Review of Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles: Blog Tour

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles

3.76 out of 5 Stars

**Thank you to Wednesday Books for an ARC and for welcoming me to be a part of the blog tour for this release!**

 

Where Dreams Descend is the first book in a new YA fantasy duology and is the author's debut novel. It follows Kallia, a magician with extraordinary magical abilities and even more extraordinary dedication and ambition. To earn her place as a magician, especially considering she's a female magician, she enters into the Spectaculore, a competition to find a new headliner for the Conquering Circus. Magic is both awe-inspiring and fear-inducing however, and with good reason. Performers in the competition are disappearing and an unknown shadowed force is sinking its grip into the city and magicians.

The beginning starts off with such a bang. Like, holey moley, this rollercoaster starts with a breakneck speed and I loved that. Right away, we get rich tones for every character, an enthralling atmosphere that sets the tone, and so many questions about the world and the magic system. And we move too. The pace dies off a little bit once Kallia actually gets to the city where the Spectaculore is, but it was still moving at a good clip. It was such an amazing beginning though. That may seem like an odd thing to highlight, but I really truly loved this beginning.

Lowkey, I was a little worried when I saw that this book was going to be about magicians and be centered around a magic show, but I had nothing to worry about at all! I guess my main concern was that it would either be too caricatured or too over the top. But while the performances certainly had a showiness to them, the rest of the story was a fantasy, and thank God for it. The world was actually much more grim than I was expecting too. I saw a comparison for this book to The Prestige (which, great movie, highly recommend), and I 100% agree with that not just because it is about magicians, but also because of the grit and the greyness of the city.

I feel like I'm come far in the review without any spoilers, so I'm just gonna finish it with no spoilers and see how that goes. :)

PLOT
Like I briefly mentioned above, I was a little worried about what the plot of this magician-circus-showy story would be like. But what I found while I was reading it was not the super dramatic, almost middle-grade, big top that I was worried about, but instead there were complexities that I really appreciated. Honestly, I think it could have been even darker and even more intense, but it was still a good story line that was fun to read.

One of the things I wish we got to see more of however was the building dark magic. I think I would have loved to see that take center stage as opposed to the Spectaculore because it was just more interesting to me. The performances were cool and interesting, but the behind the scenes disappearances were just so much more interesting to me. The Spectaculore was a very clean, clear-cut structure for us to follow along with, but I found myself always reading for the next dark magic moment, not the next performance.

CHARACTERS
Kallia, Jack, and Demarco are our three "main" characters. For the most part, it's Kallia and Demarco, but I have to mention Jack because he and Kallia had such. good. chemistry. Like, off the charts, I loved every conversation they had, it toes the line between rivalry and attraction, what's the next interaction going to be, kind of chemistry. And I think Kallia as a character, was most consistent when she was with Jack. At other times, I found her development to be a bit rocky. I'm glad she grew and developed as a character because given her background and her motivations, I would be extremely disappointed if she didn't change at all throughout this book. But that development was jumpy at times. There would be strings of dialogue when the internal tone I had for her was completely off, and it was an effort to understand how she came to be saying the things that she was.

Wow. That last sentence was so abstract. I think the simpler way for me to say it is-- Kallia's development was best when it was through her actions, not her words. Whenever there was a developmental moment for her character through what she was saying, it came across a little clunky for me. It didn't throw me out of the story, but it did throw me off the pacing.

I feel like Demarco's character had a little bit of the same issue developmentally. His best moments of growth where through his actions, not his words. His development wasn't as jolting as Kallia's could be though. If there were clunky developmental dialogue pieces, they were minor. And now, what I'm about to say may be controversial... but I didn't think he and Kallia had nearly the same amount of chemistry that Jack and Kallia had.  We'll see what happens. Who knows how things will turn out. My heart isn't set for any ships yet in this series, so I'm down for whichever.

WORLD
I want to see more of this world! And I say that, not in a snub to this book, but as a plus for the groundwork that has been laid out in this first book. I know it's only a duology, but I really hope we get to more deeply explore what this world is like and how the different governing bodies, city to city, magic to non-magic, interact with each other. I also want to return to that break neck pacing of the beginning, because clearly I'm obsessed with it. :) Hopefully, the second book just plunges us right into the thick of things and I would definitely be down with reading along that super fast pace for the entirety of the story.

It's magical, it's a little cheeky, it's both grey and colorful, and it's almost perfectly balanced. I think given the way the atmosphere is slightly mellowed out and how the characters are a little less complex, it is a younger YA fantasy. However, let us all remember that those are some of the best and I think we need those young YA books so that teens aren't intimidated by books, especially fantasies. If I were a high school teacher, I would be recommending this to my freshmen and sophomores. :) For a debut especially, I am excited to see where the second book takes us and how the story gets finished up!

Also, I was able to ask Janella some questions about the book! If you want to check it out, the link is here and it will take you to a quick Q&A I had with the author!


Thanks for reading!
(p.s. i just realized i put three smileys into this review, and i kind of want to smack myself in the head for that.)