The Court of Miracles – Kester Grant
Knopf | Paperback | May 25, 2021
The Gist
A thief goes toe-to-toe with a brutal lord in the Parisian criminal underbelly in the wake of a reimagined French revolution with Les Mis crossover to save her sister and friend.
Read this if you like…
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Alliterative histories
Reimaginings
Rich world building
Verdict: Read it!
Seriously, don’t wait for the paperback, go pick up the hardcover and read it!
Though the characters of Victor Hugo’s classic novel are weaved throughout The Court of Miracles, make no mistake Kester Grant’s reimagining is nothing short of original and innovative. Honestly, the world Grant has built is so rich and complex, she really doesn’t need to lean on Hugo’s work at all. The novel is set in an alternate history where the French Revolution, as we know it, has failed and the Parisian underbelly is ruled by nine guild lords. But while all are welcome and equal in the Miracle Court, classism and racism still divide the Parisian streets above.
Éponine “Nina” Thénardier, aka the Black Cat, is a thief of unparalleled skill and it is through her that we see the city come to the brink of revolution once more. She’s daring, courageous, and sometimes too clever for her own good. But beneath her calculating and sometimes prickly exterior is a vulnerable young woman with a caring heart. We follow Nina through Grant’s brutal and often violent world as she goes toe-to-toe with the Tiger, the most despicable and evil of all the lords in the Miracle Court (which is saying something considering there’s a gang of ghosts that eats their enemies alive!). Though the novel is slow to start, with each adventure Nina embarks on the plot picks up more speed until there is no choice but to compulsively read it all the way through.
But Grant doesn’t let the plot get away from her characters like a runaway train at any point. She expertly balances the action and tension with character development. At the start of the novel, Nina is a naive and innocent thief without a cause, and by the novel’s end, we see her grow into a criminal mastermind who has found her place in the world—while also fighting for a new one.
