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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Staying grows so very lonely when one stays all alone. But it is far, far lonelier when one has to stay with ghosts."
⭐⭐⭐/5
I can say with confidence that I enjoyed the first volume far more than this one.
I find the rest of my thoughts kind of muddled. Likely they will clear up in time. What I feel most strongly right now is disappointment that the first 75% of the book did not match the last 25%, and that is to say, I was quite bored / appalled / frustrated with this book for a LONG TIME.
One of the things I found disappointing was that I felt Mohanty's quirky writing style from Sons of Darkness did not come out as strongly throughout most of Dance of Shadows. I thought SoD was FUNNY, and I was easily entertained by characters such as Krishna. This means I thought Dance of Shadows felt dull in comparison; Mati, Dantavakra, and Vahura were making me laugh towards the end, but everything else felt stagnant to me. Now, this is a long book, and it doesn't have the most compelling characters to me, so this was a heavy blow.
The SECOND — and honestly more important — thing, had roots in the first book but felt especially damning in this one. That is, the treatment of women in this book is concerning at best and downright disturbing at worst. I don't want anyone thinking I am some kind of coward when it comes to gore (the scenes in this book were not worse than what I have read in the past), but it was a little frightening how many violent, DETAILED torture scene (including disembowelment, beheadings, rape, etc) were reserved for the women in this series. In this book alone, I would wager that, for every violent (described) male death, there were four women to accompany him. It felt, to an extent, that this was intentional. Following this, I have plenty of misgivings towards the way women are written in this series, but if I was to lay all of those out, this review would be far longer than I am willing to write. Just know, if you appreciate women who are written to be human beings, and you want these human beings to live, you probably shouldn't bother reading this series.
Still, to give this book series credit for something, it has got to be one of the ballsiest in terms of throwing characters out like it's nothing. I seriously cannot feel safe with anyone for any extended period of time, and I actually think that's a good thing. Keeps me on my toes!
I do intend on continuing this series once the next one comes out, but I urge anyone trying this out to approach it with caution.
⭐⭐⭐/5
I can say with confidence that I enjoyed the first volume far more than this one.
I find the rest of my thoughts kind of muddled. Likely they will clear up in time. What I feel most strongly right now is disappointment that the first 75% of the book did not match the last 25%, and that is to say, I was quite bored / appalled / frustrated with this book for a LONG TIME.
One of the things I found disappointing was that I felt Mohanty's quirky writing style from Sons of Darkness did not come out as strongly throughout most of Dance of Shadows. I thought SoD was FUNNY, and I was easily entertained by characters such as Krishna. This means I thought Dance of Shadows felt dull in comparison; Mati, Dantavakra, and Vahura were making me laugh towards the end, but everything else felt stagnant to me. Now, this is a long book, and it doesn't have the most compelling characters to me, so this was a heavy blow.
The SECOND — and honestly more important — thing, had roots in the first book but felt especially damning in this one. That is, the treatment of women in this book is concerning at best and downright disturbing at worst. I don't want anyone thinking I am some kind of coward when it comes to gore (the scenes in this book were not worse than what I have read in the past), but it was a little frightening how many violent, DETAILED torture scene (including disembowelment, beheadings, rape, etc) were reserved for the women in this series. In this book alone, I would wager that, for every violent (described) male death, there were four women to accompany him. It felt, to an extent, that this was intentional. Following this, I have plenty of misgivings towards the way women are written in this series, but if I was to lay all of those out, this review would be far longer than I am willing to write. Just know, if you appreciate women who are written to be human beings, and you want these human beings to live, you probably shouldn't bother reading this series.
Still, to give this book series credit for something, it has got to be one of the ballsiest in terms of throwing characters out like it's nothing. I seriously cannot feel safe with anyone for any extended period of time, and I actually think that's a good thing. Keeps me on my toes!
I do intend on continuing this series once the next one comes out, but I urge anyone trying this out to approach it with caution.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
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
challenging
dark
tense
So, after finishing Son of Darkness & being fairly lost for most of it, I felt like I immediately needed book 2. But be warned - Dance if Shadows isn't a true sequel. The majority of the book happens in parallel with the events of Son of Darkness. That being said, I feel like I finally started to understand some of complex machinations going on. I stopped trying to relate it to my thin-at-absolute-best knowledge of the inspirational material and just roll with it. It allowed me to focus more on what's happening in this world and play the game with the right pieces. These are BIG books, so I don't know how long I'll be waiting for book 3. But oh, I'll be ready.
*A note about content warnings. This is a grimdark fantasy retelling. It has ALL the content warnings. It's violent and brutal and dark. Just be aware*
*A note about content warnings. This is a grimdark fantasy retelling. It has ALL the content warnings. It's violent and brutal and dark. Just be aware*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry
adventurous
dark
funny
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:
No
The thing about a 900 page book is after awhile it starts to feel like a 900 page book and for a while especially in the beginning, it was a little touch and go as to whether I should continue or not, very glad I stuck with it, because this is the sort of story where you really have to trust the author and the characters! Dance of Shadows continues on the heels of the events in Mathura and while we don't see all of the characters from Book 1/that battle some of my favorites like Mati returned. I enjoyed the expansion of the world and the mythos behind some of the characters. I will say that some of the revelations were kind off expected, others made me want to read the first book and a couple hundred pages of the 2nd lol. Very excited to see how the saga continues, hopefully by time that one drops I won't have forgotten anybody.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Cannibalism
challenging
dark
sad
tense
I dont know why this labeled as lighthearted and funny, but it is not! It is DARK! It is gruesome and not for the faint of heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
You know when you need a drink to recover from the ending of a book? Yeah