Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book is truly incredible. The writing was incredible. Agh I loved it so much! I saw it at the library last week thinking it would be something nice to read, but I never expected it to be my next five star book!
Summary
Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians...
When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
With dark magic forbidden by her mother, Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’ and is swept up into life at the Palace of Versailles, where aristocrats both fear and hunger for la magie. There, she gambles at cards, desperate to have enough to keep herself and her sister safe. Yet the longer she stays at court, the more difficult it becomes to reconcile her resentment of the nobles with the enchantments of Versailles. And when she returns to Paris, Camille meets a handsome young balloonist—who dares her to hope that love and liberty may both be possible.
But la magie has its costs. And when Camille loses control of her secrets, the game she's playing turns deadly. Then revolution erupts, and she must choose—love or loyalty, democracy or aristocracy, freedom or magic—before Paris burns…
There are so many things I enjoyed about this book. I loved the magic aspect, the conflict, the mystery, the love, the cities, agh I just loved all of it so much. I enjoyed how it kept me guessing at what was going to happen! I haven't felt that way about a book in such a long time. It was refreshing to feel so deeply invested in the story and the characters, and while that is usually more common for me to feel when reading books, it was different this time. There was something magical (how fitting) about this book for me.
I'm struggling to express my thoughts because I finished the book less than five minutes ago at the time of writing this.
Seriously, if you enjoy historical fiction with an aspect of magic and a twinge of love, then I would definitely recommend this. You will fall in love with the characters and yell at them (like I did multiple times) when they make stupid mistakes! But love them all the same.
p.s. I'm sorry this review is short and that it's mostly my ramblings
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