Reviews - Sword Dance | The StoryGraph

204 reviews for:

Sword Dance

A.J. Demas

4.04 AVERAGE

monkeysbecausewhynot's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

beulah_devaney's review against another edition

4.0

This month I'm racing through A.J. Demas' historical, political romances. Set in a slightly skewed ancient Mediterranean region, Sword Dance draws enough on history to feel authentic while also offering some intriguing possibilities about how ancient cultures might have developed in an alternate timeline. The interaction between the protagonists is entertaining without distracting from the complex world Demas has created and I'm eager to read more of her work.

actuallyhurry's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There was some fun character surprises, some amount of political intrigue, and a plot that while fairly simple -- they knew what was going on for the most part and how to resolve it, but things kept getting in the way -- definitely sufficed. And this book introduced me to Varazda, who is possibly one of my now-favorite characters ever.

I went in with lots of reservations (a nonbinary character as a

eunuch

felt a bit alarming at first) but bought it on a whim and read it all in a single day. I didn't like the protagonist at all for the first part of the book, mainly because he needed some character development at the start, and he was a biased narrator when it came to many things. Once he started shaking things up and making his morals/values clearer and figuring out how to verbalize it all, oh, I loved him. The little sparks of dry humor he reveals now and again really are delightful, and his relationship and tension with the love interest was just excellent. None of this impacts my review, honestly, as some of the characters did need to grow by virtue of their position in society and having never truly run into hateful people like the villains of the novel before...or having had to never think of it.

I did, however, want more! I wanted a longer drawn-out relationship between the pairing, more slow burn than

"I wanted to kiss you all along, actually!" sort of things

. It was very juicy all the same, and the antics they get into (the tropes!! the tropes!!!!!) are very much right up my alley. My criticism is definitely on a personal, opinion-based level to that end.

I will add that the way that the nonbinary character is handled with his past was definitely soothing to me, but still may spark some nervous feelings in others who have different experiences from my own. I will say I found the sequel very liberating for him...but this is a review on the first one. :)

Content Warnings

helen's review against another edition

3.0

Meh. Not sure I’ll carry on with the series.
The author didn’t make me care about the intrigue plot, and didn’t really deliver on the fake relationship or soldier/spy tropes, but I cared about Dami and Varazda and their soft romance, which was full of lightness and tenderness.
I appreciated the fact that Varazda’s non-binary-ness is unrelated to the fact that he’s a eunuch. And that both things were handled with sensitivity and not fetishized.
Other thoughts: the anachronistic dialogue didn’t really work for me and it could’ve done with a map.

Content Warnings

retroflexin's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

nione and damiskos are wlw/mlm solidarity

Content Warnings

idris's review against another edition

5.0

From start to finish - this was an utter joy to read. I so rarely (if ever) give 5 stars to any book, but this book just made me happy. And how many books do that nowadays? Not many.

Set in an alternative Mediterranean Classical World, the world building was phantastic, the plot was exciting and fast paced and the romance. Oh my god. Whom am I kidding? I'm here for the romance.

Damiskos and Varazda were wonderful characters, both with strengths and weaknesses and with their personal trauma and their relationship was so sweet and respectful and swoonworthy.
Usely I tend to skip sex scenes but here I actually didn't and I thought they were very well done and tasteful and just really really romantic and added even more layers to their relationship.

Varazda was so incredibly competent and smart, but also very vulnerable and fragile (but with a core of steel) and seriously, these are my favourite characters. I loved being in Damiskos head and falling in love with Varazda the same time he did.
I can't wait for more!

ally_lester's review against another edition

5.0

I really love A. J. Demas's not-quite-Classical-Europe world. Her protagonists are always beautifully drawn with realistic complexity that makes them easy to like; and if you don't like them, you understand them. As usual, there is lots and lots of plot alongside the romance. First of a trilogy!