I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Palace of Illusions by Rowenna Miller Published by Redhook on June 10 2025
Genres: Adult, Historical fantasy
Pages: 480
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: The Palace of Illusions is a unique Nutcracker retelling with magic, charm and sparkling characters.
The Palace of Illusions was a breath of fresh air in a crowded pool of “retellings,” and I was in love from the first page. In this case, Rowenna Miller takes on the story of the beloved Christmas ballet the Nutcracker. In a creative twist, she sets her story in 1900 Paris at the Exposition Universelle, a historical event that celebrated the amazing technological advances of the time. She also adds a wonderful magical element by adding a hidden, alternate Paris that can only be reached through use of a special key. Finally, we have Clara, a plucky young woman who isn’t concerned with the social norms of the era, but sets out to achieve her dreams instead.
Clara Ironwood has just left her home in Wisconsin and moved to Paris to work on the Palace of Illusions, one of the many displays of technical wonder that will be part of the upcoming Exposition. Her apprenticeship with her Godfather Christian Elias Thrushman, a brilliant clockmaker, has prepared her for the technical and design work necessary for the display, and she’s thrilled to be on her own. Clara begins to make new friends, including her neighbor Annabelle, a dancer, and her boss Fritz Krieger. But she does have moments of homesickness, especially since the Christmas season is almost here.
One day she receives an early Christmas gift from her Godfather, and she’s surprised when she unwraps it to discover her Godfather’s ugly old nutcracker. She can’t imagine why he’d send her such a gift, until she examines it more closely and discovers a hidden compartment. Inside is a beautiful magnifying glass, and when Clara puts it up to her eye, she’s shocked when the world around her dissolves and changes into a different version of the Paris she’s become familiar with.
Clara has just discovered the anderwelt, a secret, magical place where artisans and craftsmen and women can go to stretch their creativity. Everything created there takes on a different form in the real world, and each “handwerker” has a unique key that allows them to travel back and forth at will. But as Clara also finds out, someone is trying to sabotage the anderwelt by creating blights, sections of darkness and shadow that also affect the real Paris. With the help of her Godfather’s nephew Nathanael Nussbaum, who has an interesting history with Godfather and the anderwelt, she sets out to stop the person responsible for the blight and save the anderwelt—and the grand opening of the Exposition.
Miller uses just enough of the familiar Nutcracker elements to entice the reader while making the story her own. First, the story is set around Christmastime, which immediately calls to mind the joy and wonder of the famous ballet. We also see little touches throughout the story like an army of magical mice who act as the eyes and ears of Nathanael, tin soldiers, the appearance of dancers like Annabelle and a clockwork ballerina named Olympia, and of course, the iconic characters of Clara and the nutcracker. Miller’s story is a celebration of artistic creativity, as her main characters are all artisans who have the unique opportunity to let their imaginations fly—when they are in the anderwelt—and their creations appear in different forms in the real world, but they are just as wondrous. I loved the joyful, upbeat feel of the story, and you can tell that Rowenna Miller herself loves the process of crafting art in all its various forms.
Miller adds lots of little historical details of the time period as well. The story includes the Lumière Brothers, the French inventors who created an early version of the motion picture camera. Electricity is also a big deal at the Exposition, as it’s a fairly new invention for that time, and Clara incorporates electric lights in the Palace of Illusions display.
Interspersed among the chapters are stories written by Elias to Clara and her sister Louise when they were children, and I absolutely loved the inclusion of these tales. Each is written in such a way as to appear to be fiction, but in fact Elias is actually trying to tell them that the stories might in fact be true.
The setting and world-building are certainly the star attractions of The Palace of Illusions, but the characters are just as good. Readers will love Clara, who is much more focused on her work and learning about the anderwelt than romance, and I loved seeing a turn-of-the-century female character with a modern sensibility (although there is a romance, but it doesn’t take center stage). She also cares deeply for the people in her life, including her sister Louise, who shows up at her Paris apartment unexpectedly with the excuse that Clara needs watching over (she doesn’t). Things are very tense between the sisters for a while, but gradually Louise fits herself into Clara’s new life and even discovers her own artistic abilities. All of the side characters add flavor to the story, even the bad guys who are trying to destroy the anderwelt.
While the middle section drags in some parts, Miller raises the stakes near the end with some thrilling action and danger. The feel good ending made me smile and wish I could go along with Clara and her friends on their next adventure.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I really like the sound of this. The Nutcracker retelling, the alternate Paris and the fact that Clara is a character with modern sensibilities all make this a book I’d like to read. It sounds magical 😀
It really was a well rounded story, with so many great elements.
I’m definitely feeling pretty sold on this one! On the wishlist it goes. (The neverending wishlist…)
Yes, we all have one of those, right? 😉
Game
Dungeon Crawler Carl
This sounds fantastic. I love the sound of both it’s historical and fantastical settings and all the little Nutcracker ties that it’s included. I may try to pick it up around Christmas as I’m determined to actually read seasonally a bit this year but the stories that Elias has written are making it incredibly tempting to read now instead. I have such a major weakness for stories within stories. I’m glad you enjoyed this one. It certainly sounds like a strong retelling.
Ignore the Dungeon Crawler Carl mention, I accidentally copied in something from another comment I tend to write them on notes as I read posts then copy them in and apparently I hadn’t cleared all of the previous one
I’ve done that too, lol:-)
Glad it’s not just me lol
You wouldn’t know from the cover that it’s a Christmas story, but it would be perfect to read during that season.
That sounds like a good book to read around Christmas.
By the way, I invite you to link it to #ParisinJuly2025, as so much is set there!
https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/07/01/parisinjuly2025-all-the-links/
Great idea, I will do that:-)
Beautiful cover on this, so glad to hear that the story was pretty good too! I do love a good retelling, especially when they do it in unique timeline or historical period. Great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2025/07/03/e-galley-review-the-spirit-of-love-by-lauren-kate/
It was one of the most unique retellings I’ve read:-)
This sounds lovely and inventive!
Inventive is the perfect word!
A hidden alternate Paris that can only be reached by a special key? That’s cool! This whole story sounds awesome. Adding it to my list. 😀
It was such a well written story:-)
Really interesting. I think own the first in her Unraveled trilogy and want to read that first.
Anne – Books of My Heart
I haven’t read that trilogy, but I do want to now that I see how much I enjoyed this.
This sounds interesting! The setting seems magical and I love when we have characters who love their work!! And the fact that creativity is central here is something new and fascinating!
Thanks for sharing!!
Clara was such a fun character:-)
This sounds like one of those magical blendings of real world and fantasy world that can really capture us readers. And add in some historical elements and those from the original Nutcracker story and you could get something special. I’ll keep my eye out for it.
It’s such a well rounded story, and all the elements work so well together:-)
I would definitely read this one around Christmas, Roshani Chokshi got me turned onto early Parisian settings!
This would be perfect for Christmas, and the fact that I loved it in June makes it even better:-)
I have a friend who is nuts about the Nutcracker and she’d love this, I think. Aaaand, if I get her a copy, she’ll let me borrow it, and then I haven’t added any books to my heaving TBR stacks. Mwah-ha-ha!
Great review!
Sounds like the perfect plan!
I really enjoyed this too. It’s a cozy fantasy that made me smile at the end 🙂
This sounds really good. I’m not really familiar with the Nutcracker story but I love the idea of the key to a secret Paris setting.
Lynn 😀
I LOVE The Nutcracker! So I’ve put this one on my wishlist and will get hold of it at some stage. Thank you for the review, Tammy!