A review by carolinek13
Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles
4.0
In a city covered in ice and ruin, a group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus, only to find themselves under the threat of an unseen danger striking behind the scenes.
Wow. This book. I have so many mixed feelings.
Kallia. I love her so much. She is such a strong icon. In a place where females struggle to take stage, she stands out. She faces every criticism and rises above. The men in the story judge her for simply being female. Her clothes are to scandalous, her words too witty. In a modern society where every women faces this, anyone can find themselves in Kallia.
Demarco. He was a little too predictable for me. A judge with a tragic past looking for answers falls for a beautiful girl. No matter the fantastical elements of this story, I could tell you the plot of Demarco’s life without having to read it on the page.
Jack. I LOVED Jack. The story sets him up to be the villain, and who doesn’t love a dark guy? He is the first and only constant in Kallia’s life. He is troubled and conflicted and dark and not in the story near enough. Please give me so much more Jack. I need it.
The setting: Hellfire House wasn’t featured enough. When Kallia left, I didn’t really care because I wasn’t attached to the place at all. Glorian was a good follow up because it did get some development, but even after finishing the book, I feel like I couldn’t really picture it. That may have been intentional, but throughout reading everything was a little bit muddy due to a small lack of development.
I am a little confused as to the purpose of Spectaculore. It was never really explained other than to save the city. I felt that was a little week. The story progressed well. The danger and twists and turns kept me interested. The romance was a little predictable and I didn’t like how fast Kallia fell in with aged assistant (he tried to rob you, girl), but the ending was WOW. The writing seemed to keep pace and was ready to anticipate, so I was so shocked at the last few chapters and the reveal of the villain and how the story ended and, despite my issues with this book, I will 110% be grabbing the sequel.
For a debut novel, I highly recommend this read!
Wow. This book. I have so many mixed feelings.
Kallia. I love her so much. She is such a strong icon. In a place where females struggle to take stage, she stands out. She faces every criticism and rises above. The men in the story judge her for simply being female. Her clothes are to scandalous, her words too witty. In a modern society where every women faces this, anyone can find themselves in Kallia.
Demarco. He was a little too predictable for me. A judge with a tragic past looking for answers falls for a beautiful girl. No matter the fantastical elements of this story, I could tell you the plot of Demarco’s life without having to read it on the page.
Jack. I LOVED Jack. The story sets him up to be the villain, and who doesn’t love a dark guy? He is the first and only constant in Kallia’s life. He is troubled and conflicted and dark and not in the story near enough. Please give me so much more Jack. I need it.
The setting: Hellfire House wasn’t featured enough. When Kallia left, I didn’t really care because I wasn’t attached to the place at all. Glorian was a good follow up because it did get some development, but even after finishing the book, I feel like I couldn’t really picture it. That may have been intentional, but throughout reading everything was a little bit muddy due to a small lack of development.
I am a little confused as to the purpose of Spectaculore. It was never really explained other than to save the city. I felt that was a little week. The story progressed well. The danger and twists and turns kept me interested. The romance was a little predictable and I didn’t like how fast Kallia fell in with aged assistant (he tried to rob you, girl), but the ending was WOW. The writing seemed to keep pace and was ready to anticipate, so I was so shocked at the last few chapters and the reveal of the villain and how the story ended and, despite my issues with this book, I will 110% be grabbing the sequel.
For a debut novel, I highly recommend this read!