Book Synopsis:
Camille Durbonne gambled everything she had to keep herself and her sister safe. But as the people of Paris starve and mobs riot, safety may no longer be possible...
Not when Camille lives for the rebellion. In the pamphlets she prints, she tells the stories of girls living at society’s margins. But as her writings captivate the public, she begins to suspect a dark magic she can’t control lies at the heart of her success. Then Louis XVI declares magic a crime and all magicians traitors to France. As bonfires incinerate enchanted books and special police prowl the city, the time for magic—and those who work it—is running out.
In this new Paris where allegiances shift and violence erupts, the answers Camille seeks set her on a perilous path, one that may cost her the boy she loves—even her life. If she can discover who she truly is before vengeful forces unmask her, she may still win this deadly game of revolution.
My Review:
This was great! This book was a sequel to the book All That Glitters, originally called Enchantée, which was one of my favorite books of last year. I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the first one, but it was still a good book. I don’t know if this series will have more books, but I would definitely read them if there were.
This book expanded way more on the magic system and the history of it, which I thought was interesting, but the magic wasn't my favorite part of the last book, so I wouldn't have cared if it had or not. I liked how this book talked a lot more about how it was wrong that magicians being hated on and targeted during the revolution just because they were magicians. It had a lot of parallels to minorities in today's society.
Somehow, I felt like the stakes weren't as high as in the first book, despite the consequences in this book being possible death. A lot of the conflict in the first book involved Camille and Sophie's abusive older brother, Alain, which felt a lot more dramatic and emotional because it was their own family. On a similar note, Camille's character in the first book and the things she did to solve problems felt less morally perfect. In the first book, she was doing a lot of wrong, and sometimes stupid, things, but they were always for the right reason and she felt guilty for doing them. In this book, though, she was a lot more just doing what's right without there being any doubt that what she was doing was good.
As for the other returning characters, I still loved Lazare and his romance with Camille, especially at the end when he proposed. I also liked that we learned more about Rosier, and I thought his romance with Sophie was cute. Chandon, a character from the first book, had a big role in this one, too, but I don't think we learned anything new about him and I didn't really feel attached to him.
In terms of new characters, I liked them, but felt that some could've had more depth. I like Blaise, particularly because he owned a bookshop and was all about reading. Even though I liked him, I didn't really feel much about his death, because the book didn't give us time to really get to know him. I also enjoyed the Lost Girls, a big part of the plot early on, but thought that they could have been fleshed out more. I couldn't tell you the personality of each of them individually, except for a couple of them, because there were so many of them and not enough time spent getting to know each one.
The "villain" in this story was pretty good. I wasn't expecting her to be a bad character when she was first introduced, but then predicted it after a while. She was well written because there were a few scenes towards the end where I disliked her a lot. Her death at the end really shocked me, I was not expecting her to have such a sudden ending.
I thought the plot was good. Like I said before, I didn't like it as much as in the first book, but there were a lot of parts I still really enjoyed. As a writer myself, I liked how much of a focus there was on Camille's writing and how it sparked a lot of things in the revolution. The ending of the book didn't feel very clean and I would've liked it to wrap up a little nicer than it did.
As for the age rating for this book, I'd say teens. There's no bad language (at least in English), but there is a scene with Camille and Lazare that I wasn't expecting that went pretty far. It also talks about Camille's desire for Lazare anytime they kiss or touch, which was a little uncomfortable. If you're okay with that, I would highly recommend this book.
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