House of Marionne
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
BURY YOUR SECRET OR DIE FOR IT.
17-year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.
Until someone discovers her dark secret.
To hide from the assassin hunting her and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.
If caught, she will be killed.
But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and assassin-in-training.
When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: Embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life, or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.
Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.
Reviews with the most likes.
DNF at 40%
No.
This is what happens when you try to fling all the trends of TikTok fantasy at a book and see what sticks. The result is a hot mess. It ticks off all the worst aspects of every single trope I hate. There were moments in this first part of the book where it could of leaned into some interesting ideas but it always swerved in the dumbest and most annoying direction. Debutant balls? Bleaurgh. Weird diadems signifying magic? Yuck. Characters with zero depth?
The central premise seems to be around some kind of finishing school specializing in magic and etiquette. If this was done slightly tongue in cheek it might have worked but it takes itself so deadly seriously. The earnestness contrasts horribly with the weirdly dumb ideas thrown up all over the place. It certainly not the dark academia the blurb promised. The pacing is all over the place. The world building is a confused mess with random terms and ideas thrown around without any explanation. There appears to be some kind of magic system but I can make neither head not tail of it - less than ideal when it is the central part of the plot!
I pride myself on being able to finish the vast majority of books I start but I just could not force myself further with this one - it is my first DNF in quite a while. The earnest inanity of it was just more than I could bear.
Featured Series
1 primary bookHouse of Marionne is a 1-book series first released in 2023 with contributions by J. Elle.
