DANCE OF THIEVES BY MARY E. PEARSON

Spoiler Free Review
Title: Dance of Thieves
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Series or Standalone: Dance of Thieves, #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Publication Date: August 7th 2018
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Format: eBook
Source: Library
Star Rating: ★★★★☆
GOODREADS

Dance of Thieves is an entertaining new fantasy romance novel, in which a reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that may cost them their lives. Set in the same world as the Remnant Chronicles series, Dance of Thieves is the first book in Mary E. Pearson’s spin-off duology that takes place eight years after the end of the Remnant Chronicles trilogy.

When the patriarch of the Ballenger empire dies, his son, Jase, becomes its new leader. Even nearby kingdoms bow to the strength of this outlaw family, who have always governed by their own rules. But a new era looms on the horizon, set in motion by a young queen, which makes her the target of the dynasty’s resentment and anger.

At the same time, Kazi, a legendary former street thief, is sent by the queen to investigate transgressions against the new settlements. When Kazi arrives in the forbidding land of the Ballengers, she learns that there is more to Jase than she thought. As unexpected events spiral out of their control, bringing them intimately together, they continue to play a cat and mouse game of false moves and motives in order to fulfill their own secret missions. 

MY ANTICIPATED AUGUST RELEASES

I’m so excited for August, because two of the three books I’m mentioning today are some of my most anticipated releases, the other book is a complete wildcard for me. Each book is also vastly different from the other, genre wise.

And yes, I’m only mentioning three books, because who needs to be adding more books to their TBR?! (Certainly not me…) This will be short and sweet, but I’m really excited to read these August releases.

MOST RECENT ADDITIONS TO MY TBR

I know this isn’t a Wednesday. I apologise for the backlog, I’ve just been holed up studying for upcoming exams. 😝 After seeing a few of my blogger friends choose this topic for their T5W Rewind, I got jealous and had to join in. I’ve added a few interesting things – well I think they’re interesting – to my to-be-read pile. Hopefully this is a diverse enough list that there is something in it for anyone reading!

Also, it’s still T5W Rewind month, so any topic is game! If you’d like to join in on the conversation, head over to the T5W Group on Goodreads to check out all the topics.

THE BEAUTY OF DARKNESS BY MARY E. PEARSON

Title: The Beauty of Darkness

Author: Mary E. Pearson
Series or Standalone: The Remnant Chronicles #3
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publication Date: August 2nd 2016

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Format: Hardcover
Source: Personal Shelves

Star Rating: ★★★☆☆

GOODREADS

When the Beauty of Darkness arrived on my doorstep, I – like a lot of other fans of the series – was a little shocked at the sheer size of it. It was a kind of happy surprise, because after reading Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare, I’ve been less intimidated by YA Fantasy books over 500+ pages. More over, The Kiss of Deception and The Heart of Betrayal were both roughly five star reads for me.

Consequently, I was confident Pearson would deliver an amazingly epic finale that was on par with her previous work. Instead, The Beauty of Darkness felt extremely longwinded, and quite frankly left me feeling (surprisingly) a little disappointed. (But hey, you can’t please everyone!)

MY AUTO-READ SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY AUTHORS

I feel the need to explain my delay in posts quickly… three assignments due in the last seven days, have some mercy on me please! 😜

Top 5 Wednesday topic this April 11th has been slightly modified. The original topic read; auto-buy authors, and maybe the concept is a little bit different altogether, but honestly I rarely buy books. Of the 25 books I’ve read this year, only two have been from my personal shelf, the rest were sourced from my local library!

I personally found this list very easy to curate, because I’ve read such great books from these authors either recently or in the last year or so. If you’d like to join in on future discussions, visit the goodreads group!