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A review by paragraphsandpages
Belle Révolte by Linsey Miller
3.0
I'm not really sure how to explain how I feel about this book. Like I both enjoyed the world, magic, and plot, yet never actually felt attached to it.
Admittedly, I had to switch to the audiobook early on because the writing felt too disjointed/weird to me at first (I had to reread some sentences multiple times because they just read oddly), and listening made all those issues go away. However, it was so much harder to keep track of what was going on/all the characters, so that also affected my reading. In the end, I'm not sure whether it would've been better had I just pushed through reading my physical copy or not.
I do have to commend this novel's diversity though. It's so casual and everywhere and I love it. This is what fantasy deserves! Not just token characters here and there, but everywhere! (I mean there was f/f rep, trans characters, ace characters, and more rep I'm missing/wasn't as clear cut). That alone made this fantasy stand out.
Unfortunately, I wasn't all that into the plot. It just hit too close to [b:Enchantée|36613718|Enchantée (Enchantée, #1)|Gita Trelease|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542046529l/36613718._SY75_.jpg|58370622] for me, even though they're not really that close story wise. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a French Revolution style fantasy again, and I didn't go in realizing just how close to that it would feel. I loved the magic system and the setting, just wish the plot itself was slightly different.
I really liked the characters though, even if I didn't feel a strong connection to any of them. I feel like this is where the book really shines, and would have been my favorite part had I not been so confused by the amount of them sometimes.
Overall, I'm not writing off other books by this author just yet, but I'll be going in a bit more wary,
Admittedly, I had to switch to the audiobook early on because the writing felt too disjointed/weird to me at first (I had to reread some sentences multiple times because they just read oddly), and listening made all those issues go away. However, it was so much harder to keep track of what was going on/all the characters, so that also affected my reading. In the end, I'm not sure whether it would've been better had I just pushed through reading my physical copy or not.
I do have to commend this novel's diversity though. It's so casual and everywhere and I love it. This is what fantasy deserves! Not just token characters here and there, but everywhere! (I mean there was f/f rep, trans characters, ace characters, and more rep I'm missing/wasn't as clear cut). That alone made this fantasy stand out.
Unfortunately, I wasn't all that into the plot. It just hit too close to [b:Enchantée|36613718|Enchantée (Enchantée, #1)|Gita Trelease|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542046529l/36613718._SY75_.jpg|58370622] for me, even though they're not really that close story wise. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a French Revolution style fantasy again, and I didn't go in realizing just how close to that it would feel. I loved the magic system and the setting, just wish the plot itself was slightly different.
I really liked the characters though, even if I didn't feel a strong connection to any of them. I feel like this is where the book really shines, and would have been my favorite part had I not been so confused by the amount of them sometimes.
Overall, I'm not writing off other books by this author just yet, but I'll be going in a bit more wary,