What if the French Revolution failed? "The Court of Miracles" presents 19th century Paris from this alternative perspective. It also borrows characters from Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables". Despite this, Kester Grant has shown herself to be an excellent world builder in her own right. The plot is propelled along swiftly by narrator Nina - a feisty female protagonist to aspire to. It's a captivating book which provides perfect escapism. I cannot WAIT for the remaining books in the trilogy.

With very grateful thanks to Harper Collins for a review copy.

'The Court of Miracles' is a story that is very hard to categorise. Part alternative history, part riff on Victor Hugo's 'Les Misėrables' (though significantly more accessible than that novel) and part low fantasy.

The author's love for the source material shines through from the start. The French Revolution has failed, the ringleaders' heads rot on the bridges of Paris and all their families have been executed as as deterrent. The wretched, starving and criminal folk of the city form various guilds depending on their speciality. Once a member of such a guild no other guild can touch them. These guilds are each led by their own Lord and overseen by 'The Court of Miracles' made up of all the lords.

Nina, daughter of a vicious landlord can only watch as her elder sister is sold by their father to 'The Tiger' feared leader of the guild of flesh. Nina is rescued and becomes a member of the Thieves Guild where even her father, another thief, cannot touch her.

The story follows Nina's desperate attempts to find and rescue her sister. As she works toward her goal she becomes involved in many adventures and meets a whole cast of characters from the Dauphin to the most wretched of 'those who walk by night' as well as the lords of several other guilds. Many of the characters are alternative imaginings of those found in the pages of 'Les Misėrables' and the author freely acknowledges the debt she owes to that novel. Here we have a female Inspector Javert and Valjean is definitely shown in a very different light. Familiarity with Hugo's work is not required however as this story is perfectly accessible with no knowledge of the classic.

To say more about the plot would be difficult without spoilers but the novel is well written and the tension and excitement is constant form the start so it is a real page turner. The streets of Paris are dangerous and dirty, the aristocracy is paranoid about a second revolution and the military are on edge. Added to this famine is an ever present danger and death is a constant presence. All this is brought to life in the story without pages of exposition and Nina's adventures in this environment are easy to visualise.

There is a definite conclusion to the story but scope for a sequel and I certainly hope to read more of the history of 'The Court of Miracles.'

As seems to be becoming increasingly prevalent in modern novels this is written largely in the present tense which, personally, I find unnecessary and which doesn't seem to add anything to the novel but I suspect I may be in the minority. The story would be suitable for young adults as well as more mature readers, there are no scenes of sex or truly graphic violence though some young people may find some of the events quite distressing.

I would unhesitatingly recommend this to anyone looking for a well written historical adventure and something a bit different from the normal run of fantasy fiction. It may even tempt some readers back to original source material which can only lead to discovering more exciting tales.

I have read this book twice now and on second reading I still in awe of this story.

When a story is billed as Les Miserables meets Six of Crows, it makes a reader pay attention but it also makes some feel wary. Will this story live up to such grand expectations? With Six of Crows being such a hugely loved and revered YA title, it would take something huge to fill that description.

The Court of Miracles is huge. A retelling of some of the characters of Les Miserables, Eponine, Cosette and others. Set in an alternate Paris in 1828, the revolution has failed and Eponine is a master thief and working for the thieves guild in the Court of MIracles. The court is made up of a number of guilds; Letters, Assassins, Flesh, Thieves etc. Eponine's sister Cosette, has landed in her care, but Ettie has drawn the attention of the Tiger- the ruthless pimp of the Guild of Flesh and Nina (Eponine) has to protect her and navigate the underbelly of Paris, all while trying to prevent an all our gang war.

With a plot like that who wouldn't read that? Kester Grant delivers a spectacular journey through the back alleys of Paris to the palaces, mingling with ghoulish children, murderers, Kings, Dauphins and all many of characters. Grant gives a voice to two very important but silenced female characters in Hugo's original Les Miserables. Grant breathes life into her retelling of this well known story with excitement, danger, swoon worthy romance and drool inducing bad boy characters. Grant's writing style is fluid and fast paced to match the speed of her novel. I found myself devouring it's pages at an alarming rate until I faltered at the climax of the story only because I knew it might soon be over.

With inspiration drawn from many classic novels, Les Miserables and the Jungle Book be prepared to be drawn into an adventure rife with beauty, danger, thievery and excitement. I await with baited breath for all that Kester Grant has to offer in terms of future novels, but especially for an extension of this universe and all it's characters within.

Thankyou to Netgalley and HarperVoyager for the opportunity to review and read this story again. It was one of my favourite reads this year.

This was a fantastic retelling that really delivered the grot and hugh stakes. I think fans of Les Mis and dark YA stories will fall head over heels.

BOOK REVIEW: The Court of Miracles by @kesterkitgrant

4.5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and didn't want to put it down. I am a HUGE fan of Les Miserables and so to have a book based on it was great for me!
I didn't know what to expect and recently I have read a few books based around the French Revolution in Paris but this one is the best!
If you don't know Les Miserables I don't think you would get quite as much out of it but it certainly isn't a necessity to enjoy the book.
Nina was my absolute favourite. What a character! She was the black cat, sly, clever, nimble and fierce. An absolute joy to get to know, loyal to those she loves and a pain in the arse for her enemies! I love her!
There were a lot of characters in this book but it never got confusing. The different Courts were such a great idea and so much amazing imagination and detail that went into each one. They were the "fantasy" aspect of this book and I enjoyed learning and seeing more about them as the book went on.
The storyline was filled with adventure and amazing heists that were written beautifully. I was gripping the book in suspense at multiple points! I also rarely knew where the plot was going which doesn't happen often in YA Fantasy.
The writing was engaging and entertaining and I never felt bored.

I think you can tell that I enjoyed it! I now have a huge need to see Les Miserables even if it is the movie with Russell Crowe's awful singing!!

"One more dawn, One more day, One day more!"

Please note that I was #gifted this book in exchange for an honest review

Despite this story being absolutely nothing like how I imagined, I ended up thoroughly enjoying the politics and the world of this book. Unfortunately, that's about where my enjoyment ended. I had a really had time caring about any of the characters, and the time skips really threw me off. I'm not saying this is a bad book by any means, but it didn't necessarily mesh well with me. I'll more than likely give it another shot in the future, but for now, I recommend it to anyone who wants a quick fantasy with a whole lot of court intrigue.

Not sure how this book became one I requested. However, it was there so I read it or started to ... I quickly decided it’s not my thing. I love the books that it states it is like - Caraval and six of crows, but this was not the same. I can’t really give an honest full review as I could not finish the book. It’s historical that’s all I can really say.

I originally fell in love with this book for its originality and the blurb I read. I just thought it was something I could love.

Unfortunately, this book didn't reach any of the expectations that I had for it. It wasn't something I feel in love with and felt like I had to force myself to read which sucks. I hate when books do that.

It fell flat from the get go. The only upsides we're the characters.

This book was fine, but I didn't love the writing and the plot felt a little convoluted. I don't think I'll pick the sequel up.

I received with thanks an ARC copy of The Court of Miracles from Harper Collins UK and Netgalley.

This is my review of The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant. This was published on 4th June 2020.

This was an enjoyable debut set in a fantasied backdrop of the French Revolutions. This was interesting and enjoyed more that than I thought as the was sold as a twist between Les Misérables and Six of Crows. I have not read Six of Crows but I have heard good things, but I did not enjoy Les Misérables the movie and have not attempted the stage production. This was an interesting concept and well done.

Would recommend if you love fantasies with a twist.

An absolutely gorgeous story built on the bones of les mis, I adored this book. The world that Grant creates is magical and beautiful and I loved every minute spent there. I cannot wait to read more from her.

First of all, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. That and the title are what attracted me to the book originally.

The sense of adventure throughout this book surprised me, and i enjoyed every second of it. Creative writing stretched to the fullest of my imagination. Beautiful retelling, easy to connect with the characters.

Historical kind of fiction, with different twists and turns but surrounded by beauty and depth.

The Court of Miracles is described as Les Misérables meets Six of Crows and before you get your hopes up let me tell you that it is not exciting enough to me compared to either.

Firstly, I am really confused as to why and how this book is supposedly a retelling of Les Mis and The Jungle Book when there's next to no similarities between them and this. I don't know Les Mis that well but I do have a vague memory of the film and pretty much the only similarities I see are character names and I don't really see the point of it. It adds nothing to the story and half the characters interact differently in the book than they do in Les Mis so, again, what's the point?
The only Jungle Book related content I see is the whole thing with Nina/Ettie/Kaplan and I only saw that when it was pointed out. Despite this there's nothing original here. The plot, the setting, the history, the whole guild thing, it has all been done before.

Character wise, it's OK. I don't particularly love any of them. Ettie is the only one that gets quite annoying after a while. She's pretty useless for the most part and whiny and just no. Nina isn't that bad as far as protagonists go. She's quite bold and never got annoying nor did she give off that reckless feel that might get everyone else killed which was good. Another thing I don't understand about this book, is why does she have three love interests? One wasn't even necessary so why are there three!? Plus she doesn't seem to care that deeply about any of them. People can have platonic relationships you know.

In addition, the structure is very choppy. I almost feel as though parts of the book are missing. Something will happen and then in the next chapter we've moved on. There has to have been at least a five year time jump at one point because Nina starts the book very young and then she suddenly matures and has more of a presence but it's never made clear. There is another time jump later in the book and it is mentioned how much time has passed but it happens so suddenly that it's quite striking.

This is difficult, because overall I didn't mind it. I have no strong love for it nor do I hate it and that makes it worse because I can't bash it but I can't praise it fully either. There's definitely an unnecessary amount of characters that pop in and out randomly, which doesn't help with the choppiness. It's jerky and filled with historical inaccuracies, but for some reason I still don't hate it.

I have no idea how the author is going to make a trilogy out of this. It could have ended so neatly with a little bow on top, but no. I feel like I'm going to keep ranting about this book for a few days so I'll just end this here.

In short: Good qualities but poorly executed.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback

Unfortunately I couldn’t get into this one. Was beautifully written but historical fiction i have decided is not my genre of choice. Other who like this genre have raved about it so I’m sure it will be a hit. Just wasn’t for me.

This book had a great foundation with the underground network of Parisian criminals but it was like the author had focused all their energy on this one great idea and then just literally THREW plot devices at it. Three love interests with very little interaction between them and the main character? Sure why not. Nonsensically calling it a Les Mis adaptation because it’s set in France, a revolution is one of the many many many subplots, and the characters are inexplicably named after Les Mis characters? Go ahead.
None of the characters actions had any intention behind them and the pacing was completely off. Super supposedly important things would happen and then the next chapter would just skip weeks ahead, making the supposedly important thing completely irrelevant.
There was so much focus on the next bit of action that nothing had any impact because there was no time to digest anything, no time to get to know any of the characters, and just made it feel like a complete slog to get through.

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.

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars

Kester Grants debut steps right off the page in this magical alternative paris, where the nobility is seen as somewhat dirty, and the criminal courts are opulent and exciting. From the get go the reader is deeply involved in Nina, whom we follow as she grows from a small child to a young woman full of of character and righteous rage.

We are also introduced to a wide array of characters who each have something to prove, something to make, and something to better themselves with. This wonderful alternative Paris, with its soft and odd ties to Les Miserables starts off strong but falter slightly at its end.

However, this is where I think the story especially shines. The courts and their masters are wonderfully flawed and imperfect, and human, and the stories Grant wove in to tell the story of the past, and the previous rebellion had me deeply hooked.

However, as much as I wanted to root for Nina, I feel like her training was glossed over. Her abilities and her charm which she insisted she did not have (which to be honest is a pet peeve of mine) seemed to make every fawn over her, and I count at least three different possible romantic partners. I also do not quite understand how the big challenge, the prison which no on could break out of… was no challenge to her at all.

Another thing which made me slightly less enthusiastic about this story were the massive jumps in the timeline, which I think took away from connecting with the characters. At one point I had to go back and reread the better part of a chapter as I had not noticed that we had suddenly moved forward three years. I believe this could have been better explored, if the wild jumps in time where truly needed.

Overall, I think the setting and the magic of the writing was what held me to this story, but the plot lacked a little (this was especially seen with the sudden shift in the end goal causing my understanding of the story to fracture) We also had a lot of being told certain feelings, instead of allowing the reader to see them for themselves in the book.

I’ll be excited to see what comes next from this debut author as I can see a definite potential.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped to. It was sold to me as a Les Miserables retelling, but aside from the names and the book being set in France, I didn't find anything to connect the two. I wanted to love it, but there were historical inaccuracies that I just couldn't get behind (the Faberge egg situation, for example). Whilst I knew it was an 'alternative' France, I just couldn't shake it.

Great effort, but it wasn't my favourite read of the year.

This was a great story, shades of Les Miserables. Some really good characters and lots of action. Fast moving story that draws you in. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for an ARC of The Court Of Miracles.

A retelling you say? A mash-up between The Jungle Book and Les Misérables? That was an instant moment of hell yes, I am reading that! The Court Of Miracles is the first book in what is anticipated to be a three-book series and boy if the other two can deliver on what Book 1 has done then Kester Grant is on to a winner. This Young Adult Fantasy brought everything to the table and more. Espionage. Political intrigue. Double crossing. The story flew through me much like an elegant swan preparing for flight. It was smooth and with purpose.

We are instantly thrown into the action with our main protagonist being pulled away from her sister. Nina’s sister is more than that… a best friend, a mother and a best friend. There’s confusion and panic but Nina is put into the care of a trusted friend. Just what is happening to her sister? Instantly these questions scramble for supremacy within your brain. A story that makes you itch for answers, makes you yearn for the smallest nugget of information, something that will allow you to connect the dots.

I don’t have that many negative points to state about The Court Of Miracles, but I did feel at points that scenes didn’t flow as elegantly as perhaps they should have. I would have enjoyed more descriptive sections of text of the world that Kester Grant had built. Sometimes it had a feeling of being a little on the abrupt side.

Something that this story did exceedingly well is character development. Nina is the kind of strong, independent female that just lights my fire. She kicks ass and takes names and doesn’t live by the standards that are expected from her from others. She progresses from a lost girl to the black cat of the Guild Of Thieves. She makes a mistake, but she isn’t shy at admitting it and trying to make amends for it, no matter the personal cost. She carries her guilt upon her like a lead weight and it is this that makes her utterly human. She’s human and she has her faults, but she is loyal to a fault. Ettie calls to her maternal side – the need to protect and nurture her is never far from her mind. She refuses to allow the powerful and corrupt men of the court to attempt to own her. Ettie and Nina – you can’t have one without the other.

The biggest driving force In The Court Of Miracles is of course The Court. The political intrigue and the French history gives us a multi-layered background the motivations and actions of the lords and ladies of the court. The individual guilds from Assassins to letters had the reader hungering for more from each of them. I’d probably would have liked to see more of drag out from the scenario with one bad guy, would have enjoyed a cliff-hanger in regard to this. Everyone enjoys a truly devious bad guy!