From the author of the Mask of Shadows duology comes a standalone fantasy where two young women must trade lives, work together to stay alive, and end a war caused by magic and greed.Emilie des Marais is more at home holding scalpels than embroidery needles and is desperate to escape her noble roots to serve her country as a physician. But society dictates a noble lady cannot perform such … cannot perform such gruesome work.
Annette Boucher, overlooked and overworked by her family, wants more from life than her humble beginnings and is desperate to be trained in magic. So when a strange noble girl offers Annette the chance of a lifetime, she accepts.
Emilie and Annette swap lives—Annette attends finishing school as a noble lady to be trained in the ways of divination, while Emilie enrolls to be a physician’s assistant, using her natural magical talent to save lives.
But when their nation instigates a terrible war, Emilie and Annette come together to help the rebellion unearth the truth before it’s too late.
“A bursting-at-the-seams stand-alone empowerment story.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Hand to any lover of magic, rebellion, secrets, and self-discovery.”—Booklist
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Emilie des Marais is the daughter of one of the ruling families. She wants to be a physician, but women are seldom allowed that role in society because they are too delicate, and her mother is more opposed to it than anyone else. Emilie’s mother expects her daughter to learn the “feminine” arts. Annette Bouche is the daughter of a man who works with his hands, and she wants to train in magic, but people in her class cannot get into the schools that teach it. Unbeknownst to Annette she bears a striking resemblance to Emilie. Emilie recognizes the similarities the moment she lays eyes on Annette. She conspires with Annette to switch lives.
Miller’s storyline held such great promise, two strong women characters, a diverse society, injustices galore, but unfortunately, she didn’t deliver on its promise. Instead the story bogged down in the many, many details Miller thought it necessary to disclose to the reader on more than one occasion. Then, too, she doesn’t adequately explain how someone like Annette could so easily become the privileged daughter of a ruling family and no one, not even those of her class attending school with her, even noticed.
The writing was adequate, and the two main characters were underdeveloped in such a way that it was hard to root for either of them to succeed. This book is a noir fantasy and deals with alienation issues (which abound).
As fantasy goes in today’s world, this book is underwritten, underplotted, with underdeveloped characters. However, if you are a hard-core YA fantasy fan, you might enjoy this outing.
My thanks to Sourcebook and Edelweiss for an eARC.
This gave off “Reverie” vibes and I wasn’t feeling it. There were just too many similarities and I just had a hard time engrossing myself in the read. Maybe it’s my reading slump or just the novel itself, I just couldn’t connect with lead characters Emilie and Annette nor the storyline despite loving the LGBT concept. It’s not you, it’s me I swear!
Belle Révolte is an exceptional novel with strong female characters and a compelling enough premise to make the novel gripping with elements reminiscent of the classic Prince and the Pauper; the novel has a life of its own as two girls switch places. Annette Boucher comes from humble beginnings, is very underappreciated by her family, but has the power of the midnight arts to divine. However, being from humble beginnings, her chances to go to a school to help her hone her gifts are slim. Her Annette, her story arc is all about learning to harness this power, let go of the past, and the doubt her family, her mother, especially instilled in her. Annette goes on this incredible journey to learn that she has power, that she has worth. She is a compelling character in every sense of the word, including the literal, but she does not feel powerful, at least until the end, to follow this journey is fantastic for her. Annette is also an asexual character, which is essential for representation. It gives her and the story some dimension and allows the character to stand out while also resonating with the reader as a real character.
Emilie is a much hardier character than the softer Annette. She feels she has more to prove because Emilie wants to use her powers to heal people, and she wants to study the Daytime arts, a practice of magic reserved for men almost exclusively. Women in this world are thought of as the weaker sex, unable to handle the strenuousness of that type of magic. So Emilie has to prove herself not only to herself but to those around her.
At the base of the story, it is about two girls discovering their worth and just how powerful they are. It is an excellent base for a story, especially one featuring a revolution. It is reminiscent of the French Revolution, where the poor are rising against the aristocrats and the tyrannical king, but there is more to it that gives it substance. The magical element highlights such a distinction between class and sex. It presents a good argument for the reader to analyze; It makes the storytelling more thoughtful and thought-provoking,
Full of depth and compelling writing, Belle Révolte is a magical and thoughtful read.