But beyond that, the characters are hardly recognisable as their namesakes. And they feel very much caricaturish versions of them. Each one can perhaps be summed up by a single characteristic of the original. For example, Enjolras is the revolutionary (and not much else), Grantaire is the drunkard, Montparnasse is the knife-wielding one, Eponine is an amazing thief – and these are the more recurrent characters of the lot. It is, quite simply, disappointing. Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part

So I don’t know anything to do with Les Mis (which this book is said to be inspired by)- the book is very long and I do not enjoy musicals. Saying that, the book did provide me with an excellent french underworld setti Louis XIV developed a police force, by royal proclamation, to deal with the crime and poverty in the Court by any means necessary. The newly created effect imprisoned many residents of the Court for petty crimes, and, in some cases, solely for being poor or ill. Hospitals that used to serve the more impoverished communities were repurposed to house those committed by the police forces. Eponine ‘Nina’ Thénardier is just a child when her older sister Azelma is taken by the Tiger – the ruthless lord of the Guild of Flesh. Devastated by her loss, Nina becomes a cat burglar with the Thieves Guild. She’s small and light and can steal the most valuable objects without getting caught. But what Nina really wants is justice for her sister, and revenge on the man who stole her. When Nina’s sweet and innocent adopted sister Cosette (Ettie) catches the Tiger’s eye, Nina becomes caught in a dangerous race to keep her safe. Well, I’m a giant Les Mis fan, I saw the musical for the first time when I was a small child and I’ve seen every iteration and read the original book, and every single time I would be so frustrated with the Marius, Eponine and Cosette love triangle. In the book, Eponine and Cosette grow up together with a very abusive criminal man, and then one of them is, for all intents and purposes, sold to a stranger. Years later when they meet again, the only thing one of them says to the other is, “oh I was a young girl with her once”. And I just thought that is just not how females are! You would love each other, you would hate each other but you would definitely have a reaction to one another that was not solely based on this guy that you had both fallen in love with. However, some elements left a lot to be desired. The politics of this novel are fairly overcomplicated as compared to what matters and some of them end up being super irrelevant. Here is what I remember from this book which I read a year ago and also my fairly confused notes:That aside, Nina came to me fully formed. As I said, I saw her hanging off the side of a building. Her character, everything about her, was already there. I never had to think about how would Nina react to this or try and figure out her voice. That happens to me with all my main characters. I have another book coming out next year, it’s basically like The Jungle Book but on speed. It’s about two monkeys and the main character is the same – she just ‘was’. Original: Quasimodo • Esmeralda • Claude Frollo • Phoebus • Victor, Hugo, and Laverne • Djali • Clopin • Archdeacon • Achilles • Brutish and Oafish Guards • Frollo's Soldiers • Old Prisoner • Quasimodo's Mother • Quasimodo's Father • Snowball Well, Marius [from Les Mis] is just the worst character, he’s bad enough in the musical, but he’s 100 times worse in the original written text. He’s the worst. There’s an entire chapter where he weeps on a tree and holds Cosette’s foot. I’m not even making that up. He’s not even a revolutionary like they show in the musical. He’s not a revolutionary, he’s a Napoleonist and he just kind of wanders into the fight because he’s like ‘oh my girlfriend’s gone’ that’s it. He’s just the worst and he was kind of standing in the way of this epic tale about these two girls [I was writing] – one brought up by criminals, the other kind of thrown into this criminal world. He was present in the first draft of the book when I sold it to the publishing house and I just struggled every time I had to write a scene with him. All the scenes with Marius and Enjolras St. Juste (it was Marius originally as well as St. Juste, and St. Juste was just a secondary character) and I was saying to my husband ‘if only I could write this scene with just St. Juste it would be 3 million times better’. Musical: Balancing Act • Rest and Recreation • Rhythm of the Tambourine • Into Notre Dame • Top of the World • Thai Mol Piyas • Esmeralda • City Under Siege • Flight Into Egypt • Out of Love ( Reprise) • Dance of the Gypsies • Made of Stone • Finale Ultimo

The reign of Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, was a time of absolute opulence for the aristocracy of France. Louis himself was a believer in the religious doctrine of the divine right of kings. He inhabited the lavish palace at Versailles and required that many members of the nobility live with him, where they would throw incredibly indulgent balls. While the nobles lived a truly gilded life in Versailles within the center of Paris, they were surrounded by utter squalor and poverty. I think it is important to point out that I have never read Les Miserables, or watched any movie or television adaptations. Therefore, I cannot comment on this story as a reimagining of that tale. In a lot of ways, especially throughout the first half of the book, I felt like the narrative was very episodic, and things came to Eponine too easily. Impossible tasks were posed to her, that she overcame in a handful of chapters and these elements of the book also felt like they served as a guide to the Court of Miracles as it seemed every mission was related to a different guild.Victor Hugo was not the only artist fascinated by Henri Sauval’s vivid and detailed descriptions of life in the 17th century Court of Miracles. While his depictions of tragic and impoverished characters inspired by the Court are the most famous with English speaking audiences, many other artists in both literature and visual art were intrigued by the period and represented it in various formats. Paul Bru, Histoire de Bicêtre (hospice, prison, asile): d’après des documents historiques, préf. M. le Dr Bourneville, Chap II, «Les mendiants», Hôpital Général, p. 15-6. Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life. Within the broader classes defined by jobs, there were further hierarchies. Particularly within the community of beggars, levels were strictly limited and sometimes even carried limitations on when one could beg. Beggers referred to as the courtads de Boutange, for example, were only allowed to solicit during the winter.

Y todo suena genial… hasta que de verdad lees el libro. ¿Construcción de personajes? ¿Qué es eso? Kester Grant crea a Nina como una chica que lo puede absolutamente todo. Nada es imposible para ella y es hábil en todo lo que le pongas en frente. Sí, cuando es pequeña no logra defender a su hermana, pero cuando crece parece que fuera una mujer invencible. Y no hay ningún tipo de desarrollo o contexto que apoyara eso, así que no me lo creí en ningún punto de la historia. Es más, Nina como personaje era desesperante. In addition to that, I didn't have a good hold over time in this story. When it started, Nina was very, very young, but at the end, she's not. Walton, William (1899). Paris from the earliest period to the present day. G. Barrie & son. pp. 230–235.At that moment, Frollo and his men completely take over the Court of Miracles, having followed Quasi and Phoebus to its secret entrance. Frollo immediately takes all the Roma prisoner, intending to kill them all and to force them to watch Esmeralda's public execution in the square of Notre Dame. Phoebus, Djali, and Quasi are also taken captive, setting the stage for their final confrontation with Frollo at the cathedral. United States:Knopf/Random House | United Kingdom & Commonwealth:Harper Voyager | Germany:Piper | Italy:Mondadori | Poland: ZYSK | Russia:AST | Spain:Penguin Random House | Turkey:Dogan-Egmont | Hungary: Maxim In the dark days following a failed French Revolution, in the violent jungle of an alternate 1828 Paris, young cat-burglar Eponine (Nina) Thenardier goes head to head with merciless royalty, and the lords of the city's criminal underworld to save the life of her adopted sister Cosette (Ettie). The Court Of Miracles is actually a retelling of The Jungle Book as well. It’s a lot harder to see [than Les Mis] unless you’ve read the book recently because The Jungle Book is… well… it’s two books and I took all the Mowgli stories. The Jungle Book is a collection of short stories, it’s not one long narrative. In fact some people, when they read The Court Of Miracles say it feels a little bit episodic because that’s how I wrote it. I believe that they have a safe haven within the walls of this very city. A nest, if you will. They call it the...'Court of Miracles.'” ―Frollo tells Captain Phoebus about the Court of Miracles

there were a couple of historical inaccuracies that did drive me a little bit up the wall, though. nothing too serious, and only throwaway lines really but still:In 1828-Paris, following the failed revolution, the city is divided between the royal court and nine criminal guilds. Desde el principio nos prometen que The Court of Miracles seguirá una historia súper emocionante en un París reimaginado en el que la Revolución Francesa fracasó y ahora quienes realmente llevan las riendas de la ciudad son nueve gremios criminales. Sí, la realeza existe, pero son los adornos de un palacio y poco más. Además, nos presentan a Nina, una chica que estará dispuesta a absolutamente todo con tal de salvar a su hermana de las garras de uno de los hombres más peligrosos de los gremios. The Court of Miracles was really a French term which referred to slum districts of Paris, where the unemployed migrants from rural areas resided. In Victor Hugo's novel, the Court is not located underground, but in an open air square in the slums. It was okay, I guess, but not nearly as remarkable as I expect a book that's advertised as Six of Crows meets Les Mis, to be. With a diverse cast of characters (a notable change for the better from Hugo’s narrative) and a satisfying story that feels like it’s only just beginning, The Court of Miracles is a thrilling tale of treachery, rebellion and retribution – and a must-read for fantasy readers and Les Mis fans alike.