Book Review
Title: Enchantee (Enchantee #1)
Author: Gita Trelease
Genre: YA/Historical/Fantasy
Rating: *****
Review: All I knew about Enchantee before going into it was it takes place in 1789 in the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. We are introduced to Camille Durbonne and her family, her sister, Sophie and her older brother, Alain. The family are very poor after both of their parents died from smallpox and her father had to sell his printing press before that, while Alain is a soldier he has a problem with gambling and drink, while Sophie still suffers the aftereffects of smallpox meaning it is left to Camille to provide for her family. However, Camille has the ability to work magic, there are three kinds in this novel, magic to change the appearance of an object, magic to change the appearance of a person and finally, magic that can animate objects. Camille uses the first kind of magic to change bits of metal into money in order to survive but the money doesn’t hold its shape and this is a major problem but getting real money is even harder since her brother refuses to listen to her. Her mother left her with the knowledge that sorrow fuels the transformations and Camille has plenty of that but there is also a mysterious chest left behind that Camille was warned never to open. One day while they are collecting metal Camille and Sophie witness two boys in a hot air balloon in need of help and Camille rushes to save them and in those few moments Camille feels more alive than she has done in years but that momentary relief doesn’t erase the debts her brother is building or the fact that their rent is two weeks late and she has to find so much money in only a few days or risk ending up on the streets.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Camille happens to run into one of the boys she rescued, Lazare Mellais who invites her to come to their workshop but before she can agree something has happened to her sister. Sophie had just fainted but it gives her the chance to visit Lazare’s workshop in a few days’ time but this is too good to last as when they return home Camille realises Alain has returned and taken not only their remaining food but their last good dresses and the money Camille had been saving to pay their rent. This time she is going to let it slide and she heads to the place where he gambles and finds him almost penniless and passed out drunk. However, two girls offer Camille the chance to win back the dresses and the money she needs for their rent but they see her as an easy mark but I have a feeling that Camille isn’t going to be easy to con in the slightest as she understand how they think and knows they are going to cheat. Camille is losing but unintentionally she changes the cards with her magic, the same magic she had only been able to work on metal before and quickly leaves but even with her winnings, it isn’t enough money for what they need and Camille decides she is going to go to Versailles to cheat and steal enough for them to start a new life away from her brother and hunger. However, in order to do that she needs to use magic to change her appearance to pass at court and turns to the mysterious chest her mother told her not to open. Inside she finds everything she needs to change her appearance but the magic won’t stay until she gives her blood in return and in that moment Camille becomes Cecile Descharlots, the Baroness de la Fontaine, the same name as one of her ancestors who also worked magic the same way she does. At the time Camille doesn’t see the cost of the magic as something she should be wary of but something, she should embrace in order to get what she needs.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, arriving at Versailles, Camille is on a mission but quickly she tries to get into a card game and is being pursued by guards when a young name, Eduard helps her and asks her to be the fourth in their game to which she agrees having already stolen a snuffbox that would pay her rent for several month. Camille is seduced by the beauty of the palace but knows this isn’t where she belongs and wants to spend as little time there as possible as the longer, she is there, the more likely it is that she will be caught. Her first night gambling with the group that consists of Eduard Chandon, Aurelie and Foudriad doesn’t go well as Camille is ignorant of the societal rules even though this group is more relaxed than most and even with turning her cards with magic she still fails to win. Chandon invites to one of the Queen’s game nights, this being Marie Antionette, and she agrees. However, before that she visits Lazare in his workshop and finds herself becoming attracted to him even telling him her address now she feels with comfortable with him although she hasn’t gotten over the fear that he might not like her when he realises how poor she truly is. The following day she returns to the world of the court, this time as she settles down to play with Chandon, Aurelie, Foudriad and Seguin she realises that Chandon can work magic too which is why she didn’t win last time but she also feels there is something off about Seguin and tries to be weary of him. I liked that despite her mission Camille enjoys the company of Aurelie, Chandon and Foudriad as much as she does Lazare, Armand and Rosier, even though Armand doesn’t seem to like her much. It was also interesting to note that Chandon and Foudriad are lovers and that small fact made this feel a bit like The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue which is one of my favourite books (it also have the best OPT ever!)
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Camille is spending more time in Versailles and winning more money for her family but Chandon gives her the warning to be more careful as she has been a little obvious in her methods for winning. Chandon also tells her the history of why magicians hide their abilities and it is as dark as the events that are to come. However, even when she is Versailles which she is coming to love, she constantly thinks of Lazare and he comes to visits her. He not only takes her up in his balloon, but he also takes her to Norte Dame where he shows her the stars and they share their first kiss which was beautiful to watch. Despite, all this Camille’s only goal is saving money but she doesn’t seem to know when enough is enough but when Alain comes calling for money from them as he knows what she has been doing, she realises that they now have to move even though between her and Sophie they are earning enough money to keep their current home. However, society works against them as when they go to visit their new home and offer two month’s rent they are rejected because they aren’t from the class of person that the woman wants to rent to and Camille is realising how the world won’t accept them even if they are slowing moving up and it sparks a rage in Camille we haven’t really seen before. Camille decides to use her magic to get them a new place to live but she keeps returning to Versailles despite how much working the magic takes from her. However, while she is there, she learns that Lazare is one of the aristocrats and well above her in station which makes her question his feelings for her and whether she is just a passing fancy for him. Chandon also warns her that Seguin is a magician and unlike him he is not kind and will use anything she lets slip against her, but Camille is worried as the two worlds she has managed to keep apart are now colliding.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Camille spends more time with Lazare in Versailles hoping to learn the secrets he is hiding about his birth but she also can’t stay away from the Palace as like Chandon said, the magic of the Palace has latched onto her and it refuses to let go. Camille isn’t worried about this as the money she is making is enough for her to put a deposit down on a hat shop for Sophie who seems to be hiding some secrets of her own. However, the most interesting thing is when Lazare, Camille, Aurelie, Chandon and Foudriad go to a meeting of the National Assembly after they have been locked out of Versailles by the King to demand representation for the people of France and immediately Camille, Foudriad and Lazare lend their support to the cause even though they could end up in prison or dead while Chandon and Aurelie are more reluctant but follow their friends. Camille living on both side, the rich and the poor, can feel the change in the air and begins dreaming of a day where she can open her own printing press and print the words she wishes too not what has been demanded of her. Camille is beginning to notice how the magic is taking its toll on her and Chandon the more they work it but Seguin seems completely unaffected despite how much magic he uses which makes me think he does something to cover the cost of the magic without paying it himself. He has also proposed to Camille as she is sure he knows she is a magician and wants her magic for his own and while she hasn’t refused her new friends are doing their best to keep Seguin away from her. Despite this, things are not what they seem as Chandon grows sicker every time Camille sees him and he tells her it is from working too much magic which Camille can see in herself but neither she nor Chandon can stop. Lazare being around is also causing problems as Camille often says things that she as Cecile wouldn’t know and when Lazare kisses her at the opera she is sure that he knows that she is wearing a disguise and while she wants him to know it is her she doesn’t want him to know about the magic working as he has expressed negative views on magic and somehow she knows he would never accept her as a magician which is what she is.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, we can feel the tensions of the revolution building and there are events taking place in the far background but nothing yet that has majorly impacted Camille’s story so I am excited to see where the remaining story takes me. Camille is finding it harder and harder to keep her two lives separate especially when Seguin takes an interest in her sister, driving a wedge between them that had never been there before. However, this is momentarily forgotten when Lazare asks for her help in raising money for the balloon which she does but she can see the rich people of France including Aurelie have no interest in what she says because they have never lived under the constraints she had and didn’t understand the hope it gave her to see something beyond her small portion of the world. Despite this Rosier asks her come to the workshop a few days later and informs her that Lazare has been missing for three days and she knows the only place he could be is Versailles which is convenient as she received an invitation from Seguin for Aurelie’s birthday and it mentions that all their friends shall be there which will possibly include Chandon who she hasn’t seen since the opera but news of illness has been spreading. That night Chandon cheats Lazare out of everything he has as Seguin has been blackmailing him with Foudriad and Camille knows she has to get away from him but she and Lazare part on bad terms. Upon leaving, the revolution in Paris has begun in earnest and when she returns home, she finds Sophie has vanished with the aid of her brother and Seguin, believing that Seguin is going to marry her. Camille appeals to the Queen for help but there is nothing that can be done but Seguin tells her if she agrees to marry him he will let Sophie go so she agrees but he drugs her and explains he has been taking Chandon’s magic which is why he looks so ill and he is going to do the same to her but there is nothing Camille can do as she gives into the drug.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, Camille is now in the hands of Seguin, in order to save her sister from what could have been a horrible fate but with riots raging in Paris, I am not sure what Camille’s next move is going to be since she also loves Lazare. Seguin marries her the following morning, tying her to him as his wife and before he takes her to see Sophie, he heads to Chandon’s home where Chandon, Foudriad and Lazare are to finish the duel he started with Lazare the night of Aurelie’s birthday. While Lazare wins the duel he wants Sophie and Camille freed but Seguin can’t free his wife which breaks Lazare’s heart but at that moment Camille sees that Seguin in intending to cheat and races between them preventing them from killing each other but she works a different type of magic, turning a shard of glass into a dagger which kills Seguin. As Seguin lies dying, he explains that the Queen, Marie Antionette, discovered he was a magician and her demands were killing him which is why he targeted the open hearted Chandon. Camille understands that like herself he was trying to survive at first but lost himself along the way and he chooses to die there. Camille races to his home in Paris to find Alain with Sophie and she explains to her sister everything that has happened and they forgive each other but as she married Seguin and he is now dead, everything that was his is now hers and she allows her brother to leave with his freedom and tells him to make something of it. In the aftermath, Sophie opens her own shop, Camille creates a printing press in her dining room and together she and Lazare starts their new life with a trip in their balloon and handing out pamphlets printed by Camille as all their friends watch on. Enchantee was beautiful, heart-breaking, and magical to read and I can’t wait to read Liberte as soon as I can, the expected released date is next year so you can definitely expect a re-read before I jump into the sequel.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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