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Book: “A Dance of Lies” by Brittney Arena
Publishing Info: Del Rey, June 2025
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Vasalie Moran was once a dancer in King Illian’s court, until he framed her for murder. Barely surviving her two years in the dungeons, she’s suddenly called to face her king. He offers her a deal: become his spy at the six-week royal Gathering and he’ll grant her freedom.
As Illian’s orders grow bloody and dangerous, forcing her to harm and betray those around her, Vasalie discovers that the monster she serves may be aligned with a bigger monster—one far closer to home. With her world threatened, Vasalie enlists the help of Illian’s brother and greatest adversary, the infamous King of the East.
As the rivalry between brothers escalates, with Vasalie caught in the middle, the horrifying truth of her past comes to light. If she wants to survive, she must decide who to trust, who to fight for, and how much of her soul she’s willing to damn in the process.
Review: Well, another romantasy down in the books. Another mixed bag affair. At this point, I acknowledge that I’m probably just a picky reader when it comes to this subgenre, and more often than not, I’m better off in “romantic fantasy” than romantasy, a distinction you wouldn’t think would make as much of a difference as it does! This one had a lot of potential, but in the end, it didn’t work for me in the way I had hoped it would.
Not a lot really worked for me with this one, unfortunately. But some of that is definitely objective. The style of writing, for one thing, felt fairly simplistic, leaving me feeling distanced from the characters and action and not able to fully invest myself in what was happening on the page. Part of this came down to what I felt was an imbalance between inner monologues and outward action/description. Yes, our main character has had a rough go of it, but there came a point in the first third of the story where I simply didn’t need to revisit some of these hardships as often as we were. All of this said, however, readers who prefer a more straight-forward style of writing or who prefer more inward-reflecting main characters may not struggle with the writing as much as I did.
I also liked the general idea of Vasalie’s disability and the inclusion of a character like this. That said, I’m not sure the execution quite worked. Again, a lot of inner narration was devoted to the struggles and adjustments that Vasalie needed to make due to this disability. However, whenever she needed to perform, it felt as if this disability suddenly, magically disappeared! The story didn’t outright say this, but the implication and depiction was that a person affected by a disability could simply “get past it” whenever it was needed. There was nothing egregious in this area, but I did think there was a heavy disconnect between the inner reflections of Vasalie’s disablity and the actual affect it had on her life (very little, especially when her dancing was needed for plot purposes).
I also didn’t love the romance. I didn’t expect a love triangle situation, so I was displeased to see one emerging fairly early on. While not the worst I’ve read, I often found myself frustrated by Vasalie’s choices. I definitely had a preference of her two choices, and I felt like she spent way too much time chasing the wrong one. Beyond that, I’m not sure if I’ve ranted about it before, but I’m so over the cutesy little nicknames that seem to now be a requirement in the romantasy genre. Authors, they’re not cute. Please stop.
So yeah, this was kind of a bummer of read. Nothing was horribly wrong with it, but on the other hand, nothing was really great. More general fans of romantasy (i.e. less picky ones) will likely enjoy this one, especially those who like love triangles/less defined romantic interests. However, if you’re just a casual fan, I’m not sure this is the read for you.
Rating 6: Unfortunately, this one just didn’t click with me, feeling at once too familiar and too remote to become invested in.
Reader’s Advisory:
“A Dance of Lies” can be found on this Goodreads list: June 2025 Most Anticipated Romance Releases
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