Where Dreams Descend

"Dnf pretty quick. This was all I got out of it....mystery, mystery, mystery, someone's name, a town, mystery, mystery, been lied too, more mystery."

"This book is so good and very unique !! I loved the concept of magicians and spectacular competitions as well as the enemies to lovers romance !! It also is a great mystery :) "

"The climax was the end…."

"June 2020"

""Perfect for fans of Moulin Rouge and The Phantom of the Opera, Angeles's debut is spectacular, spectacular!" - Buzzfeed<br/><br/>Yes I know not to trust Buzzfeed... but if I see something compared to Moulin Rouge, I'm buying it without hesitation. For brief context, my youngest sibling asked me a few weeks ago what my favorite movie was. I could only narrow it down to my top five and in no particular order. Ever After, Coraline, Stardust, Moulin Rouge, and Divergent. Now what I haven't seen is The Phantom of the Opera. Which now I really really want to, because when I was a kid my mom said if I was *that* scared of Coraline (yes I used to be scared of it and now its one of my favorite books and movies of all time) then I couldn't handle the Phantom of the Opera... oooh now I really want to watch it. But onto this piece of gorgeousness. <br/><br/>This book was so much ******* fun that I just ordered the second in hardcover and am willing to spend however much is necessary for those owlcrate special editions on ebay because they are stunning. This was sitting on my tbr for over a year! Then I organized my tbr physically and finally started going through it and I'm so glad I did. I was worried at one point when I peeked at the non-spoiler reviews for this book because it seemed so 50/50... I had nothing to be worried about, there's a reason I didn't even hesitate when I saw Moulin Rouge mentioned. I absolutely LOVED it. Like to the point its on my list of top 10 of all time. (which if you're curious, currently those are Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Coraline (Graphic Novel) by Neil Gaiman, and Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson)<br/><br/>Honestly, if for some reason, anyone is hesitant but Moulin Rouge is one of their favorite movies, I HIGHLY recommend they try it. Even just the writing itself is GORGEOUS. And that ENDING. I need more books like this, and it may have pushed me out of my writer's block in small ways! If I say much more this will be yet another giant spoiler review but I won't because I want people to read my review and decide to read the book. I cannot wait for the second to be safely in my hands!"

"This book was another of my highly anticipated reads of 2020, and it was fantastic. This book was billed as Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge meets the Night Circus, and it held up yet also stood up on its own. It would have been so easy for Kallia Ito be one sided, but Janella Angeles does a wonderful job portraying her emotions and the emotions of all of her characters. The town of Glorian itself is interesting and I can't wait to find out its fate and what happened to the disappearing magicians (though I do have a theory)."

"3 stars because it was a mixed bag for me . The circus and showy vibes were immaculate, but the plot got a little frustrating here and there. It was pretty predictable at first, and I really felt like the ending was a random attention grab. The MC had some moments where she wasn’t great, but overall she was fine. Daron and Aaros were definitely the best, though. "

"Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for letting me read and review this gripping, vivid and lush fantasy.<br/>This is described as similar to The Night Circus and Caraval, which I can see how it's like Caraval and has a lot of a similar feel to that book and series and it also reminds me a lot of The Phantom of the Opera as well. It's like all the circus, magic/magician, otherworldly amazing stories that are out there right now. I think it even reminds me of some of The Starless Sea also.<br/>I enjoyed this story a lot, it did have a little bit of a slow start, but then it went really fast and stayed intense and building up until the end where you're left hanging with the very tense cliffhanger ending and wanting to know what will happen next.<br/>In this story, it starts out with Kallia, the star magician, who is doing her show at a place locked away and hidden deep in the woods and Jack is her master/keeper who has been training and teaching her about her magic for years.<br/>Kallia is feeling trapped and caged and yearns to go see what other places there are to visit and hears about competition in a nearby town called Glorian so she runs off one day and goes to Glorian leaving Jack and that life behind.<br/>When she arrives in the town, Glorian, she meets a thief and then finds her way to where the magic competition is being held and decides to enter into it so she can showcase her skills, her magic and win. She meets the Conquerors, the circus performers, and magicians, who become friends with her and help her with things with the contest and everything in general.<br/>Then she becomes friends and gets her own assistant, Aaros and meets DeMarco, who is also a magician that has his own secrets and a secret past. DeMarco and Kallia begin to be friends and then end up working together to train and prepare for one of the shows in the contest and then DeMarco comes out with his secret past to her.<br/>Also while she's in Glorian competing and learning about the magic system the town is built on and everything else, whenever she's by mirrors and usually when she's alone, Jack keeps appearing to her, warning her what will happen if she doesn't leave the town or come back to him.<br/>Then other magicians in the competition begin disappearing and strange things keep happening, but they're not sure what's happening and Kallia keeps trying to keep Jack away with her magic, but he keeps showing up then when they come to the last night of the contest, everything crescendos and you're left wondering what happened, trying to figure it out and hoping everything turns out in the next book.<br/>If you loved or enjoyed Caraval or Phantom of the Opera or any of those kinds of books then make sure to have this one on your list!"

"I wasn’t sure if I would like this book, but I got it with my owlcrate and I have fallen in love with Kallia !! Ahhhh and the ending was the perfect cliffhanger to make me anticipate the second book. I need it now!!!!"

"Wonderful combination of Phantom of the Opera and Moulin Rouge!"