A review by andyourstruly
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

2.75

I've had friends who said they wouldn't know this was Les Mis-inspired if they hadn't been told and also that they preferred it as a standalone novel (as opposed to a Les Mis spin-off), but honestly, I felt the opposite: I could tell immediately that it was a Les Mis AU, I enjoyed it with that in mind, and without that background knowledge ie as a standlone novel it would have fallen flat for me.  Now, I say this as a 30yo adult reading a middle grade novel, so it's hardly a fair assessment, but especially as someone who has spent nearly a third of their life in Thailand, I'd really been hoping that the recontextualization would be trying to say something a little more than what it did.  (The author is a WONDERFUL speaker though, absolutely BANGER powerpoints.)