Janella Angeles’s Where Dreams Descend follows ambitious showgirl Kallia as she fights to compete for a spot as the headlining magician of the Conquering Circus.
The competition takes place in Glorian, a city full of secrets. While competing, Kallia encounters Daron Demarco, the enigmatic young judge with a hidden past. Kallia, too, wishes to forget her past — but Jack, the owner of the club she left for the competition, won’t let her get away so easily.
The stakes rise as the competition continues, with mysterious disappearances and sabotaged acts, until it’s clear that someone — or something — is preying on the magicians and the city as a whole.
Based on the inside cover synopsis, this book sounds a lot like a YA version of The Night Circus. Although it borrows some themes from that book, Where Dreams Descend is an intriguing and darkly romantic novel in its own right.
As she is a star of the competition, Kallia is easily the star of the book. It’s refreshing to see her ambition and complete disregard for conventions that stand in the way of what she wants.
That ambition doesn’t come at the expense of her humanity, though, and the relationships she builds with other characters drive a story that might otherwise fall short of connecting with readers.
While her relationship with Demarco is the most central relationship in the story, Kallia’s other relationships are the ones that shine. Of particular note are her relationships with Aaros, the thief she recruits to be her assistant, and Canary, one of the circus performers. Despite the way she acts while performing and around the judges and other contestants, Kallia’s true nature is shown through her kindness to those she meets along the way.
Although the synopsis indicates the story follows Kallia, Demarco, and Jack, the perspective for the most part follows Kallia and Demarco, with short interludes between some chapters from Jack’s perspective. Demarco gets roughly equal perspective time as Kallia, but since Kallia’s actions drive the plot, it’s evident she is the focus of the book.
Speaking of plot, this story is centered around secrets. The central characters each have their own secrets, and the city of Glorian is practically drowning in them. It should be noted that this book is the first of a duology, so readers hoping for all to be revealed will have to wait for book two.
This book also ends with a huge cliffhanger, so readers should expect more questions than answers once the book is finished.
This doesn’t take away from the satisfaction of the book, however; Angeles does a great job doling out enough answers throughout the story to keep it engaging, while still leaving enough questions to justify a second book. It should be noted that this book is pretty long (400+ pages) and can be a slow at some points, so people who like fast-paced reads might be disappointed with the length and the minimal resolution.
Fans of fantasy, strong heroines, and the glitz and glamor of the stage will enjoy this book. The sequel, When Night Breaks, is expected to release summer 2021.