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A review by readingbymollie
A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena
adventurous
mysterious
tense
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Update (5/24/2025): overall, I liked where this book ended up! I thought there were elements of the story early in the book that were super interesting, and excited me. The writing slowed me down though, and at times, took me out of the book. I think part of this is that, while early in the book really interesting things are happening, it was slow and I didn’t feel like the world building was hooking me.
I didn’t feel like I really connected with the MC. She obviously went through this terrible experience, is pulled out and then manipulated to the extreme. Her physical journey was clearly a huge piece of her storyline, and while discussed in detail early in the book, seemed mostly glossed over as the book progressed. On her awareness of the plots and schemes around her (including the ones she was acting within, though involuntarily), I wanted more work from the MC on piecing together what was going on. To me, she was mostly la-di-da-ing her way through the whole situation she was manipulated into and only was motivated into action after she was found out. Like….Come on. I feel like she didn’t suffer for two years and have THAT childhood to just sit by and let the circumstances dictate her actions - even with looming threats - through more than the first half of the book
However, after the first big reveal, I fell into this party hard! It felt like it took the story too long to get me hooked - I wish we’d have had some sort of discovery or hint to the Master Plan a little sooner! But once we got that, I was eager to finish the book
On the writing, I definitely feel like this is a debut! It’s not the most polished writing, it was very descriptive and did more telling rather than showing. At times it seemed like the author was using language that they thought a fantasy should have, rather than customizing the internal monologue or dialogue with other characters to the story. That said, descriptions of the dances were interesting, not that *I* could picture them (I’m sure others more imaginative than I will).
The ending was a cliffhanger (very much giving Iron Flame, but a bit less upsetting). I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series.
Note: seems like this book is slated to be Fairyloot’s July adult sun book! Having received a print ARC (the cover is a BEAUTIFUL stained glass motif) I’m so so so so excited to see what they do
April 2025: Excited to have received an ARC!
I didn’t feel like I really connected with the MC. She obviously went through this terrible experience, is pulled out and then manipulated to the extreme. Her physical journey was clearly a huge piece of her storyline, and while discussed in detail early in the book, seemed mostly glossed over as the book progressed. On her awareness of the plots and schemes around her (including the ones she was acting within, though involuntarily), I wanted more work from the MC on piecing together what was going on. To me, she was mostly la-di-da-ing her way through the whole situation she was manipulated into and only was motivated into action after she was found out. Like….Come on. I feel like she didn’t suffer for two years and have THAT childhood to just sit by and let the circumstances dictate her actions - even with looming threats - through more than the first half of the book
However, after the first big reveal, I fell into this party hard! It felt like it took the story too long to get me hooked - I wish we’d have had some sort of discovery or hint to the Master Plan a little sooner! But once we got that, I was eager to finish the book
On the writing, I definitely feel like this is a debut! It’s not the most polished writing, it was very descriptive and did more telling rather than showing. At times it seemed like the author was using language that they thought a fantasy should have, rather than customizing the internal monologue or dialogue with other characters to the story. That said, descriptions of the dances were interesting, not that *I* could picture them (I’m sure others more imaginative than I will).
The ending was a cliffhanger (very much giving Iron Flame, but a bit less upsetting). I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series.
Note: seems like this book is slated to be Fairyloot’s July adult sun book! Having received a print ARC (the cover is a BEAUTIFUL stained glass motif) I’m so so so so excited to see what they do
April 2025: Excited to have received an ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder