Book Review: A Dance of Cloaks

A Dance of Cloaks

By:  David Dalglish

Publisher:  Orbit Books

Publish Date:  October 8, 2013

Format:  Print 448pg,  5 1/2" x 8 1/7"

Series:  1st of Shadowdance series

Recommendation:  Eeea. If you like lots of thieves and death, give it a try.

Book Synopsis:
Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. Marshalling the thieves’ guilds under his control, he declares war against the Trifect, an allegiance of wealthy and powerful nobles.

Aaron Felhorn has been groomed since birth to be Thren’s heir. Sent to kill the daughter of a priest, Aaron instead risks his own life to protect her from the wrath of his guild. In doing so, he glimpses a world beyond poison, daggers, and the iron control of his father.

Guilds twist and turn, trading allegiances for survival. The Trifect weakens, its reputation broken, its money dwindling. The players take sides as the war nears its end, and Thren puts in motion a plan to execute hundreds.

Only Aaron can stop the massacre and protect those he loves…

Assassin or protector; every choice has its consequences.

First Sentence:
For the past two weeks the simple building had been his safe house, but now Thren Felhorn distrusted its protection as he limped through the door.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles  /  Book Depository

** I requested a copy of this book from the Publisher for an honest review.

My Thoughts and Summary:
For the last five years the battle between the Trifect and the Guilds has become an all out war in the city of Veldaren. One thief wants to rule it all, Thren, with making his son the most dangerous and feared of them all. By bringing down the Trifect who rule the city and the King, Thren can then rule over his city. But...will there be anyone left to rule? And can he pull it off?

There feels like a lot going on here. We get different views as characters in this world interact or are influenced by actions of others. And in this city, all are affected. I usually like multiple POVs, but here I don't feel as sucked into the world as other reads because of all the short glimpses between different characters. I felt the glimpses were to short and not in an order that flowed for me in the first half of the book. I know this is to show the world but each doesn't last long enough for me to get a feel for that character. I wanted to say SHOW me, don't TELL me. That would have drawn me to the characters and their dark world a bit more. But I did find I was curious to see where it would go. The story feels like it's to have an epic sense to the characters and their interactions to come, but at times with epic series there is a great distance between me and the world and characters. I felt that here, and pretty much through out the book.

We start strong with trouble and potentially war between Trifect that rule the shadows of Veldaren. Wow. When we meet Aaron. What he does at the age of eight. *whistles* He'll be a dangerous man when he grows up. The world in Veldaren is full of death. Thren and all the thief guilds don't mess around here. They say they are going to kill you, they do. Heck, they'll kill you even if they say they won't. I liked that. Is it something new? No, but I liked that aspect of the story.

The story picked up for me as I went. It did take about 200 pages for me to start to see more in the characters and with this world though. Mind you the book is 448 pages. I think they style of the author is now starting to iron out, although I'm not sure if his style is for me. I would prefer to go for a longer read or more books if I was shown through actions of the characters more instead of what they think of themselves.

I did start to like a few characters, Aaron and even Senke. Alyssa even grew on me as did the Faceless. But I would have liked more from them in the away of showing us and longer views.

I wanted to so badly be screaming from the roof tops for this book, but... well... I'm not there. It fell flat for me. I do hope others love it as I know there are the readers out there that will love this book for it's action alone.


Additional views of the book can be found at:
   Fantasy Book Critic, who very much enjoyed the read.
   Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell