Review Detail

House of Marionne is an intriguing juxtaposition of a magical world and debutantes. Quell’s been on the run with her mother for most of her life. When a member of the Dragun comes too close to catching her, she seeks safety at her grandmother’s, who happens to be a headmistress of the Marionne house. Quell has abnormal magic called Toushana that can kill or disintegrate things, and being born with it is a death sentence if it is discovered.
Her grandmother explains that by using the finishing school model, they can practice magic openly because the world sees them as an exclusive school. That is an interesting workaround for this magic system to have extensive information about debutantes. At times, the story feels unbalanced, skewing heavily on the debutante aspect and less on the romance or magic that are also included as themes.
There are many secrets that Quell uncovers, and a few more that we learn as readers, which set up interest for the second book. Jordan is comfortable following the rules and living by the expectations of others. His love for Quell makes him question and bypass the rules, which makes for compelling scenes to read. The scenes when they are together are my favorite.
I used an audiobook for part of the book and think it does a nice job of keeping a listener interested in the story. The narrator for Quell has a sweet and innocent voice that helps us see how naïve to the magical world she is.
Overall, I am curious to see how Jordan and Quell come back together in the second book, with her the living embodiment of a rule broken. Yagrin’s parts were small throughout, and it wasn’t until the end that the inclusion of his POV started to make sense. Without the debutante aspect of book 2, I am excited to see how the story develops. Fans of The Selection by Kiera Cass, The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead, and Flawless Girls by Anna-Marie McLemore should add this book to their TBR.