ARC Review: The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant [6/2]

Nina is the Black Cat of the Thieves Guild–there’s nowhere that she can’t break into. When the notorious Tiger sets his eyes on her father’s ward, Ettie, Nina will do whatever it takes to save her from him. In revolutionary France, this Les Miserables retelling brings Eponine into the spotlight.

I’ll be honest, I’m not super familiar with the original plot of Les Mis. I saw the movie when it came out, so I know very vaguely what’s going on, but I didn’t know enough to recognize what all is changed in this book. I think it may have been a more enjoyable read if I did know a little more? But maybe it would have been the same. It felt like maybe there were some times when I was supposed to be able to anticipate what might happen next, but I couldn’t do that.

I liked Nina as a main character. Her motivations were very clear and I felt like she was pretty consistent. I did think it was a little overkill to have three guys falling over themselves for her though? Just one would be enough, thanks. I liked Ettie as well and almost wish we’d gotten some more from her. She had really great development as a character and the Ettie at the end of the book is miles away from the Ettie at the beginning (in a really good way).

The plot itself was confusing to me at times. Obviously the driving plot is that Nina is trying to save Ettie from the Tiger, but the way certain things happened wasn’t always super clear. I missed one of the time jumps too I think because all of the sudden Nina was talking about how she’d been a cat for a few years when I thought it had only been a few days. I really liked the concept of the guilds and Lords, though. I wish I had been reading a physical copy instead of an eARC so I could keep referring back to the pages at the beginning that listed all the guilds and key players.

Overall, I thought this book was good and I did feel like it helped fill the Six of Crows shaped hole in my heart. I can’t say if Les Mis fans will especially like this one, but I thought it was good and I haven’t seen any other Les Mis retellings out there. I’m definitely looking forward to where this series goes.

Preorder: Hardcover | Kindle

Overall Rating: 3.5
Language: Mild
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.