This sequel was confusing for me.
Maybe it's because Enchantée was marketed so heavily as a French Revolution story, but this was not the sequel I was expecting. Enchantée let me down a bit because I assumed we'd experience some of the bloody moments during the French Revolution, and then when I read it, I realized the book served more as an introduction to the guillotine instead of in the midst of it. Though in Enchantée, I adored the writing, trips to Versailles, and the characters, specifically the magicians and nobles at the parties. The level of magic and mysticism blew me away, and I'll forever cherish the debut for that reason.
Now all of that previous enjoyment fell because this sequel is completely different from those parties. I lost that glamour and toil amongst the courtiers, and I could've handled that fine if the revolution took more of a forefront to the sequel than it ultimately did. The only real event that stuck out to me as *French Revolution* was the Women's March on Versailles, which Camille wasn't even truly there for most of it because she was up in the balloon.
I felt as if I was constantly teased and never given the blood that I was promised. The significant death of one of Camille's friends was the only moment where I felt the brutality of the revolution because everything else was slow and scheming, yet at that point, I didn't even care for Camille's sadness because I just wanted the story to continue. It was a little too late to snag my attention wholly.
The plot with Odette also seemed to come out of nowhere for me. Multiple new characters are introduced and have a heavy influence within the story, but it seemed odd that they didn't show up in the first book. It just was too much new information and too fast for me. Then, somehow, the story moved incredible slow until we get to the trial at the end. I didn't feel any action or excitement until those last 60ish pages where the tension cranked up.
I know now that I shouldn't have left my expectations and excitement for the historical moments during the revolution drive me, but it's a bit too late for that. I can't help how I expected the story to be. I apologize for allowing that to consume me, but when one of the bloodiest revolutions is mentioned as the basis for a story, as a history nerd, I'm going to expect the guillotine x10.
I'm sad that this review for one of my most anticipated sequels is so negative, but I will say the writing was just as spectacular as Enchantée. I love how Gita writes her stories! She makes me able to smell the scents as if I'm in the room with Camille, or her descriptions of the streets feel too lifelike to be true! It's amazing!! Her writing was the saving grace because even though I was bored most of the time, I could cherish her words themselves.
Overall, the focus on Camille's pamphlets/ Odette and entourages hatred for magicians just did not do it for me. I wanted more than that.