Review: Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles

it was wrong to justify what sort of hurt mattered and what didn’t. anything that left scars came from hurt. only now was she realizing the scars she bore and had trained herself not to see.

janella angeles

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Goodreads Summary: In a city covered in ice and ruin, a group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus, only to find themselves under the threat of an unseen danger striking behind the scenes. As each act becomes more and more risky and the number of missing magicians piles up, three are forced to reckon with their secrets before the darkness comes for them next.

The Star: Kallia, a powerful showgirl out to prove she’s the best no matter the cost

The Master: Jack, the enigmatic keeper of the club, and more than one lie told

The Magician: Demarco, the brooding judge with a dark past he can no longer hide

Rating:

Thoughts:

This book is confusing. It leaves you with more questions than answers. Only vague feelings about most of the characters because they’re not really fleshed out or have too much mystery surrounding them. And am I the only one who doesn’t see the comparison to The Phantom of the Opera?

I’m not really sure how I feel about this book hence the 3 stars. There were some parts I liked, others I didn’t. For one thing, I think there’s just way too much mystery in it. There’s mystery about where our main character first lives, then there’s mystery about the town she journeys to. There’s mystery about the mentor she had for her magic practice then mystery in the next magician she makes a connection with. There’s mystery in the entire competition when things keep going wrong for our main character. It does add to the mystical uncertainty vibe I think the author was going for but it didn’t make for a very pleasant reading experience since I was constantly trying to puzzle out what was going on the entire 400+ pages. There’s very few things that have any kind of concrete element to anchor the book.

The pacing was quite slow for me and ultimately I felt it had too much detail in the wrong areas. We’re given detailed paragraphs of every single place our main character visits so the reader can picture the setting but then the worldbuilding is weak. After 400+ pages, I still have no idea how the magic system works in the world. Why some magicians are born and some use acquired magic and how the latter even acquire said magic. It took me until about 75% in to understand what a “labor magician” was since it was only associated with women magicians and so I assumed they were midwives of a sort but they’re in fact just magicians who are basically maids I believe? I have literally so many questions about the characters and world which I assume will be answered in the second book but I’m also fearful will be glommed over for the sake of the storyline such as why the Patrons, some sort of researching and enforcing group for magicians, have never looked into Glorian, where the competition takes place, when it’s surrounded by rumors and intrigue and widely known to be so.

I did enjoy the romance which boosted the story for me. And it was interesting to be able to see things from different points of view with the way the story is written in third person. The main character is pretty likeable and it’s admirable how she is determined not to let misogynism stop her or intimidate her. Some of the side characters are pretty bland and flat, especially the other competitors. But I really enjoyed Daron’s character, one of the competition’s judges, and am intrigued to see the truth behind the mystery of him. Some portions of the book are predictable but since so much of the story has yet to be resolved, the mystery continues into the second book.

Overall, if you’re a big fan of mystery and “the big picture” books, then you’ll probably enjoy this. But you may want to wait to pick it up until closer to the second book’s release so you’ll remember all of the mysteries still yet to be solved and won’t have to wait for answers like the rest of us.

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