Name: Dance of Thieves
Rating: 4.250674763832659 (741 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250159014

Mary E. Pearson

When outlaw leader meets reformed thief, a cat-and-mouse game of false moves ensues, bringing them intimately together in a battle that may cost them their lives—and their hearts.

Dance of Thieves

I loved this book. The twists and turns and the characters are just so well written. I’m excited to read the second one!

Sofie I

I gotta say the beginning was good, the middle was very slow and I think could have absolutely been cut in half, and then the ending was good, I enjoyed the romance but I was relieved when the third act conflict hit just because the middle was soooo slow. overall enjoyed the book and I am excited for the sequel 

fris🐝

This reminded me of graceling at the beginign but I loved the ending and the story and I rlly want to read the next one 

Stella

Ive been really wanting to read enemy to lovers and this did not disappoint. The beginning was a bit rough/ feel the lore of the world could have been explained a bit more up front. But enjoyed!

Ashley Denktas

Mary E. Pearson's Dance of Thieves is a new YA 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.

it was fine but nothing to write home about. it’s not one i would necessarily recommend but i’m not mad i read it

kels

"You’ve infected me with a poison that I don’t want to flush out, because you’re a mad viper twisting around my middle, cutting off my breath, yet I want you more than I want to breathe."

This is a fascinating story of forbidden love, loyalty and a whole lot of hypocrisy. It has taken me FAR too long to start this book. I bought Dance of Thieves a long time ago and it has sat on my Kindle shelf forever and I was about to pick it up when my friends recommended I read The Remnant Chronicles first. I am so glad I followed her advice because I think reading the trilogy first really helped understand the story better. This story follows Kazi and Jase, Kazi is a streetrat thief turned trusted Rahtan warrior, she is on a mission to investigate treaty violations following The Great Battle six years ago and to track down Captain Illarion for Queen Lia after he managed to escape justice for his crimes at the end of The Beauty of Darkness . Jase is the newly appointed Patrei to the Ballenger family, the head of a lawless family who claim to be the first Kingdom on the continent descended from the Ancients.

I had high hopes for this book right from the beginning, I was immediately absorbed into the story and loved the pacing initially, but it started to get a bit dry in the middle and then I found the ending too rushed. I fell in love with Jase and Kazi while they were out in the wilderness and I was curious to see how they would handle their budding relationship once they got back to civilisation. I loved how open and kind Jase was, his passion for his culture and his protectiveness towards his people was very admirable, and the stories he told where so touching and beautiful. Kazi was also amazing, I really had to sympathise with where she had come from and how she had grown to such a loyal and fierce soldier. I loved her sisterhood with Wren and Synové so much, and it made sense why she remained so guarded towards Jase as they got to know each other. The hot and cold, enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers, back and forth between them was equally thrilling and frustrating. I was rooting for them right from the beginning but I just wish there hadn't been so many lies, deceptions and hypocrisy between them. I know some of this is necessary to be able to drive this type of plot forward but there were points where I just wanted to throttle them both.

Unfortunately when they did get back to civilisation it started to drag a bit in the middle. We got some really beautiful moments with the Vendan settlement and with the Ballenger's tight knit family being so accepting of Kazi, Wren and Synové - it really hurt knowing that they would betray them after all of that. I kept holding out hope that Kazi would just explain to Jase why she was really there and he would help her but it never came. I think this book ended up being just a little bit too long with these scenes drawn out too much. These overly lengthy but also wonderfully poetic scenes were then compared to the rushed ending of the story and it just didn't end up working 100% for me. 

Once they get back to Venda with Jase, it all felt too easy. Everyone is threatening him with the noose and then suddenly Kazi is very easily persuading everyone to simply let him go and all of her anger at him for hiding Zane from her is just forgotten. It felt like a rush to give them a happy ending for book 1 when it might have worked better to end on more of a cliff hanger between them two. 

I really enjoyed this book but I do feel like it struggled to accomplish what it was hoping to. I imagined the Ballenger's as similar to the Shelby's from The Peaky Blinders and I think if this book was written more New Adult then we could've really gotten some heavy, gritty lawless, morally grey angst out of them but instead it felt like this book wanted to focus more on the purity of the romance between Jase and Kazi. I will absolutely be reading Vow of Thieves straight up next and am looking forward to it, but I think this series will be a solid four stars for me in the end.

Genevieve 

"You’ve infected me with a poison that I don’t want to flush out, because you’re a mad viper twisting around my middle, cutting off my breath, yet I want you more than I want to breathe."

4 ⭐'s

This is a fascinating story of forbidden love, loyalty and a whole lot of hypocrisy. It has taken me FAR too long to start this book. I bought Dance of Thieves a long time ago and it has sat on my Kindle shelf forever and I was about to pick it up when my friends recommended I read The Remnant Chronicles first. I am so glad I followed her advice because I think reading the trilogy first really helped understand the story better. This story follows Kazi and Jase, Kazi is a streetrat thief turned trusted Rahtan warrior, she is on a mission to investigate treaty violations following The Great Battle six years ago and to track down Captain Illarion for Queen Lia after he managed to escape justice for his crimes at the end of The Beauty of Darkness . Jase is the newly appointed Patrei to the Ballenger family, the head of a lawless family who claim to be the first Kingdom on the continent descended from the Ancients.

I had high hopes for this book right from the beginning, I was immediately absorbed into the story and loved the pacing initially, but it started to get a bit dry in the middle and then I found the ending too rushed. I fell in love with Jase and Kazi while they were out in the wilderness and I was curious to see how they would handle their budding relationship once they got back to civilisation. I loved how open and kind Jase was, his passion for his culture and his protectiveness towards his people was very admirable, and the stories he told where so touching and beautiful. Kazi was also amazing, I really had to sympathise with where she had come from and how she had grown to such a loyal and fierce soldier. I loved her sisterhood with Wren and Synové so much, and it made sense why she remained so guarded towards Jase as they got to know each other. The hot and cold, enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers, back and forth between them was equally thrilling and frustrating. I was rooting for them right from the beginning but I just wish there hadn't been so many lies, deceptions and hypocrisy between them. I know some of this is necessary to be able to drive this type of plot forward but there were points where I just wanted to throttle them both.

Unfortunately when they did get back to civilisation it started to drag a bit in the middle. We got some really beautiful moments with the Vendan settlement and with the Ballenger's tight knit family being so accepting of Kazi, Wren and Synové - it really hurt knowing that they would betray them after all of that. I kept holding out hope that Kazi would just explain to Jase why she was really there and he would help her but it never came. I think this book ended up being just a little bit too long with these scenes drawn out too much. These overly lengthy but also wonderfully poetic scenes were then compared to the rushed ending of the story and it just didn't end up working 100% for me. 

SPOILER

Once they get back to Venda with Jase, it all felt too easy. Everyone is threatening him with the noose and then suddenly Kazi is very easily persuading everyone to simply let him go and all of her anger at him for hiding Zane from her is just forgotten. It felt like a rush to give them a happy ending for book 1 when it might have worked better to end on more of a cliff hanger between them two. 

END SPOILER 

I really enjoyed this book but I do feel like it struggled to accomplish what it was hoping to. I imagined the Ballenger's as similar to the Shelby's from The Peaky Blinders and I think if this book was written more New Adult then we could've really gotten some heavy, gritty lawless, morally grey angst out of them but instead it felt like this book wanted to focus more on the purity of the romance between Jase and Kazi. I will absolutely be reading Vow of Thieves straight up next and am looking forward to it, but I think this series will be a solid four stars for me in the end.

nina 

kei hiroto

absolutely jaw dropping, my tears stained the damn pages, it was so good and so nice to read! i had a hard time getting into the book at first because of the heavy world that kazi and jase lived in but i just couldn't put it down once i started getting immersed in it!! absolute golden book, everyone should read this!!!

praline

4.75 stars. now this is an interesting one, it was a struggle to fully understand what the history was in the first 5 or so chapters of the book. i actually realized later on that there was whole trilogy that i should’ve read before this (but the covers are ugly so i won’t be doing that). however, the book was really good, the world building and characterization were fantastic and the writing was stellar. plus the angst and longing between the kazi and jase while constantly trying to deceive each other was enemies-to-lovers gold. its definitely one of the few ya fantasy books that i consider top tier.

Naiya

I’ve read this book three or four times in the span of a few months

This is definitely one of my favorite books of all time

Jase and Kazi keep me going

5 star fantasy romance

🌿🌿🌿

I enjoyed every moment in this book. I didn’t love it, but it is still a great book. The story was told well and I never knew who to trust. I would definitely recommend reading the Remnant Chronicles before this. The story has more meaning and the picture is a lot clearer if you know everything from those books.  

Izzy 

It was in no way the plot that I thought it would be but I don't mind haha

It took me a second to get into it because I didn't read the series before but I understood everything just fine so I'm glad I didn't have to read the other series. Once I understood the world building and plot points it was such an enjoyable read. It did take me longer than normal but I actually liked that because if i really love a book I want it to never end haha

The ending made me a bit naseous but I think it was obvious to everyone that 

 was about to happen. And I guess something did.😭

I loved how Jase immediately forgot that she basically betrayed him and still loved her with everything he has. (This is better not a scheme of him!) He was right to forgive het straight away because my girl never did anything wrong actually. They should thank her on their knees kissing her feet actually.

I'm a bit anxious about the second book and by a bit I mean VERY. But I hope it'll be more about war or something and not them betraying and lying to each other AGAIN.

Sophia

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

It was in no way the plot that I thought it would be but I don't mind haha

It took me a second to get into it because I didn't read the series before but I understood everything just fine so I'm glad I didn't have to read the other series. Once I understood the world building and plot points it was such an enjoyable read. It did take me longer than normal but I actually liked that because if i really love a book I want it to never end haha

The ending made me a bit naseous but I think it was obvious to everyone that something was about to happen. And I guess something did.😭

I loved how Jase immediately forgot that she basically betrayed him and still loved her with everything he has. (This is better not a scheme of him!) He was right to forgive het straight away because my girl never did anything wrong actually. They should thank her on their knees kissing her feet actually.

I'm a bit anxious about the second book and by a bit I mean VERY. But I hope it'll be more about war or something and not them betraying and lying to each other AGAIN.

Dance of Thieves

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