House of Marionne

"4.5. Full review on YT. Well recommended."

"The introduction to Quell the main character captivated me. However, there were definitely slow parts at the magic school. How is devoting a chunk of the book to manners/etiquette suppose to hold my interest. The ending was a banger which gives me some hope that the sequel could be good."

" Quell has spent her life running, protecting the dark magic that is a part of her. After a near miss with a dragun (magic wielders trained to get rid of people with the dark magic), Quell and her mother are forced to separate. She runs into more draguns where she is supposed to meet with her mother. As a last recourse, Quell flees to the home of her Grandmom, someone she hasn*t seen since she was very young. Her Grandmom is the headmistress of one of 4 magic houses (schools). Quell is soon training with magic. She learns that she can use other, less destructive, forms of magic. The more she uses it, the stronger the magic will become. Quell needs to make it through training, without anyone finding out about her dark magic, so she can bind with another magic and rid herself of the dark magic once and for all. This is a great story that kept me reading until I couldn't keep my eyes open. The characters are well developed and not always likeable. The relationships are many layered. The plot is not predictable as it takes several surprising turns. The story is mostly about Quell discovering who she truly is. It has a little romance thrown in but no see. I recommend House of Marionne for anyone looking to read about a new magical system, for anyone who loves the magical education trope, for anyone who loves a strong heroine, and for those who enjoy the enemy to lovers trope. I don't have any content warnings for this book. "

"This was a fun page-turner! A girl on the run takes refuge at a magical school (of which she is the heir). While she learns her “good” magic, she hopes she will be able to also secretly learn to control the innate “bad” magic that she was unfortunately born with. Chaos, drama, and romance ensue. Looking forward to book 2! "

"Firstly, a HUGE thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me the ARC of this book.  The opinions are my own after reviewing the digital copy. <br/>⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐<br/>I LOVED this book!!!  This hasn't been released yet and I want to read book two"

"Loved the unexpected plot twists, the way everything connected at the end and the cliffhanger setup for the next book. Can’t wait for shadows of Perl to come out!!"

"i loved the world building, the concept of being marked and unmarked was really cool. enemies to lovers concept was great too!! the characters were like a breath of fresh air and the plot twists ate down. although, at the end it sort of felt like i was reading just to finish it but LOVE IT. also, quell and her toushana are a great duo. "

"Magic, Mystery, and Morally Gray Characters in "House of Marionne"<br/><br/>If you're a fan of YA fantasy with a magical school setting, complex characters, and a dash of forbidden romance, this might be the book for you. The story follows Quell, a 17-year-old girl who has spent her life on the run with her mother to hide her deadly magic. When her mother goes missing, Quell seeks refuge at a prestigious school for those with magical abilities. But this school is full of secrets and danger. I loved the introduction to the different houses and the magic system. The themes of family, power, and the struggle with one's destiny really stood out. The characters are complex, with morally gray areas that make them interesting. The pacing is fast, with plenty of action and twists to keep you guessing. The romantic subplot adds an extra layer of tension. Overall, "House of Marionne" is a captivating read with a unique magic system and intriguing characters. It's perfect for fans of "Crave" and "A Court of Thorns and Roses." I'm excited to see where the next book takes the story!<br/><br/><br/>Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC and allowing me to provide my honest review"

"{4.5/5}<br/><br/>Read via NetGalley. <br/><br/>A little confusing and slow to start, but then a really interesting read.<br/><br/>Quell has only ever known a life on the run. With just 3 weeks left before she graduates, just 3 weeks until she and her mom can settle down somewhere and hide permanently, everything comes crashing down. Separated from her mother and hunted by men who can wield shadows, Quell seeks refuge with her grandmother. Finding herself at the equivalent of a magical boarding school, Quell devises a plan. A plan that hinges solely on one thing—Quell’s ability to hide her curse.<br/><br/>I should clarify my initial statement— the story starts off with some confusion, but it makes sense for the character. Quell knows nothing about this world, she really doesn’t even know anything about her own curse, and she gets a crash course in the history, structure, and culture of an entire group of people she didn’t even know existed. If you can overlook one relatively minor instance of info dumping and just go with the flow, learning alongside the character, the story rapidly evolves into something really magical and fun. The lack of more information isn’t so bad that it impedes the story, and by the end of the book there’s enough relevant content to sort through the events.<br/><br/>With all of that in mind, it’s also fair to note that the world building is deceptively immense. At first glance it seems like we’ve just got a secret magical society doing their own thing and that’s all there is to it, but that would be a false impression. The further you go and the more you discover, the more it becomes apparent that the author has done a *lot* of behind the scenes development. Between the depth and the actual descriptions, the whole setting just feels magical and sort of ‘other’ in an almost creepy way. It’s something I’m really hoping to see more of in book 2.<br/><br/>Quell as a character is an odd blend of traits. She’s mature for her age, presumably since she’s had to be hyper vigilant and overly responsible for basically her entire life, but, at the end of the day, she’s also only 17. She makes some really questionable decisions and takes some really big risks that sometimes make you cringe just a little bit. Interpersonally, she’s both incredibly stunted (because it’s kind of hard to get a good foundation for friends when you keep moving all the time) and really aware (because when you need to blend in all the time you get really good at it), and it makes for an interesting, if sometimes frustrating, set of interactions. Fortunately for our character, she’s likable and clever, so it’s easy enough to root for her and overlook some traits that would be borderline unforgivable in an older character.<br/><br/>The plot itself was an odd mix of character growth and action, so I don’t really know what to label it, but it held my attention pretty solidly the whole way through. This is definitely one of those books where you’re just going to have to be willing to go along for the ride and see where it takes you, but it’s got some intriguing twists along the way that I felt made up for the end goal being a little abstract at times. <br/><br/>Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s definitely in that upper-YA/lower-NA age category, and we can see that reflected in our MC and in some of the depth of interactions. Keeping that in mind, it still manages to present a plotline that gave plenty of fun twists and surprises with a subtly creepy undertone. I’d call it ‘high society magic’ crossed with ‘dark academia’ and sprinkled with just a smidge of ‘creepy groups that feel almost like a cult.’ If that sounds like a good time to you, then you’d probably enjoy this book<br/>"

"This was okay. I think because it’s the first book in the series it was confusing and hard for me to understand the world building. There so many things going on in this world. The main character Quell and her mom have to constantly flee because of Quell’s dark magic/powers an assassin trying to get her. She ends up meeting her grandmother and getting into a secret society debutante world. The world is still very confusing to me but there’s magic, shifters, druguns, inductions, quadrants, initiations, magic school, rites and membership. The plot is that Quell try’s to fit into this world to protect her mom and herself from assassins while keeping her dark magic hidden. There’s a romance which was nice and a slow burn but after a while the relationship moved very fast with little development. The third act was very interesting and things really picked up with the betrayals and more world development. The main characters development was also really badass so I’m excited for the next book. Despite not liking this as much I would still recommend for lovers YA fantasy and romance."