The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
Hello Books Lovers,
here we are at the third review this week, which due to some program changes will also be the last of this series, for the next one I invite you to come back to the blog on Monday. Today we are talking about Kester Grant’s The Court of Miracles, a book released a few weeks ago by Mondadori, the first of a trilogy. This first book was released in English in 2019 but still after two years there is no news on the sequel, we hope it will come out soon.
As always, whenever I start reading a book, the last thing I find out about it’s that being a retelling. For The Court of Miracles, however, it was quite easy to find out because the members of the nine guilds in the book are called Miserables, and already from there some assumptions arise. In fact, The Court of Miracles is a retelling of Les Miserables, even more so since it’s also set in Paris in 1800.
The plot itself is not complicated, in fact it is quite smooth, and interesting as you scroll through the pages. What in my opinion makes it a mhe is the fact that in many scenes, in the succession I did not see a logical thread. Usually before moving from one place to another, or introducing characters etc, these things are premeditated. There are some detail that indicates what is about to happen, here instead we often and willingly go from one place to another, we meet new characters who have come out of nowhere without a real introduction. In these terms, perhaps the book would have needed more work. Then, if it is a way of writing linked to its being a retelling, I don’t know, I have never read les Miserables. Everything is possible.
This, however, does not take anything from the story that I liked a lot anyway. Of course, having noticed it as a detail, it is not trivial, but the adventure told in this book is valid enough to make me look away for this once. Nina was only a young girl when her father sold her sister to the leader of the corporation of the flesh, condemning Azelma to a miserable life, full of pain and suffering, much worse than death.
Then Nina was taken to the thieves’ guild to at least try to save her from her father’s greed. She was told not to try to save her sister because it would be useless, but all that Nina does for years is just that, looking for Azelma, finding Azelma, and saving Azelma.
Years pass, Nina finds Azelma and now she just has to take her sister with her. But there will be other situations to be addressed in the meantime. New acquaintances, friends, but also new enemies. Because Nina is the best at what she does, but she sure is too impulsive. We still have two books in front of us, but to find out if Nina will succeed, you need to read the book.
One thing I didn’t really like, however, is Nina’s personality. Impulsiveness, and mostly Nina’s selfishness. In the book she will make, in my opinion, too many bad and selfish choices. The proof of those are all the situations that will get her in trouble, and with her those around her. I hope her behavior will change over time.
P.S. I have some not so good news regarding the release of the sequel. It is scheduled for April 2023 in English. I don’t know why this choice was made, 4 years after the release of the first one, but we will have to wait a long time I would say. Let’s hope the story is worth the wait.
