House of Marionne follows Quell, a teenager on the run due to her forbidden magic, as she agrees to enroll as a student in her grandmother's house in a desperate attempt to escape her pursuers and get rid of her dark magic for good. As she learns more about the magical world she was denied the ability to be raised in, she realizes that there is much more going on behind the scenes than she had thought.

I was fascinated with the magic system and the world these characters exist in. It was really interesting learning about the history of their magic and how they interact with the world around them. Quell's POV is written in 1st person, and the readers are just as clueless as she is to the new world around her. Complementing her POV is that of Yagrin, written in 3rd person, which gives us more insight into the history and magic of this world.

Is it a perfect book? No. I spent most of it thinking it would be around 4 star. I wished we had been able to get more of Yagrin's POV, as it would have helped me as a reader to understand the history and how the magic actually worked. I also found the timeline somewhat confusing, with parts of it feeling like the book took place over the course of 1 or 2 months, and parts of it feeling like it had been many months. (Side note - how in the world do they tell time?) Quell is awful at communication, so I had to keep reminding myself that she is only 17 and has been socially isolated most of her life.

But, THAT ENDING. Part 5, but specifically the very last chapter, was impeccable. It put so many pieces back into place, and made me want to go back and reread it to look for the signs. There was so much character development in such a short chunk of it, and I am excited to see how it continues to develop in the second book. It is for sure a book I will spend a lot of time thinking about, and I will definitely be reading it again. ( )

I really liked J. Elle's Wings of Ebony duology so was eagerly anticipating House of Marionne. Unfortunately, this book fell short for me. The story follows Quell who has lived her whole life on the run with her mom, trying to hide the dangerous, forbidden magic she possesses. The beginning started strong with Quell on the run from mysterious enemies. She seeks shelter in the magic school run by her grandmother, at which point, the pacing slows right down. There seems to be a plethora of tropes accompanied by a paucity of world building. I spent much of the time hoping the magic system would be explained rather than there being such a focus on the romance. The pace picked up in the last quarter of the book, but the reader was left with many questions. House of Marionne had great potential and a lot of creative ideas, but I am not motivated to pick up the sequel. ( )

Good tension and mystery throughout the story. Really enjoyed the dark political side of the houses and the grandmother's character. The best friend was boring, and I was ambivalent about the romance/male lead. I never liked him to be honest; his feelings for Quell never felt genuine.

Overall, I didn't dislike the reading experience, but I don't have an interest in reading the sequel as of now. ( )

A story that starts in darkness and ends the same way. In between those points, you encounter intrigue, complex relationships between four houses representing a most unusual type of magic, and follow Quell as she struggles with something inside her that threatens not only her safety, but her relationships.
She eventually finds a way to keep it under control, and in the process, learns just how enmeshed those around her are with secrets and the power the four houses have in a world where their need to stay in control is lethal countless times. There's an interesting couple revelations at the end of the story and her mother, absent from most of the tale is never fully accounted for, leading me to hope there's a sequel to un-dangle several hanging threads. ( )

I was really into the book at the beginning, but it lost me in the middle. It seemed like nothing was happening, but there was. The little details all come into play, so you have to be paying attention. You really have to get to the end to truly understand some things. But, getting there was a challenge for me.

The romance part of the story was good, at first, but as things progressed, it just didn't hit right. I didn't care for it or find it believable. I wanted to because of how I first felt about them, but it lost me in the middle of the book. That's where everything kind of fell apart and I almost stopped the book.

The world building could have used some work. I feel like we aren't told enough about anything. Again, I think some stuff is worked out toward the end of the story, but this book is honestly just building up for the next in the series. I still have questions about a lot of it. Perhaps those will be explained later, but I'm not sure if it will. We got the bare minimum needed to understand the story and nothing more. For that reason, the book felt shallow. I couldn't be drawn into it. There should have been so much to explore, but we weren't given any of it.

The build up for the next book is great. The story kept me curious about something that was only explained in the last chapter. It confirmed all of my suspicions about a character. Now one storyline makes complete sense. It really all came together right there at the end.

Would I recommend the book? Maybe, depends on what you like. It was decent, but it did have its problems and the middle got a little murky. But, it was still an interesting story. ( )