. The Court Of Miracles is made up of several guilds run by their respective masters and each Guild has their own internal hierarchy. We get the most insight into the Guild of Thieves because that is the one Nina belongs to, but we also get information on several others most notably The Guild Of Flesh as this one is at the heart of the conflict Nina is involved in. There are a lot more guilds but I think it is better you learn about them yourself because the introductions are all fantastic!

The complexity of the Guilds is brilliant yet understandable and they are all unique and dynamic. The Guilds factor in to some of the more serious themes that are dealt with in this book including class conflict, oppression and abuse of the lower classes, and exploitation in the form of sex trafficking – while I will not go into too much detail due to spoilers this is a significant theme that is tackled throughout the story.

The characters are crucial to this story and are incredibly dynamic as well as flawed – they are realistic, emotional, raw and determined and each character stand out in their own right. I really enjoyed reading about each of the characters, their motivations and ambitions, each one is complex and captivating.

Overall, the story was very interesting and each take on the well known characters was unique and compelling. The world created was dynamic and strong, the Court and Guilds were intriguing and effective and the relationships built between characters aided the story well allowing for effective shocks and twists throughout the story. Finally, the themes are dealt with well and are prominent having significant effects on the characters and the plot.

I would recommend this to fantasy lovers who enjoy deep themes and complex and flawed characters!

*Thankyou To #Netgalley, HarperCollins UK/HarperVoyager for my eARC in exchange for an honest review! *

The Court of Miracles is an extraordinary story that takes the reader on a journey through the french revolution

As I started The Court of Miracles I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but that didn't last long as once in The Court of Miracles I was hooked. Nine "Black Cat" Thenardier is the leading lady, and she is a major part of why the book is addictive. She is strong and smart in a time period when women where ween as neither. The book spans several years of Nina childhood to her teenage years. I liked reading Nina evolution and the changes in France and the guild.

The story follows the underbelly of France, the murderer, thieves, crooks, and beggers. The Court of Miracles has a guild for each type and they have there own laws that rule them.  The idea of different guilds is not a new idea, but I love the take with the addition laws, loyalties and alliances where gender, race or religion. doesn't come into play. It's all about power and talent.

The way that Kester has weaved in the French revolution and Valjean means if you no about each you appreciate the extra layers. Bit if you don't, it doesn't spoil the story.

The Court of Miracles plot is multi-layered, we have the revolution, the issue with the tiger and Nina stealing. I enjoyed the different aspects as it kept the plot moving and interesting.

My favourite elements of The Court of Miracles;

Nina thieving
Nina interaction with the Royals
The different groups in the Court of Miracles.
Nina loyalty


My Rating for The Court of Miracles is 4.8 out of 5.





Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for supplying me with an E-book copy of The Court of Miracles for a fair and honest review.

Trigger Warnings: Drug use and sex slavery

This one was one my most anticipated reads of 2020 and it did not disappoint! The Court of Miracles is essentially a Les Misérables retelling with a hint of The Jungle Book and Six of Crows vibes.

I’ve really been into historical fantasies recently and this ticked all the boxes with a rag-tag group of criminals set in the midst of The French Revolution. This book was so well written that I found myself completely captivated by the criminal guilds! I really liked Nina as a character, having been so young when she was forced into a guild to protect herself she grew to be a strong, reckless and independent woman who cared so much for Ettie. Nina was put into difficult situations throughout this book and had to risk so much.

Let’s talk about the Les Misérables references. I love this musical (I’ve only seen the film version which had scenes filmed at my university) and have had the book on my tbr pile for so long but I absolutely loved the comparisons. At one point the book quotes ‘Red as the blood of angry men’ and honestly I couldn’t stop myself from singing ‘Red and Black’.

I originally rated this at four stars but after taking a few days to write this review I realised how much I actually loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the Les Misérables references and most of all I loved the storyline.

Whilst this is a book full of tragedy and it is dark and gritty, it is also empowering and epic story that I recommend picking up when it comes out this month!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK – HarperVoyager for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

When I first started this book I had a moment of disappointment because it was first person present tense and, honestly, I kind of struggle with that. I find it can feel quite breathless as narrative styles go, and like the narrative is overtaking the action and I can’t quite relax into it because I feel as if I’m about to do the reading equivalent of tripping over my own feet. It’s a weird thing to explain, and probably sounds very strange, but there we have it.

I stuck with it, but it was probably this combined with my lack of knowledge of the inspiration material that it took me until nearly halfway through to realise that when the sales line said “Les Misérables meets Six of Crows” it meant literally. The novel is a retelling, of sorts, of Les Misérables set in an alternative France where the revolution wasn’t a success and a monarchy still rules. And yes, I know that Cosette and Eponine are Les Mis characters, but other names I recognised I thought were familiar because they had something actually to do with the French Revolution. Right up until the name Jean Valjean appeared at 46%, with his prisoner number, and then I realised exactly how dumb I was being.

It’s an interesting move, in that respect then, to make Eponine the main character. I recall vague bits of the show (seen the day before I got my GCSE results in… oof, 2004) and I’ve never read the book, but I have some knowledge of the plot. but Eponine is the epitome of tragedy based on weakness of character and then redemption through love. The book reinvents her completely, makes her the younger rather than the elder sister, and gives her a drive and an intense sense of personal justice.

The contents are dark. Really dark. So how about some trigger warnings for sex slavery, rape, drug use, intense violence? It’s an alternate universe and things aren’t good. While the last revolution didn’t amount to anything, and there’s still a rising gulf between the royals and the poorest in society, and instead a court of the downtrodden has risen so there are two opposing sides – the King and Queen of France, and the court of thieves, killers, beggars, and all the outcasts of society. The Miracle Court is split into different factions – Thieves, Beggars, Assassins, Smugglers, Drug Dealers, Spies. There’s another faction, formerly of ‘Sisters’, which was the name for when the faction of sex workers was run by women, for women, but it’s since become the guild of Flesh, as it’s now run by a slaver, who drugs women and forces them into prostitution.

Eponine, or Nina as she’s known, finds herself with the leader of the guild of flesh as her nemesis, the Tiger haunting every one of her steps. As she builds a career as a gifted cat burglar, she finds herself slowly weaving her way through Parisian society, from the royal courts, the factions of students, and the Court of Miracles itself. You begin to see the way things are interlinked and built on top of each other. Each layer relies on those above and below to hold the whole structure together.

Despite my misgivings on the narrative style, I actually found myself not noticing it once I got swept up by the plot. It didn’t feel like I was about to trip over myself while I was reading, and the pace actually balanced speedy action with making sure the narrator didn’t get tangled up in the telling. Structurally, the book was split into separate parts which jumped forward between significant events. This is basically Nina’s origin story, and while parts of it mirror Les Mis, there’s no real way to predict how things will turn out because the rules of the story have been entirely rewritten.

This seems to be the first in a series, although it’s hard to entirely predict how things will progress from the ending. There are parts which feel like they’ve been left open, but I couldn’t say they felt like enough to carry another full book. I do suspect Grant’s got a lot of tricks up her sleeve, however, so I will be interested to see how much further this story goes.

Briefly:

- An epic, dark, alternative historical novel set in a Paris where the French Revolution was unsuccessful. It’s bleak and dark, and uses Les Mis as a starting point for the characters.
- I suspect this book may land more firmly with fans of Les Mis, and they might get more out of it than myself, with my only very vague understanding.
- It was published by HarperVoyager, HarperCollins’ SFF imprint, but there wasn’t really any fantasy in it. I wonder if that is something more which will come later, or whether instead it’s fallen under that mantle because of the alternate universe speculative nature of the setting.

Rating: 4/5 – I was wary about this at first based on the choice of narrative voice, but I found myself quickly swept up in the story.

A huge, huge thank you to Kester Grant for writing The Court of Miracles and to both NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read this wonderful book. Yes, I'm sorry the cat is definitely out of the bag! I loved this book and stayed up until 2.30am this morning to finish it.

The Court of Miracles (Le Cour des Miracles, which the parisian slum districts were named in the time of Louis XIV in the early 17th century,) is a truly captivating, engaging and truly fantastic retelling of Les Miserables, full of magic, twists, turns, a complex and intriguing plot and a huge cast. This book is simultaneously heart wrenching and inspiring, pulling together a huge storyline and achieving a truly satisfying conclusion.

The story is set in France just after the failure of the French revolution, the monarchy having culled not just those involved in the previous revolution attempt, but their family and anyone close to them as a lesson to all of Paris.

The protagonist Eponine (Nina) Thénardier, a skilled cat burglar and member of the thieves guild, one of a number of guilds within the Court of Miracles and she transports the reader through her story from childhood to late teens. Nina is not alone in being both a unique and intriguing character in this story, Kester Grant paints portraits of all that are full of depth and nuanced, at times you can almost smell certain characters!!!

The book itself is a complete and complex puzzle, but it doesn't detract from the strong and engaging plot. Whilst I read this book very quickly, I will deifnitely be rereading my Goldsboro copy when it arrives, and I will take longer to savour the character definition, plot and at times almost maze like structure that leaves the reader lost in the story...in the best way possible.

There are references and nuances in the story to The Jungle Book that I'm sure Rudyard Kipling would approve of, the stories that precede the chapters, character names and references, in combination with the skilful weaving in of the characters and story of Les Miserables and the French Revolution is truly mesmerising. These add to the experience of the reader who has read/seen one or both without detracting from the experience for those who haven't.

The Court of Miracles is a 5 Star Read for me and definitely one that I will revisit again and again!

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me, with some really interesting elements but the execution let it down overall. It tells the story of Nina, a young girl forced to join the Miracle Court as a cat burglar to escape from her father, against the backdrop of an alternate France post-revolution.

The positives: This is a re-telling of Les Miserables with a focus on Eponine and Cosette, and I thought that this aspect of the narrative was pretty well done. I thought the plot was engaging and I enjoyed the character of Nina. I also liked the Miracle Court - an underworld collection of guilds that ran all of the crime in the city and thought that the interactions of the Court were the best part of the book by far.

The negatives: The narrative is very episodic in nature and large jumps in time happen with little indication of time past, which was pretty jarring. I also thought that the love square plot line was completely unnecessary and felt very shoe-horned in to a story that would have worked equally well without it.

Overall, I understand what the author was aiming for and I did enjoy the book for the most part, but I think that ultimately, it was pretty forgettable.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In an alternative Paris in 1828, where the French Revolution had failed, nine criminal guilds make up the Court Of Miracles where all those who are unwanted in society are welcome.

Nina, also known as the Black Cat, escaped a violent father and joined The Guild of Thieves. She is an excellent cat burglar, coming to the attention of The Prince Regent during one of her daring raids. But Nina wants to save her older sister, who her father sold into prostitution, into The Guild of the Flesh which is run by an evil despot with no humanity known as Tiger.

Nina’s adopted sister, Ettie, comes to the attention of Tiger, he wants to own her beauty and innocence. It is this that forces Nina’s hand, to go against the law of the Guilds and to try and save her sisters.

Nina is a kick-ass heroine who seems to get herself into scrapes and fights and it is a surprise she manages to survive them all. Whilst it is a bit daft that she keeps catching the eye of all the good looking men, despite Ettie being the stunner, I am glad there was no love story because I think it would have weakened the story.

Ignore any historical inaccuracies - this is an alternative universe and an adventure story, not a historical novel - this is a really enjoyable adventure story with strong, leading female characters.

A great read.

The Court of Miracles is an excellent historical fantasy novel inspired by Les Miserables. Imagine the French Revolution failed and that's our world. The protagonist will do whatever it takes to get her sister back. Saying anything else regarding the plot has me fearing spoilers. The writing is solid and that characters are outstanding! Readers who enjoy Six of Crows or Caraval will be thrilled to get their hands on The Court of Miracles. Be sure to check the book out today!

This is a book about the underbelly of life of the darker places in France, and built up of characters with nefarious personalities; of thieves, cutthroats, and beggars. The players are flawed, and our focus is on Nina, (our Eponine in this Les Miserables retelling) a cat burglar with a mission to save and protect her kin from the vice and cesspit of their world.
It’s a tragic, dark tale with heart and hope.

What a marvellous book. The book is both historical and emotional, wrapped in an epic tale. Highly recommend this book as it lives up to the hype.