Reviews - A Dance of Lies | The StoryGraph

602 reviews for:

A Dance of Lies

Brittney Arena

3.99 AVERAGE

bluerobinredwren's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

katerinab95's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

_patrycja_'s review against another edition

3.75

I wouldn't choose this this book, I read it as it came in a subscription box. I was very supposed to see I got hooked while reading the first chapter.

Unfortunately, the story got a bit tiring for me towards the end. I was hoping it was a standalone book, so the twist ending felt slightly frustrating. I’ll likely read the second book, but without much urgency.

Romancewise... I feel like Copelan felt unnecessary, and we could have just focused on Anton. I am so team Anton.

Overall: surprising read that started strong but didn’t quite live up to my expectations by the end.

read_game_stitch's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

A Dance of Lies grabbed me from the very first page, and I'd already teared up by page 34! Right from the start, I wished that I had a full, free day to just sit and binge this book because I wanted to know who FMC Vasalie should trust, I wanted to see the twists unfold, and I wanted to see where Vasalie's relationships with various characters would go. Unfortunately I had to keep putting this down because of pesky things like sleep and parenting, but the moment that I could pick it up again, I did!

Vasalie has multiple characters that could be her love interests and I was eating up all the crumbs, trying to work out which one would be the main LI. To start with, there's King Illian, who named Vasalie his Jewel, his favourite dancer, but who knew that Vasalie wasn't responsible for the murder of a Lord in his court, and sentenced her for the murder anyway. Vasalie withers away in prison for 2 years before Illian releases her, and offers her freedom in exchange for being his spy. He hints to her that there's reasons behind his actions, but is it all a lie? Then there's King Anton, Illian's brother, who Vasalie is sent to spy on. He has Dorian Havilliard vibes, so I was personally rooting for him. Finally, there's fellow dancer Copelan. He becomes Vasalie's dance partner while she's tasked with infiltrating Anton's court, and you only need to watch Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing With The Stars and see all the celebrity/dancer relationships that come out of it to suspect that there's something more than friendship to be found there.

So Vasalie had multiple options (not all of them great, admittedly, especially when writing this after seeing how everything goes down!) and I flew through this book to discover how everything unfolded. It was really powerful and I loved this debut novel. It doesn't have spice, so don't go into it expecting that, but it definitely has tension and emotion. I can't wait for the finale to this duology. With how it ended, I am expecting a lot of action, drama and further twists and betrayals to come!

baylee_janae's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

ines_santos13's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging 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

dame_arcane's review against another edition

4.5

medium-paced

4.5⭐ I honestly enjoyed this story. If you're not a fan of the MCs facing struggle and difficult decisions at every turn this one is not for you. It has its sweet and even spicy moments but most of it the MC is in a rough position. All I can say is trust the process, trust the author. Which I feel is very lacking in the communities of readers and watchers of movie/shows these day, is trusting the person who is telling you their story. Everyone thinks they're an expert now, which preempts any enjoyment you might have felt because it's not something they're used to, so it's wrong rather than refreshingly different. It's maddening.

This story is full of court intrigue and espionage, a woman being broken down by men and trying to change her internal narrative of feeling broken due to chronic illness caused by the actions of one of these men. I also like that we really didn't know who the love interest is throughout the story. It has its fantasy elements and there's a prophecy. I love the way dance and performance is described. I will be reading the next one because I need to know what happens next.

This can be read whenever but the warmer months of spring 🌼 and ⛱️. There are intimate moments in this but nothing to be scandalized by.