Mary E. Pearson

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

So, I haven’t read the Remnant Chronicles, but I’m a huge fan of fantasy books, so I thought I’d give this book a try anyway. And honestly, I LOVED it.

While reading the previous series may deepen your enjoyment of Dance of Thieves, I had no problem jumping right in and following everything that was happening, so I really appreciated that it was its own thing. I highly enjoyed the show more world that Pearson has built and it has a sort of sci-fi/fantasy vibe, with legends of Ancient technology being so advanced, and now with them living in a world not so advanced. I love when authors are able to blend the two genres; it’s my favorite type of book to read.

The characters themselves are fierce and wonderful. We get two points of view, one from Kazi and one from Jase. It’s nice to get the varying viewpoints, because the reader is able to see the characters’ insecurities before the characters see them in each other, so I was able to like the characters right away because I knew neither one was heartless, dumb, or awful. It was wonderful to see them grow and open up to each other, eventually developing feelings for one another. The side characters are also incredible, and I love how fiercely both Kazi’s and Jase’s friends and family protect their own.

And the plot itself–brutally riveting. I couldn’t tear myself away from what was happening. Pearson sure knows how to grip a reader and hold them glued to the story, because I couldn’t get enough! There are so many schemes and plots happening that I felt myself completely taken in by the drama of it all, PLUS I kept wanting to see how the romance between Kazi and Jase would progress. I swear, every time a chapter ended I would audibly say “OH MY GOD,” and just keep reading, because it’s that well crafted. The ONLY thing that bothered me was that there is a huge cliffhanger at the end of this. So, if that sort of thing bothers you, maybe wait until the next book comes out, because it’s a tough one to get past.

Overall, if you’re a lover of fantasy books with some romance and scheming and such, this is the book for you. I, personally, have a soft spot for thief characters, so Kazi really took my heart. I CANNOT WAIT for the next book to be released.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

After that unexpected ending in Kiss of Deception, I was very excited to see what was going to happen next. In this book, Rafe spins a web of lies as an emissary of Dalbreck to try to buy some time before help arrives. Lia remains a prisoner (sort of) trying to play the game for surviving in the kingdom of Venda. Kaden is still in love with her and hopes that he will be able to convince her to return his feelings now that she will get to see him at his home base. The Komizar is an evil, show more manipulative villain who toys with Lia to make her submit to his machinations.

Lia undergoes great transformation in this book. Though the Komizar parades her around his people to manipulate her gift to gather support for himself, she truly gets to know the ordinary people, bonds with them and begins wondering about her role in the future of Venda. The Song of Venda and her gift give her more proof that she indeed has to save the Vendans from becoming prey to the Komizar’s lust for power. She becomes more sure of her gift, learns to be compassionate towards everyone and makes relationships with everyone around her while also trying everything she can to protect Rafe.

Kaden tries his best to protect Lia from any harm but he struggles to balance his love for Lia and Venda and his loyalty towards the Komizar. We get to see a different softer side of Kaden and learn about his cruel childhood. Lia starts to care for him more too but his expectations of love never waver. His choices at the end shatter his whole life but I can’t help but love him for that.

Rafe is the same sweet cinnamon roll that I am in love with but he is so much more here. He is Prince Jaxon, acting as an emissary, curbing all his warrior instincts and his love to ensure that they survive and make it home. He is so smart and intelligent and already feels like he would make a good King. But what I love most about him is his all consuming love for Lia. It is so true and boundless and I was waiting for the few and far between scenes of them being together. They make such a beautiful couple and all I could wish for was that they could be together despite the world going to hell. The ending broke my heart and I was left weeping and searching frantically through my heap of books for The Beauty of Darkness.

The secondary characters are amazing as usual. Aster, Yvet, Zekeiah, Efferia – all make Lia understand the plight of the ordinary Vendans who she comes to love like her own. Rafe’s friends are awesome too with their crazy escape plans. The one scene between Jeb and Lia is so heartwarming and there were so many such emotional scenes throughout the book accentuated by the beautiful writing. Rafe as usual has some of the most loveliest lines that tug your heartstrings.

The ending left me both devastated and hopeful and I couldn’t wait another moment before starting the finale. This was an awesome sequel and I loved it as much as the first one. But my love for the characters grew even more and I can’t believe I just have one more book to read about them. Ohhh I am going to miss them so much!!! show less

WARNING! A RAVING RANT AHEAD! DNF on the grounds of the heroine being a BB. (basic bitch)

I am known in my time to DNF a book, but rarely I give up before the hundred mark, but sometimes you pick up a book and this happens:


Definitions of a BB amongst others are:
*-a bum-ass woman who think she the shit but really ain't
*one who has no personality; dull and irrelevant
*Somebody who is boring and unoriginal.

Allow me to expand on that. We open the novel with a girl getting some pretty hot body show more art in preparation for her wedding. She happens to be a princess – and in a short space of time we are presented with a bucket load of mommy and daddy issues experienced by the heroine that usually seem to accompany children bread for high roles of state. The author is setting the scene. The wedding is imminent, and the princess excuses herself for a moment to freshen up, then grabs her maid and runs away in a most spectacular fashion you could ever possibly thing of. Just out the door and goodbye. Ok, I thought, now we're getting somewhere. Except we weren't...

The princess of her people leaves her wedding day and the fate of her nation in the air because she believes she will to marry a guy that is older than her, like her mother did. What she considers to be a toad. So she considers her daddy – you know the one whose approval was so desperate for a minute ago – a toad. Ok, next. Her Majestic Exellence then proceeds to run away, in her high profiled wedding dress, and her high profiled wedding cloak, witch happens to be encrusted with jewels to a dark forest with no preparations in place whatsoever. By that I mean NONE! Zip, zilch, zero, nada, nix, dust, NONE...


She spends her night in her wedding dress, by a fire basically signalling to the entire world her location with no protection, no skill in defence whatsoever. Anyone who was interested could have easily just came towards the friggin fire.. She spends a total of ten days in her ridiculously open wedding dress and encrusted cloak I think because she had nothing else to wear only to throw it into a thicket of brambles, and uses her dagger to pry the jewels off my wedding cloak and then send the mutilated remains downriver tied to a log. I mean her reasoning for need of money was sound, but then If the cloak was found by anyone who recognized it, I hoped the presumption would be that I had drowned...

Er...in case they conveniently miss that the jewels are missing, and the cloak is TIED to the log.

But then she rides to town...how???Buck ass naked? If she had less conspicuous clothes she wouldn't spend 10 days announcing to the entire world that she's rich, royal and on the run parading in her completely opened backed wedding dress. But now that she ditched it in the brambles, what is she wearing?


Moving on...

On the run she trades loose gemstones and overpays three sapphires to a trader to forget where they came from, and spend a good amount of coin for more silence when they downgraded thoroughbred horses for donkeys. They were going for the inconspicuous by being completely nuts. Sure as hell the random farmer and merchant will not forget the people who overpay for no reason whatsoever, and will value and keep silence on the matter.

Dear sweet lord, the stupid is strong in this one!

And don't forget that all of this happened because she thought that she has to marry an old guy that she doesn't love. Later when she meets the prince in disguise and falls for him it will all be ok. Because he is good looking. God what an absolute shallow moron of a woman. Are you telling me that she in her position couldn't have asked some of her courtiers what her intended looks like all this time? Is she simply that fucking incompetent? Her immature running away temper tantrum that is the unfortunate plot of this novel could have been avoided by asking one simple question... show less

The author lays out the whole storyline pretty early on, so there aren't any surprises with this one... but I didn't seem to care. In fact, I rather enjoyed reading along as the love story grew and the betrayal came to light. Sometimes knowing the shit is going to hit the fan can be great motivation to keep those pages turning! Ready for book 2... whenever it's released...