La Passe-miroir - L'intégrale: Coffret 4 volumes

La Passe-Miroir #1-4

by Christelle Dabos

Ophélie et Thorn, deux héros inoubliables, une histoire d'amour passionnée, une aventure fantastique éblouissante, un univers devenu culte.
Livre 1. Les Fiancés de l'hiver
Livre 2. Les Disparus du Clairdelune
Livre 3. La Mémoire de Babel
Livre 4. La Tempête des échos

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Young Adult, Romance, Romantasy, Fiction

Paperback

Published October 3, 2024

About the author

Christelle Dabos was born in 1980 on the French Riviera and grew up in a home filled with classical music and historical puzzles. More imaginative than cerebral, she begins to scribble her first texts on the benches of the faculty. Settled in Belgium, she intends to be a librarian when a disease occurs. Writing then becomes an escape from the medical machinery, then a slow reconstruction and finally second nature. Meanwhile, she enjoys the society of Plume d´Argent, a community of authors on the Internet. It was thanks to their encouragement that she decided to take on her very first literary challenge: to enter the First Youth Novel Contest. Great winner among the three finalists, Christelle Dabos has written 4 books in the "La Passe-Miroir" series.

Reviews

[Maddi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it steampunk? Does it give Studio Ghibli vibes? Am I missing the characters already? yes to all of the above. The world building that is gives a new light into post-apocalyptic story telling, while adding elements of a fantasy world we can relate to in a way. It gives Howls Moving Castle (which if ever made into a show series, should be done as such) vibes from the fantasy steampunk elements and the fact that IMO I can't disassociate the look of Madame Hildegarde and The Witch of the Waste.

Did this quartet, a total of 1,922 pages, take me three weeks to read? Yes. Did I spend every free minute reading? Yes. Did I profess my undying love for an aristocratic, flirty, skinny white man in a holey top hat? Unfortunately.

I am mad at the ending and the pace it went to from the last few chapters of Echos. I do wish we had more from Thorns perspective. His inner dialogue in Storm of Echos (#4) was a nice shift from the typical narrative.

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

so, okay this fantasy saga was very good, i really enjoyed it UNTIL 100 PAGES FROM THE END. excuse me, but i really hoped there was a different way to end this story, which was fantastic all the way trough the 3 books.

[C flou · Rating 5 out of 5]

A JAMAIS JE CRIERAIS
CECI EST UN DES CHEF D'ŒUVRE LES PLUS RÉUSSI DE CETTE DECENIE
BON SANG ALLEZ LE LIRE !!
Cordialement

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all of these books individually - this is just an easy way to review the series as a whole so this is in no way a comment about this particular edition. This is a review of the whole series, book by book, with references to major plot-points. This won't spoil much of the first two books, but a lot of the last two.
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The Mirror Visitor quartet feels like the first real fantasy I have read in a long time. With a magic system that is brimming with life and excitement, political intrigue, and characters that are given time to develop it's certainly different to many of the fantasy series around today. Dabos has come up with such a unique world and manages to explain the intricacies without dumping all of the information on you at once in such an elegant way that I can't help but feel attached to this world (or what remains of it) and the people. It's for this reason that I found the end of the series to be disappointing and missing much of what drew me in.

The series starts with A Winter's Promise that introduces us to Ophelia, an animist and mirror visitor from Anima, one of the many arks of the world that have split since the Rupture. She is to be married to Thorn, a giant, cold, and seemingly calculating man from a nearby ark: The Pole. What I love about this particular use of the arranged marriage trope is that Ophelia, while being forced to marry Thorn, is never forced to be intimate with him in any way. They have both been forced into this marriage, and while Thorn is in more of a position of power, he doesn't hurt her. He is controlling of her movement to some extent for her safety, but when she inevitably runs off to explore Thorn is more worried that she is hurt, rather than angry that he as disobeyed him. He comes off as cold: but never abusive. My hope going into this book was that Ophelia and Thorn wouldn't go from hating each other to loving each other in the one book and I was really glad to see their relationship slowly progress rather than watching them shove their tongues down each others' throats 2 seconds after despising the other. Overall, while a relatively slow paced book I really enjoyed the ability to just sit back and immerse myself in this world and these characters. It's definitely an amazing start to a series and a book that, while it may not necessarily be worth reading the last one or two (we'll get to that later) is really enjoyable as a standalone (or even as a duology with Les Disparus du Clairdelune).
Book Rating: 4/5 stars
Cover Rating (I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but these are just so beautiful): 5/5


Next is Les Disparus du Clairdelune, the best book in the series hands down. While the first one is relatively low stakes political intrigue, and it does get off to a little bit of a shaky start for me (I wasn't the biggest fan of the Farouk's storyteller plotline) I ended up loving this one so much. The mystery, which plays in so well to Ophelia's reading ability which I always enjoyed seeing her use, and was overall just an amazing continuation of the Mirror Visitor quartet. The ending with Thorn saving her at the last minute, only to be punished by the clans and risk mutilation, Ophelia coming to help and them encountering God, and Thorn suggesting suicide to save himself from the fate of his mother -- I HAD FEELINGS. STRONG ONES. I LOVED it. It was exactly the kind of angst I adore in books, Thorn was finally starting to open up and while Ophelia wasn't really reciprocating (which Thorn never holds against her and just accepts - what a gentleman) it was obvious they still cared for each other and to just rip my heart out like that OH GOD. It was the ending that really got to me and made me love this book. Again, I would really recommend reading these first two because they are absolutely amazing, it's really just a shame that the series goes down hill after this.
Book Rating: 5/5
Cover Rating: 3.5/5 I think what irked me about this cover is the amount of dark lines compared to the nice blank spots on the first cover. I liked the kind of minimalism of a Winter's Promise and a central kind of point, but with the yellow colour and the dark lines parts of this cover didn't feel as clean as the first.


La Mémoire de Babel is set 3 years after Thorn goes missing. Ophelia was sent back to Anima, but when Archibald comes to rescue her as he looks for LandmArk she decides to go to Babel to investigate - and try to stop - God. Babel is far stricter than Anima and the Pole - there is a banned list of words called the Index, violence is strictly prohibited, and citizens conform to a heavily policed dress code. It's there that Ophelia, who takes the name Eulalia in an attempt to hide from God, tries to gain access to a restricted part of the Memorial, a huge library dating back to before the Rupture, by training under the family spirit of Babel, Helen. Ophelia finds Thorn has been hiding out here for the past 3 years under the alias of Sir Henry while he looks for a book that would make one equal to God, it's a debt he must pay to the Lords of LUX for forging his identity for him. Eventually the pair find the books the Lords were looking for - a set of children's novels by none other than Eulalia Gonde: God herself (or himself. Eulalia is called she, but when referred to as God they always say he. This is a little confusing, but they're a God - I think a little bit of fun with gender is allowed). This book isn't terrible, I think it's just a big culture shock after the first two. There was some academic rivalry and magic-school vibes in this one which I enjoyed, but many of the characters and places that I adored from the first two were missing. We do get insights into Berenilde and Archibald through chapters from Victoria's perspective but I couldn't help but wish they were around more often. But this book did introduce a more diverse cast, Babel seems like the hub of the world, people from all kinds of arks are there, of all skin colours and backgrounds. Ambrose, one of the central characters, uses a wheelchair and another Blaise, is revealed to be in a relationship with a man that over the next two books gets enough attention for their relationship to be cute and meaningful in the story. I didn't hate this one, and I would recommend at least giving it a go, but it just didn't stack up to the previous two. A user here did suggest you could likely read the quartet as two duologies and have a lot of it still make sense and to an extent I do agree that would be possible.
Book Rating: 3/5
Cover Rating: 4/5 I really liked the return to a more salient image in this one, and while there are lots of dark spots I think it works better with the green colour rather than the yellow of the previous one.


Ok. La Tempête des échos. I really don't know what to say about this one. I was hoping that it would start in Babel but then Thorn and Ophelia would travel around to different arks, hopefully back to the Pole, and it would be a bit of a tour as they searched for God. This book, however, sticks to Babel for the most part. The more I think about the overall story, the less I hate it, but my God the ending was just not it. In the last instalment of the series, in an attempt to stay with Thorn as he investigates the Deviations Observatory, Ophelia admits herself as a patient. The mirror accident she got in years ago flipped her internal organs and rendered her unable to have children - the Observatory is happy to investigate. A little too happy. They put her through a number of tests that make her more clumsy than she already was and eventually she loses the ability to read objects. Now, I hate with a burning passion, fantasy plotlines that involve someone losing their power. I always find it really boring but I think its a testament to the fact Ophelia is an interesting character, and also the fact that she rarely uses her reading ability anyway, that this didn't bother me too much. It's short-lived nevertheless. When arks begin to crumble the Observatory decides Ophelia is ready for the second protocol - crystallisation. Here, she essentially creates an echo, but while she regains her reading ability, loses her ability to mirror visit. I haven't really mentioned before the Horn of Plenty they're looking for, mostly because I don't really remember why they're looking for it. It was important to God, so I assume for that reason, but this plot line just confused me a bit. Anyway, they get to the Horn of Plenty and Thorn is pushed into it, Ophelia follows, and they enter into the Wrong Side. This bit also was quite lost on me, though bear in mind it was 11pm at night and I was desperate to just finish the damn series already. It's like the upside down version of the world, nobody there can speak and it's basically where Eulalia came from before Ophelia brought her into her world through the mirror. That caused an imbalance, as when you take one thing from the Wrong Side, you have to give something back. This caused the worlds to start colliding and I think is the reason for the echoes. Ophelia travels through a mirror to get back, leaving Thorn behind to attempt to save the world on her own, and sacrifices HER FINGERS to keep it balanced. Ok. What. SO now she's lost her reading ability again. This annoys me because a) she lost her reading ability like 200 pages ago, got it back, and then lost it and b) HER FINGERS?? REALLY?? THAT'S WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND?? Like, her fingers aren't that big. What is the Wrong Side's rules about this. Could she have left one finger? Is there a size ratio that's important here? I feel like losing an arm or a leg might have made sense? But her fingers just feels so weird. There's a showdown, they defeat the Other and reveal that Elizabeth was Eulalia the whole time,,, for some reason. She just was. This honestly feels like an afterthought and again, one of the many plot points in this book that confuses me to no end. The Other tries to escape, but Thorn pulls him back though the mirror, and sacrifices himself I guess. The Wrong Side and the Right Side collide and now there's an ocean again. This is cool. The people merge. But Thorn doesn't come back. Because he went through the Horn of Plenty it doesn't count. So Ophelia just LEAVES HIM THERE. I KNOW DAMN WELL IF IT WAS OPHELIA STUCK IN SOME UPSIDE DOWN DIMENSION THORN WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO SAVE HER. AND OPHELIA ISN'T EVEN THAT SAD ABOUT IT??? Like,, she got more independent in this one which I loved. In the previous three Ophelia basically just waits for other people to save her, but YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GET THIS INDEPENDENT BESTIE. This series ends on such an unsatisfying note. I still had so many questions.
So, to recap: Thorn is gone/missing forever and Ophelia doesn't care, Ambrose dies at some point and Ophelia also barely cares, Ophelia DOESN'T GET HER FINGERS BACK BY THE WAY, but now the world is whole again. Yippee. I- Just- What was this book. I was enjoying it to an extent, and the middle really isn't that bad I thought the Deviations Observatory was cool, but the ending?? I wanted Ophelia and Thorn to have a bit of domestic bliss, to finally like each other after building their relationship for 4 WHOLE BOOKS. AND YOU GIVE ME THIS?? I can't even. I just have no words. None. I don't even know what to think of this.
Book Rating: 3/5 (though I might even be leaning towards a 2 after all those confusing plot lines, info dumping, and the terrible ending)
Cover Rating: 3/5 It's cool, but the face inside of the building freaks me out a little.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cet avis est disponible aussi sur mon Blog : https://lemondalex.wixsite.com/my-site 🔗

1️⃣ Critique de La Passe-Miroir, tome 1, Les Fiancés de l’hiver : Poétique.

J’ai été désarçonnée par le style d’écriture de l’auteur avant d’être conquise par elle. On dirait de véritables ornements quand elle écrit. Les descriptions peuvent vite nous faire décrocher, mais celles-ci sont courtes et fascinantes. Elles sont non seulement efficaces pour que nous puissions être totalement immergés dans ce monde décalé mais elles sont aussi d’une poésie qui me rendent admirative. C’est une très belle écriture. Christelle Dabos parvient à faire jaillir une scène devant vos yeux en deux, trois mots efficaces. Vous avez les jeux de lumières, les postures et les expressions des personnages, les meubles, etc., nous avons l’impression d’être dedans, de les voir. Dans ces fabuleuses descriptions, c’est nous qui passons la tête à l’intérieur du livre pour découvrir les Arches, à l’image d’Ophélie et de ses miroirs. ✨

Christelle Dabos a un style original qui se fait ressentir dans son écriture mais également dans la conception de son monde imaginaire et de ses personnages. Les thèmes que l’auteur aborde sont magnifiquement traités. Nous sommes bercés par son écriture jusqu’à ce qu’un drame surgisse. Tout est rondement mené. La magie de ses personnages n’est pas exposée au premier plan, elle est introduite au moment opportun. Et j’ai apprécié ne pas être attaquée par des pavés pour expliquer chaque clan, chaque don ou chaque lignée. On les découvre tranquillement en même temps qu’Ophélie ou bien les justifications et descriptions sont amenées quand il le faut, jusqu’à ce que ça vous surprenne. 💥

Tout est élégant. Il y a tellement d’élégance que, forcément, nous sommes confrontés aux faux-semblants de cet univers aristocratique et d’excès. Malgré l’atmosphère raffinée, le récit ne manque pas de mordant. On ne s’ennuie pas. Christelle Dabos amène son intrigue sur la pointe des pieds… avant de tout faire renverser, comme Ophélie, discrète mais repérable par sa maladresse. ☕️

Parlons personnages… C’est rare que j’apprécie autant un personnage principal féminin. Ophélie est douce et patiente, même trop, et je la trouve adorable. Elle m’a attendrie bon nombre de fois, pourtant j’attendais qu’elle explose au lieu de porter tout sur ses épaules. Elle endure beaucoup. Je souhaitais que les souffrances de ce personnage s’arrêtent car elle ne méritait pas qu’on lui fasse tout ce mal. Elle est forte, courageuse et maladroite certes, mais c’est ce qui la rend si attachante. Et bien qu’elle peut paraître très silencieuse, elle sait quand il faut s’exprimer pour se faire entendre. Je l’adore. 🧣

Il y a eu des personnages qui m’ont exaspérés, d’autres surpris et d’autres encore que j’ai détestés, mais ils sont tous très intrigants. Je ne sais pas quoi penser de Thorn, la tante Bérénilde m’énerve mais de temps en temps, je ressens de la compassion pour elle, Archibald m’amuse et me rend sceptique à la fois, puis la tante d’Ophélie me fait sourire ou parfois rouler des yeux. On ne sait pas à quoi s’attendre avec toute cette panoplie d’originaux, et qu’est-ce que je suis contente de ne pas réussir à deviner quelles sont exactement leurs intentions avant qu’elles ne soient révélées.

J’aime La Passe-Miroir pour toute cette belle imagination, ces personnages hauts en couleurs et complexes, presque sortis des contes de fées, et la clarté des scènes qui vous apparaissent quand vous lisez les descriptions de l’auteur.

Une merveilleuse magie !

2️⃣ Critique de La Passe-Miroir, tome 2, Les Disparus du Clairdelune : Incroyable univers.

Heureusement que j’ai l’intégral sous la patte parce que sinon je serais morte d’impatience — je me demande comment les fans de la saga ont fait pour patienter. De mon côté, je me serais dit que Christelle Dabos mérite toute notre patience pour écrire une si belle histoire. Le premier tome est magnifique, et le second le surpasse !

Nous retrouvons Ophélie et Thorn dans la cour de Farouk qui se trouve à la Citacielle. Nos deux personnages principaux vont, encore une fois, survivre aux complots… et mener une enquête. 🔎

Nous plongeons donc de plus en plus dans l’univers de l’auteur et petit à petit, nous en comprenons mieux les détails. Toutefois il reste encore tellement à découvrir, et l’auteur nous le fait bien comprendre par son dernier chapitre.

Les personnages de Christelle Dabos ne sont vraiment pas communs. Ophélie est, certes discrète, mais aussi d’un caractère fort qu’on ne peut pas ignorer. Bien sûr qu’elle a ses moments de faiblesse, et heureusement, c’est ce qui donnent de la profondeur au personnage. Et on retrouve la même particularité chez Thorn ! Les personnages, même secondaires, ont tous leur petite touche, ce petit quelque chose qui souligne leur caractère, leur personnalité.

Encore une fois, son écriture fait rêver. Elle choisit le bon rythme et le bon vocabulaire, elle joue avec les mots et les phrases, elle les sublime.

3️⃣ Critique de La Passe-Miroir, tome 3, La Mémoire de Babel : Enchanteur.

Nous découvrons Babel, une arche où la censure et les règles sont des mots d’ordre, et pourtant, tout évolue dans une belle jungle moderne. Ophélie découvre seule ce nouveau monde car elle veut à tout prix retrouver son immense et hivernal mari disparu, Thorn. J’apprécie leur relation car je la trouve sincère bien que maladroite. Elle n’est pas enjolivée comme dans certaines histoires d’amour, le récit n’est pas centré essentiellement sur cette intrigue non plus, ainsi ce sont des points que je juge positifs pour ma lecture. Une belle histoire authentique et complexe.

Nous retrouvons donc notre courageuse et petite Ophélie au grand cœur, notre Thorn tout cabossé, une inquiète et splendide Bérénilde devenue maman, une bienveillante et tempétueuse tante Roseline, notre splendide et magnifique clochard Archibald, le duo inséparable et comique Gaëlle et Renard… Mais nous rencontrons encore bien d’autres personnalités, comme l’adorable inversé Ambroise, le malchanceux Blazius, l’impassible et fière Elizabeth, et le charmant, l’énigmatique Octavio. Et tant d’autres encore. Ces personnages, comme ceux d’avant, Christelle Dabos nous les fait découvrir avec amour. À tel point que, nous aussi, on s’attache à chacun d’entre eux. Normalement, dès que trop de personnages entrent dans une histoire, nous nous perdons et nous en oublions certains, mais ils ont tous des caractéristiques si particulières, des ambitions si profondes, que nous pensons à eux tous. Pour dire, j’imagine tous ces personnages passés par l’imagination de Tim Burton pour une adaptation visuelle tellement certains de ces personnalités, voire tous, sont originales.

Dans ce troisième tome, Christelle Dabos poursuit sa critique sur le totalitarisme et la censure avec l’univers de Babel. C’est une dénonciation rondement bien menée. Mais les livres de La Passe-Miroir sont aussi une façon d’aborder d’autres thèmes pour lesquels je ne me serais pas penchée au premier abord comme la religion, la notion du bien et du mal, la politique… Et je suis contente de les avoir lus grâce au monde merveilleux et à l’écriture poétique de l’auteur.

Nous pourrions avoir peur d’être lassée lorsqu’on poursuit une série, mais les rebondissements sont sensationnels et nous voulons donc connaître tous les secrets de cet univers. Bien qu’il n’y ait pas d’action dans ce troisième tome, que tout se passe pratiquement sur Babel, je n’ai pas été déçue. J’étais à fond avec Ophélie. Et, encore une fois, c’est une véritable intrigue policière que mène notre héroïne. Elle doit, encore, faire face à des mésaventures. Elle pensait avoir tout affronté au Pôle, au Clairedelune… Ophélie s’aperçoit bien vite du contraire. Moi-même je me suis rendue compte durant ma lecture de l’évolution d’Ophélie.

Et, bien entendu et à mon plus grand plaisir, Christelle Dabos continue de mettre au cœur de son histoire les livres. À Babel, nous retrouvons une majestueuse Bibliothèque, une grande Académie où des étudiants se défient, se mettent des bâtons dans les roues, pour devenir des virtuoses.

Alors j’ai adoré cette arche malgré tout codifiée, car j’ai pu retrouver Ophélie, Archibald et Thorn, mais j’ai aussi pu rencontrer Octavio et Blazius. J’ai passé d’excellents moments ! Du coup, je ne vais pas me retenir plus longtemps pour me lancer illico dans la dernière et quatrième aventure de La Passe-Miroir.

4️⃣ Critique de La Passe-Miroir, tome 4, La Tempête des échos : Déconcertant.

L’univers de La Passe-Miroir est à saluer. C’est un imaginaire qui nous laisse sans voix, foisonnant et surprenant. De tome en tome, l’intrigue se déploie mais nous donne aussi la sensation d’être perdus. Je trouve que cette saga est déstabilisante même si je l’ai adorée. Et surtout avec ce dernier tome qui est, sans se le cacher, particulier. Comparé aux autres romans de Fantasy, La Passe-Miroir repose sur des ressorts différents, mêlant merveilleux, steampunk, naissance et destruction du monde, philosophie et science. Un beau petit mélange. Autre point à soulever : tout est imprévisible. On va de nos petites théories, mais Christelle Dabos manie son intrigue d’une main de maître.

Néanmoins, pour ce dernier tome, j’ai des émotions qui prédominent. Oui, c’est une belle histoire avec des personnages surprenants, mais j’ai été frustrée et comme vidée par La Tempête des échos. Des passages m’ont presque fait tourner la tête tant j’étais perdue, j’avais l’impression de rien comprendre. J’étais comme totalement dépaysée, en train de flotter par-dessus le récit. L’histoire de ce quatrième tome m’a parue comme abstraite. J’avais l’impression d’accrocher quelque chose dans l’intrigue, mais cela s’échappait aussitôt de mes doigts dès que j’en approchais. Une sensation de fugacité.

J’ai donc essayé de m’accrocher au personnage principal, Ophélie. Et là aussi, je ne sais pas trop quoi en penser. Christelle Dabos m’a donnée l’impression qu’elle faisait vivre à Ophélie une sorte de parcours initiatique entre son inconscient et son conscient afin de donner naissance à la véritable Ophélie. La Tempête des échos est, selon mes sensations, une lecture spirituelle, philosophique. Lecture intéressante, mais confuse. Comme je le disais plus haut, je croyais toucher quelque chose du doigt mais je n’y voyais aucune conclusion. Et Ophélie m’a parue comme dissoute. Son caractère, son charme aurait été comme aspirés par tout ce qu’elle traverse.

La fin n’est pas explosive, et je crois que j’aurais peut-être souhaité un autre point final, mais les dénouements sont rarement appréciés, j’ai envie de dire. Mais comme pour tout le quatrième tome, ça m’a laissé un peu sur ma faim. Un sentiment d’inachevé. Et en même temps, c’est un final que je qualifierais de poétique, beau. Qui nous emmènerais encore vers l’ailleurs. Nous plongerais encore dans d’autres intrigues…

Christelle Dabos a probablement fait exprès de provoquer cette émotion-là, la frustration, avec un dernier tome aussi différent des trois premiers, mais je ne peux pas m’empêcher d’être déçue pour le sort de certains personnages. Ils ont été délaissés au profit de toute l’intrigue. Comme s’ils n’avaient plus la moindre importance. Mais oui, au moins celle-ci a été résolue.

En tout cas, voilà mon ressenti, je suis mitigée et perturbée par cette fin. Mais l’histoire est d’une imagination incroyable et tient la route, qu’on accepte ou non le dénouement. Les révélations s’enchaînent avec dynamisme, je tournais les pages sans m’en rendre compte. Tout allait vite dans un monde toujours autant original.

Alors voilà, il y a de la déception, j’ai préféré les trois premiers tomes, mais j’ai tout de même été transportée jusqu’à la toute fin. L’histoire m’a bercée, m’a rendue confuse, mais elle est bien. Je me dis que l’auteur brise des codes et que je n’ai pas été prête pour lire une telle intrigue. Mais aucun regret : La Passe-Miroir est un voyage fabuleux pour son originalité et son audace. J’ai bien aimé vivre toutes ces aventures avec Ophélie. 🧣

[Rilauanne Olilhbou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellente saga, un univers fantastique passionnant. J'adore 👍

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so preface this 2-star review is only because I could not finish the last book. Could not do it. Tried for months. That being said, the first two books are amazing, and I would just read those two and forget the last two.

A Winters Promise- Book 1
I thought this book was quite interesting. I have always been a fan of forced or arranged relationships, and I thought that Ophelia and Thorn were a unique pairing. Two people who didn't want the marriage but were merely only doing it to further appease their family spirits. The political intrigue in the Pole arc was a major selling point for this book, and learning about the unique magic in the Pole and the different families was fun. I thought the book was slow, and some of the plot points were not super interesting but more or less I was rather invested in this book. I believe I finished this book in a couple of days.
4/5

The missing of clairdelune-book 2
This is by far the best book in the series. The tension that was missing in the first book is very present in this book. Thorn and Ophelia's relationship increases, and they learn that they need to rely on one another. The ending of this book was also very satisfying, and everything fell into place. I would stop here if you haven't read the other two books yet. Save yourself the trouble the first two books are superb.
4.5/5

The memory of babel-book 3
I'll give this book some credit. I did find it interesting to learn about a new arc, new powers, and more about what would be the main goal for the end of the series of defeating the other. This book introduces some new characters and new experiences for our main characters. My main issue with this book is that it feels so far removed from the other two books. Being in a new location, with no real political intrigue, and with Ophelia and Thorn not together for most of the book, it takes away the aspects of the first two books that worked so well. I think if we had been given more information in the earlier books about other arcs, this book wouldn't have been so hard to grasp.
3/5

The storm of echoes- book 4
Alright, so this book immediately starts going downhill. The main issue in this book is that nothing was foreshadowed or alluded to in the earlier books, so now there is all this information about the "villain" and " horn of plenty" in this book that is almost impossible to follow. I also got halfway through, and I was struggling to read it, so I jumped ahead. I read the last page of the book, and I could tell I would hate how it ended, so I just stopped. This last book is not worth the headache. There are no real redeeming qualities from the story presented in this last book.
1/5

[Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILERS.

Nel mondo di Attraversaspecchi, nessuno è davvero chi dice di essere. Tra arche fluttuanti e poteri che sembrano sfidare ogni legge naturale, gli uomini si muovono come pedine su una scacchiera invisibile, convinti di poter dominare il caos che li circonda. Ma dietro ogni gioco di potere, dietro la magia e le profezie, si nasconde la verità più crudele: il desiderio inconfessabile dell’uomo di elevarsi a qualcosa di più, di sfiorare la divinità con la punta delle dita, senza mai riuscirci davvero.

Ofelia, con il suo dono di leggere il passato degli oggetti e attraversare specchi, sembra una piccola anomalia in un universo regolato da forze più grandi di lei. Ma la sua esistenza stessa è una crepa in un mondo che si regge su illusioni. Le grandi famiglie, gli spiriti di famiglia, i giochi politici e i segreti secolari: tutto ruota attorno a un'unica, fragile convinzione. Chi detiene il potere crede di poter riscrivere il destino, di controllare il tempo, la memoria, l’essenza stessa della realtà. Eppure, per quanto si sforzino, per quanto si illudano, nessuno riesce davvero a diventare ciò che vorrebbe essere.

La battaglia sotterranea di Attraversaspecchi non è solo quella per il dominio o la sopravvivenza. È la lotta eterna dell’uomo contro i propri limiti, il tentativo disperato di superare la propria condizione, di spezzare le catene della mortalità e dell’incertezza. Ma non esistono dei in questo universo frantumato, solo uomini che giocano a esserlo, temendo più di ogni altra cosa di guardarsi allo specchio e scoprire di essere rimasti uguali, fragili e impotenti come lo erano sempre stati.

Un fantasy contenente non solo una storia d'amore, ma un travolgente messaggio nascosto. Con le sue bellissime descrizioni l'autrice ci rende partecipi di un mondo così lontano dal nostro in cui, eppure, riusciamo a sentirci partecipi.

I personaggi descritti da Dabos sono pieni e completi e riescono a farci innamorare di ogni loro parte, anche i difetti.

Diversamente dalla maggior parte dei lettori ho adorato il finale che rispecchia il resto dei libri perfettamente. Nonostante non ci sia dato sapere come Ofelia tirerà suo marito fuori dallo specchio si capisce che riesce a trovare Thorn e si immerge anch'essa nello specchio per la sua ultima lettura.

Non supererò questa saga, penso che avrà sempre un pezzo del mio cuore.

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

God. Finally. 60 hours. The whole time, I wished I were listening to Harry Potter (and before you think I am damning HP with faint praise, I am seriously considering and looking forward to a listen through, which I've never done the audiobooks before). We are saddled with the dumbest protagonist possible. Several times "she understood even less than before" comes up and like WHAT you never understood anything at ANY time, and sadly neither will the audience being stuck with her perspective.
The people that were gonna be annoyed by the world building and setup (a matriarchy with arranged marriages and chaperones and (female, obvi) harems) and weird af translation choices probably quit with first book. As the series went on, the localization just totally quit and more and more French just left in (untranslated, or references to informal/formal "you"). I was SO annoyed by the interchangeability of the words "glasses" for "eyes" (as in, "she turned her glasses to look" "raised her glasses to his face") and the phrase "I'm listening" in weird contexts (I assume there is an appropriate French phrase that would make more sense as a response?). I kept listening past book 2, because I was vaguely intrigued by the political drama, but that pretty much quit after that book. I HATED the heterosexual script that has the two main characters inevitably (sorta) wind up together (also, is he like... 40? and she's 17/18 at the start? barf) and also suddenly in book 4 she worries about being infertile... Final comment, book 4 goes on and on about "inverts,"(for dumb complicated plot reasons) and one minor character is a gay man, and sexologists used to call being homosexual "inversion" and, just, idk, god, it all seemed so tasteless.

[Rogue Fern · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand why an author would spend this much time with characters whom she clearly dislikes. Ophelia is described as clumsy, socially awkward, unkempt, and childlike. She is subjected to extreme physical abuse (up to multiple broken bones) as well as mental and emotional cruelty from multiple characters throughout the whole series. Thorn, her romantic interest, is cold, awkward (guess they have that in common), and powerless to protect her in spite of his stated intention. For no apparent reason at all, neither written into the narrative nor described through internal thought processes, the two form a strong attachment that causes Ophelia to suffer much more in order to protect Thorn and achieve their goals. (Thorn is also clearly much older than Ophelia which adds an ick factor to their relationship.) Their world is highly artificial and I found the ending overwrought and insufficiently explanatory.

I stayed for the whole thing because I kept hoping for better - Ophelia certainly deserved better treatment. However I believe I would have had plenty of company had I quit, since the first two books had a substantial wait time from the library but the second two were both available immediately.

Read in English - Goodreads doesn't offer an English language version of the entire series to review.

[Mariva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all 4 books in Italian; they were directly translated from the French version, and came to the market a few months earlier than the English copies.
I enjoyed book 1, loved book 2, found book 3 enjoyable and was underwhelmed by book 4.
Unfortunately I come across an interview in which the author declared she had no clue on how to wrap the story up, and that might have biased me, because that's the impression I got when I read the final book, which is the conclusion of this series.
Based on what I just said, my score might sound on the generous side. I chose to keep it so because the world-building was whimsical and absolutely unforgettable, and the characters likeable and unique. In the same infamous interview, I remember the author saying she would love to see her work pictured as a Studio Ghibli cartoon and I have to agree wholeheartedly to that. Filming majors, please pick this up asap!
The story is gripping and original, even if some threads get lost across the way. I might have been confused at times, but I don't remember being bored for a single moment. They are big books, yet they were finished too quickly, and waiting for the next was excruciating.
Definitely worth the ride, but prepare for some ends left loose.

[Desert Pearl · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It's often said of old buildings that they have a soul. On Anima, the ark where objects come to life, old buildings tend mostly to become appallingly bad-tempered”…and this first paragraph, ladies and gentlemen, is where I fell in love with “A Winters Promise.”

I DEVOURED the first two books, savoring the realistic characters and the fascinating world. There was a scattering of indecent words like—a word referring to a vulgar woman and the shorting of damnation. There are family spirits and a possible evil God, though I do not know how that came about or ended, for by the third book, “The Memory of Babel,” the story was starting to fall apart. I made it halfway through the book before abandoning it because it just wasn't the same anymore. It was more a rough draft than a finished one compared to the two masterpieces that came before it, and it wasn't a translation problem.
The old cast of characters were thrown to the side. We now have to deal with a different arc with a different cast. Two side characters in Babel are sodomites.

There was quite a bit of repetition, and Ophelia was no longer the bright character she had been. Thorn was nowhere to be found, so I am fed up with “The Memory of Babel,” enjoy the first two and carry on to the third if you dare.

[Baier Hepworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book series was an insane read- there is never a point in any of the books where you think “I really have a grasp on what is going on here”. Overall I enjoyed reading these but you have to have a certain mindset while going through them. There are many loose ends and too many characters trying to do too many things in most of the books. I almost stopped reading after book 2 only for the reason that the main character somehow seems to figure everything out all of a sudden and then can execute the perfect plan. This gave me the same energy as the 3rd Crescent City book where I wanted to roll my eyes a bit. I would have loved to had an insight to the thought processes more but I understand how much more book there would be. The world building was super unique and I enjoyed trying to picture everything, the association with it being a Ghibli type book is so accurate. If you can read these without being super worried about plot holes or super intent on understanding every part of this book- then I would suggest for sure. Either way it will make you think.

[Thomas Sulmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Époustouflant. J'ai énormément apprécié les jeux de langue qui parsèment la série ("esprit de famille", "non-lieu", "avant-coureur", "tac-si"...) et le style. Le troisième tome était un peu longuet par endroits, surtout les passages décrivant le parcours d'initiation d'Ophélie à La Bonne Famille. La véritable identité de Sir Henry n'était pas non plus une vraie surprise.
J'ai particulièrement aimé le quatrième tome et la frénésie xénophobe dont la ville est prise après le début des effondrements. Les passages horrifiques à l'Observatoire ont ajouté un contraste agréable avec le reste de l'aventure (le passage de la "cristallisation" dans la chapelle en particulier était vraiment saisissant, me rappelant par moments le film "Martyr"). J'avais très peur que la fin soit naïve et trop positive; je n'ai pas été déçu par le choix de l'auteure.

[Scott Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

La série de mon adolescence ❤️‍🔥
Celle dont je relisais TOUS mes chapitres favoris CHAQUE week-end en attendant la sortie au format poche du tome 4.
Celle où, pour la première fois, je me suis identifiée à un personnage : Thorn 🥹 (aka Thorninounet et pas Tourniquet, Charlène 😂)

Oui je connais des citations par cœur.
Oui dès que Thorn disait quelque chose j’étais là en mode « OMG QUELLE PROSE » même quand c’était pour dire « passe moi le sel » 😂…

Alors merci @christelledabos pour tout ce que vous m’avez apportée à travers les aventures d’Ophélie et Thorninounet : je vous en serai éternellement reconnaissante 🥹

[Emilie · Rating 5 out of 5]

La passe-miroir de Christelle Dabos est une série de 4 livres que j’ai eu le plaisir d’engloutir pendant la pandémie de la Covid-19. On m’avait dit : “Si tu as aimé Harry Potter, tu vas aimer La passe-miroir!”. J’ai été très dubitative puisqu’à mon sens rien n’égalera JAMAIS la saga Harry Potter, mais par curiosité je me suis procurée le tome 1.

Mais quelle découverte! Je suis passée à travers les 660 pages du tome 1 de La passe-miroir en 2 jours. Attention, dès que l’on ouvre ce livre, il est impossible de le refermer!

https://distraction.emilieolivier.com...

[Lorraine Dumont · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le récit, étalé sur 4 romans, est un régal pour l'imaginaire, avec des univers approfondis, des personnages inspirants et des développements surprenants. Chaque nouvel univers en cache un autre, la capacité d'imagination de l'autrice est très impressionnante.
Le seul bémol à mon sens est l'aspect très très genré du roman notamment dans les relations romantiques et surtout dans le couple principal, avec une masculinité toxique romanticisée d'une manière qui fait très 20e siècle.

[Caro Mnd]

L’écriture, en soit, n’est pas transcendante, mais l’autrice sait amener les intrigues, je me
Devais donc de trouver les suites. L’univers est parfois difficile à comprendre, tellement il y
a de personnages, de pouvoirs, d’inter-relations, et c’est surtout le démêlement final qui est
encore plus déroutant. Je suis restée dans l’incompréhension, la frustration, mais admirative
De l’imagination de l’autrice.

[Lexxs Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly the best books I read last year. The series is a bit disjointed with a different focus for books 1-2 and books 3-4. However, it's an excellent series with interesting world-building and characters. I prefer the first two novels, but the second two are very interesting and cerebral. I loved that it was both enjoyable and a little philosophical.

[Bookdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mirror Visitor - 3.5/5

A winter's promise - 4.8
The missing of Clairdelune - 5
The memory of Babel - 3.5
The storm of echoes - 3

“Your Book is but the start of your story, Odin. It’s up to you alone to write the ending.”

[Kursae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un sans faute. Je les ai dévorées les uns après les autres sans pouvoir m'arrêter. Des personnages qui sortent du commun avec des caractéristiques propres à chacun. Auquel on ne peut que finir par s'attacher et vouloir continuer de les suivre encore et encore.

[Nic Dunstall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great set of books. I couldn't stop reading until I'd finished all four books. The characters are all really well written and the books completely envelope you when reading. I just wish there was another one in the series.

[Brittany Horgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

creative and delightful world

[Mahalia Gosla · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 😫😨

[Jennie Petrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing series, rich and full of interesting people and amazing places

[Viki Sonntag]

Yikes. The last book is miserable and disturbing and boring with endless corridors.

[Mackenzie Sicard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even translated from French, it rocks. Couldn’t put it down!

[Cami Barrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

First fantasy-ish series I read and it was super captivating. This series was so good I wish there were more books. 4.5

[Marion Louvion · Rating 5 out of 5]

juste incroyable ! à surtout lire sans modération

[Philip Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Official ratings:

Series 93.3975%
Book 1 99.36%
Book 2 99.52%
Book 3 84.98%
Book 4 89.73%