Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles


my rating: ⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 
This story is a fantasy romance following Kallia, an ex-showgirl, as she breaks away from her master and strikes out to become a magician. This story was pitched as a Caraval and Phantom of the Opera type story. I agree with Phantom of the Opera but not with Caraval. The only Caraval comparison could be the contest that takes place. But in my opinion, the contest was vastly different from the "game" in Caraval. 

Overall, the story was fine. I think the author did a great job with the angsty romance of the story. Most the time, I like romance as a sub-plot but the author made it work so well in the forefront that I didn't mind it. The magic system was simply put and did not blow me away. I did feel the plot of the story could have been cut down. Nothing happened in the first 60% of the book. Yes, there was contest. Yes, there were murders but they did nothing to move the plot. Not until the last 25% did something FINALLY happen that moved the plot forward. This left me frustrated and bored for the majority of the book. I didn't connect with the characters. I felt they were flat and did not change much from the beginning of the book to the end. I also had a hard time figuring out the relationship between Kallia and Jack. 

This was 2.5 stars for me. I didn't enjoy the story and I wouldn't recommend it to other people.

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