July Read: A Dance of Silver and Shadow

Today’s post is on A Dance of Silver and Shadow by Melanie Cellier, which I read this month. I read one other of her books in an adjacent series and enjoyed it, so I had high hopes for this retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

The Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads)

When Princess Liliana and her twin sister set sail for new lands, Lily hopes to find adventure and romance. But the people of Marin live under the shadow of a curse—one powerful enough to destroy entire kingdoms. To protect them all, Lily and eleven other princesses are forced to participate in a mysterious and secret tournament.

Lily spends her nights competing in a magical underground realm and her days unraveling the dangers of this new court. Although she needs the help of the Marinese prince, Lily knows she can’t let herself grow too close to him. There’s no time for romance when the duchy is about to fall to the encroaching darkness and the winner of the tournament faces a terrible fate.

But Lily and her twin have a secret advantage. And Lily grows increasingly determined to use their magical bond to defeat the tournament, save the princesses, and free Marin. Except she might have to sacrifice true love to do it.

In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, there’s a lot more at stake than worn out dancing slippers.

My Review:

A Dance of Silver and Shadow is a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, which is one of those unique fairytales I haven’t seen many retellings done of. It focuses on Princess Liliana, who, along with her sister and friend, are cast into a princess competition the moment they arrive on the shores of the foreign kingdom of Marin in order to sedate a curse. This competition is to see who will marry an infamous monster prince, and Lily is determined to win it to save her sister, friend, and the other nine much younger princesses from the terrible fate. Getting entangled with the Marinese prince and unraveling the political dangers outside of the competition are complications she doesn’t need.

I liked how instantly we were thrown into the story, with Lily and her sister and friend arriving instantly at the kingdom of Marin. No backstory of showing them boarding the ship and leaving home, or even before they landed. It opened with them literally entering the harbor, and the inciting incident happening at once. Picking the right place to start a book is tricky, but Ms. Cellier nailed it for this one.

All the major characters seemed well rounded, especially for such a large cast. (I mean, twelve princesses is a lot of characters to write and develop, especially in just one book.) Each one seemed to have their own personality distinct from the others, even if they were similar. Lily and her sister Sophie were of course the most developed, both different despite being identical twins. The Marinese prince, Jon, was also well developed, as were his friends, which consisted of four other princes. Again, considering the large cast, they were done well. And I believe the other books in the series will cover some, if not all, of these characters in more depth. The villain could have been a little more developed, as could his children, but since the main story was the tournament, not the actual Marinese politics, it wasn’t a huge deal.

Lily and Sophie’s sisterly relationship was super fun, as well as their magical ability to relay the thoughts they chose to each other (making it different from telepathy where all thoughts can be read). The friendship and camaraderie which sprung amongst the twelve princesses in the tournament was also a neat twist. Lily and Jon’s romance, while quick, was sweet and made sense, if one can accept the fact that they only knew each other for a few weeks/months and were engaged by the end of the book. I suppose the fact that Lily, her sister, and friend all came over with the idea to make political marriages anyway, helps.

The dialog was well written and executed, and it never drug me out of the story. Ms. Cellier also did a good job of differentiating thoughts, spoken words, and thoughts that the two sisters relayed to each other, which could have gotten confusing quite fast, but didn’t.

With all fantasy novels, you must suspend some belief in reality and plausibility (like someone having the ability to relay thoughts to another). However, these things should make sense within the bounds of the story. While the bulk of the story worked, there were a few tiny issues which seemed just a little too coincidental. Towards the beginning, during the first part of the competition, the girl who could have rivaled Lily and Sophie in the tournament and perhaps won it, gets injured. She’s the only one who does, and it pretty much takes her out of competition. Then, the resolution of the Marinese political issues towards the end. It happened so suddenly and almost accidentally. There was nothing that foreshadowed or led up to it. I understand it was a subplot, and the book couldn’t be super long, but those things felt a little too easy to me.

The worldbuilding, however, was done quite well. We got to explore Marin a little, and the magical place where the tournament was held was described nicely. The other nations were also described to be unique and adds to my desire of wanting to read the next books in the series, knowing that they explore them in depth.

In all, this fast paced and exciting story made this a hard-to-put-down book, especially with the fairytale elements added in. I look forward to continuing in the series, and I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy fairytale retellings, clean romance, and YA fantasy.

Rating: 4.75/5 Stars

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Thank you for reading my review. Have you read this book, or do you plan to? What did you think of it, if you have? Have you read any of Ms. Cellier’s other novels? What is your favorite fairytale, legend, or classic to read retellings of? Let me know in the comments below. God bless! ~ Kay Adelin