Reviews - A Treachery of Swans

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747 reviews for:

A Treachery of Swans

A.B. Poranek

3.87 AVERAGE

blewballoon's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek, so I picked this up entirely based on that. The tone is a smidge different, this feels slightly less like a folk tale and more like a general YA fantasy story. It reminded me strongly of Little Thieves by Margaret Owen.

I was honestly not in the mood for this when I started it, but I'd been waiting for the library hold and had just finished my last audiobook, so it didn't make sense to put it off. I had no patience for the main character and wanted her to hurry up and do her character growth instead of making bad decisions because she wasn't done being selfish and letting herself be manipulated. The perfect pure angelic beauty of Marie was exasperating to me, but I understood why she had to be that way for the story. I was intrigued by the prince and the bodyguard storyline happening over in the sidelines, I kind of wish they had their own book.

Despite my grumblings, I did appreciate the lyrical prose and the twisting plot. I was caught off guard a couple times when things veered off the course I expected, even though I had figured out a few reveals in advance. A.B. Poranek is definitely an author I'll continue to follow.

Audiobook narrator was alright, no complaints.

Content Warnings

thecourtofstarlight's review against another edition

dnf @39%
uninteresting and boring.

hollyn_middle's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bartlettbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Oh my freaking goshhhhhh THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! I was obsessed w Swan Lake as a kid & A Treachery of Swans amplified the hell out of that. I am in love with this retelling. Such a melancholy story, but the way Poranek was able to weave in humor that actually made me laugh out loud was beautiful. I just want to hug this book forever.