Pea-Sized Reviews: Enchantee -&- The Wren Hunt

Enchantée
by Gita Trelease

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook, audiobook
Pages: 459
Publisher: Flatiron/Macmillan
Publication date: February 5, 2019
Suggested tags: young adult, historical fantasy, 18th century, France


First in the Enchantée series. From Goodreads:

"Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians...

When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

With dark magic forbidden by her mother, Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’ and is swept up into life at the Palace of Versailles, where aristocrats both fear and hunger for la magie. There, she gambles at cards, desperate to have enough to keep herself and her sister safe. Yet the longer she stays at court, the more difficult it becomes to reconcile her resentment of the nobles with the enchantments of Versailles. And when she returns to Paris, Camille meets a handsome young balloonist—who dares her to hope that love and liberty may both be possible.

But la magie has its costs. And when Camille loses control of her secrets, the game she's playing turns deadly. Then revolution erupts, and she must choose—love or loyalty, democracy or aristocracy, freedom or magic—before Paris burns… "

YA historical fantasy? About Revolutionary France? With magic? OH YES. Dang, I loved this. It hit all the right notes for me - *just* enough drama, *just* enough magic, *just* enough romance. Reading about Camille living her double life, swinging between poor peasant girl and magical card-playing baroness, while also flirting with her hot-air-balooning beau, was amazing. I never learned French in school unfortunately (quel dommage!), but I've picked up just enough along the way that all the simple French phrases that were thrown in to Enchantée kind of added to the immersive feeling for me - and this book did a pretty fantastic job of drawing me in and making me feel like I was really there in this magical version of Revolutionary France. The only drawback I found was that I could kind of see how it was going to end up as the final chapters were playing out, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it and being a bit stressed out frankly over the high stakes of it all... Ah, it was so good. They're saying this is a series which, *shrug* I don't know, I felt like the first one wrapped it up pretty well? But if there's another, I will certainement be reading it!

Final verdict: I loved it! I thought this book was great! I might buy it for myself and I would definitely recommend it to others.



The Wren Hunt
by Mary Watson

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook, audiobook
Pages: 432
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication date: November 6, 2018
Suggested tags: young adult, fantasy, romance



From Goodreads:

"Every Christmas, Wren is chased through the woods near her isolated village by her family's enemies—the Judges—and there’s nothing that she can do to stop it. Once her people, the Augurs, controlled a powerful magic. But now that power lies with the Judges, who are set on destroying her kind for good.

In a desperate bid to save her family, Wren takes a dangerous undercover assignment—as an intern to an influential Judge named Cassa Harkness. Cassa has spent her life researching a transformative spell, which could bring the war between the factions to its absolute end. Caught in a web of deceit, Wren must decide whether or not to gamble on the spell and seal the Augurs’ fate."

I feel like this synopsis doesn't really explain all that the book is about... but then I feel like *I* can't really explain it either. It's really unusual, but in a really good way. The magic is so interesting - it feels natural, and ancient, and logical, and... I don't know, but I loved it. Definitely my favorite aspect of the book. I also liked Wren's "dangerous undercover assignment" plotline - I felt like that was exciting and nerve-wracking and pretty well done. I gotta be honest though, I didn't really understand the meaning or purpose of Wren being chased through the town on Christmas? I missed something there. Probably something deep and symbolic that went over my head. The romance was *ok* for me, but I didn't really come for the romance, since it's not really mentioned in the synopsis at all. Overall, I thought the set-up for the story was great - a really creative and unique magic system, and a tense infiltration into the Judges' lair - but for me, it felt like it fell just a little short of what I had expected.

Final verdict: I liked it! I thought this book was good! I enjoyed reading it and I would probably recommend it to others.

{ Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with review copies.
My reviews are honest and my opinions are my own; 

your reading experience may vary, so give it a read and see what you think. :) }