REVIEW: The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
The Court of Miracles is set in the world of les mis but with a twist, a fantasy twist. We follow the same characters but in a new fantasy setting. We are in an alt history post revolution France and we begin our story in Paris of 1828 were the French revolution failed. France is fighting for survival and so are all of its inhabitants. Many are trying to thrive in this world and so form the Miracle Court which is comprised of many guilds, The Guild of Thieves, The Guild of Letters, The Guild of Flesh and many more. Our main protagonist Nina (Eponine) is thrust into this world when her father Thernadier sells her older sister, Azelma to the guild of flesh. The guild of flesh is known for many things and Azelma will most likely end up in a life of sexual slavery. This displeases and angers Nina and vows to find Azelma and get her back but in doing so will risk the life of her younger adopted sister, Ettie (Cosette). Nina must choose between one sister and the other.
One thing about this book that I found out recently, is that it is also loosely inspired by The Jungle Book, taking characters from that story as well. Such as the main villain of the story, Tiger. Tiger is after Ettie now more than ever just as Shere Khan was after Mowgli thanks to Nina’s actions putting her in harms way. Tiger’s back-story and his motivations are explored throughout the book and is truly fascinating and an all around well-written character as opposed to other characters in this book such as Nina. Nina jumps from saving one sister to saving the other. In the beginning of the book Nina is driven by saving her older sister Azelma but she suddenly does a 180 on saving her when it puts Ettie in harms way, even though we are given no context of what their relationship is like as adopted sisters. It seemed like she was closer to Azelma and then just left her to the dust.
I’m not going to lie here and say that the cover didn’t inspire me to pick it up but if you look at it, it’s truly stunning. I feel like the cover, though gorgeous and all makes you think that you are getting a different story to what you do. I don’t know really, maybe that’s just my thoughts on it. Though the writing that Kester Grant gives us is magnificent, I feel like the word ‘retelling’ should not cover this book as it is not truly such a thing rather it’s just inspired by the stories of Les Mis and Jungle Book rather than a retelling. Taking elements from both and combining them into a wonderful book filled with many different ideas.
Overall, this story was gripping and sets the tone for future books in the series. I can’t wait to read them.
4 out of 5 stars.