Book: Dance Of Thieves by Mary E Pearson

Published August 2019 by Henry Holt & Co|508 pages

Where I Got It: I own the paperback

Series: Dance Of Thieves #1

Genre: YA Fantasy

A new novel in the New York Times–bestselling Remnant Chronicles universe, in which a reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that may cost them their lives—and their hearts.

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.

I really liked this one!  When I heard that there was going to be another book set in the same world as the Remnant Chronicles, I knew I had to read it.

I didn’t love Jase and Kazi the way I love Lia, but I still really liked both of them…though if I had to pick a favorite from Dance Of Thieves, I think it would be Kazi.  Her story was really interesting, and it’s hard not to like her.  I like Jase and I definitely understood where he was coming from.  It’s a part of the world that we never saw in the Remnant Chronicles, and since it’s been awhile since I’ve read that series, I can’t remember if his family was even mentioned in those books.  It might be time for a re-read.

At any rate, it was really cool to see this world grow.  I loved seeing the Ballenger family and how hard things were for them.  Their part of the world is definitely different, and it really added to the world.  This book also had the little bits of history we saw in the Remnant Chronicles.  We also saw the addition of writings/histories from Jase’s family and I really liked that.  It’s always fun to see this world through these histories, and I’m really glad that those histories continued in this book.

I feel like I’m talking more about the Remnant Chronicles than I am about this one.  I mean, some of the things we saw in that series are in this book, and it does add to that world.

Since I’m starting to repeat myself a little…let’s talk about about Dance Of Thieves.  I liked the cat-and-mouse game, and since both Jase and Kazi are narrating, we know what’s going on, but they don’t know what the other one is doing.  There wasn’t a lot of communication between them, which I understand, considering what they were both trying to do.  Still, a lot of what happened may have been avoided if they hadn’t lied to each other.

It did take a while for me to get into it, and I think it’s because we’re getting backstory for both Kazi and Jase.  Once we got past that, I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next.  I’m curious to see where things are headed with how the book ended.

If you haven’t read the Remnant Chronicles, but are thinking about picking this one up…just know that you don’t need to read it in order to know what’s going on in this book.  While it’s set in the same world, and some of the characters from that series make an appearance or two, it’s not necessary to read it before reading this one.  There are some things that happen in that series that will be spoiled, and there is some world building you get in that one that you don’t necessarily get in this one.  That series is amazing, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should.  But this series is completely separate, so don’t worry about not knowing the world or some of the characters.

4 stars.  I didn’t love it, but I still really enjoyed it.  It is Mary Pearson, after all, and she’s pretty amazing.