A Dance of Cloaks

Shadowdance

By: David Dalglish

Narrated by: Elijah Alexander

Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

From USA Today best-selling author David Dalglish

The Underworld rules the city of Veldaren. Thieves, smugglers, assassins...they fear only one man. In book number one of the Shadowdance series, Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. All the thieves' guilds of the city are under his unflinching control. If he has his way, death will soon spill out from the shadows and into the streets.

Aaron is Thren's son, trained to be heir to his father's criminal empire. He's cold, ruthless - everything an assassin should be. But when Aaron risks his life to protect a priest's daughter from his own guild, he glimpses a world beyond piston, daggers, and the iron rule of his father. Assassin or protector; every choice has its consequences.

Fantasy author David Dalglish spins a tale of retribution and darkness, and an underworld reaching for ultimate power.

©2013 David Dalglish (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"[A] winning combination of A Game of Thrones, sword-and-sorcery RPGs, and vivid description...Dalglish puts familiar pieces together with a freshness and pleasure that are contagious." (Publishers Weekly)

"Fast, furious, and fabulous." (Michael J. Sullivan, author of Theft of Swords)

"Strong characterization as well as detailed action...a believable tale of a young man's coming-of-age and the difficult decisions he must make. His saga should appeal to fans of R.A. Salvatore and Richard Lee Byers." (Library Journal)

No more than average.

What you're in store for ~
+ Lots of action and stealth.
= Guilds, criminals, deception.
= A lot going on for little reason.
- A setting that was made for the story, not one that the story takes place in.
- "Meh" climax. Nothing crazy.
- People die, like, a lot.
- Not fulfilling.

Overall ~
A Dance of Cloaks was one of the first audiobooks I listened to. I certainly picked up my phone and listened to the story for an hour or so every day, however I didn't find it hard to put it down. Sure it was mildly engaging but... that's about it. When the book ends, I was left with a "meh" feeling. I enjoyed my time listening but didn't reach for the sequels. The story is rather dark, but not in an engrossing way. You start getting used to people dying so much, which makes it hard to get attached to people. There's never really a lighthearted moment or a comic relief. It's all just pretty mellow.
There's some far stretches in the plot and in some actions which young adults may not find appealing. I'd recommend this book to teenagers, who can absorb the mindless violence without question.

Brief Description ~
The boy who's father leads the most dangerous criminal guild in the land is our main character. Predictably, he starts deviating from his father's will. Meanwhile, the various criminal guilds in the land fight for turf, power, and money. They steal from the rich families and war eventually erupts. That's about as much detail as I can say without spoiling anything major.

Writing and Performance ~
In his closing author statements, David Dalgilsh himself writes that the first version of this book was a mess. I apparently had listened to his rewrite, yet I still found it no more than average. I suppose if you try fixing an inherently bad story, it will only become alright. I've noted that other reviews found the narrator very poor. In all honestly, I didn't notice anything particularly awful about him. His accents and inflections were reflective of the story: average. However, due to the sheer number of complaints about the narrator, you'd probably be better off taking their word for it.

Final Thoughts ~
I found this review difficult because there's not too much to write about. This reflects the book in general, I feel. Throughout the read (or listen), there's a real "That's just how it is" vibe. Like when you question the plot, the answer tends to just be "that's how this world is," which isn't very engaging. Overall, I give this book a solid "meh". There's simply much more amazing fantasy out there. The ending made me think "That was it?" There is a sequel to this book, but I will not be picking it up.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my review of A Dance of Cloaks. I'd call this one average. I wouldn't re-read it or recommend it to anyone I know.

Good book, terrible narration.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I just could`t handle the really bad Scottish brogue the narrator uses for some of the characters. Really annoying.

new narrator please

Nice story despite minor logical flaws, however the narration is horrendous. Terrible fake inconsistent accents. Very annoying and detracts from the story. Still the story is fun.

OK, but I'd like to take a crack at re-writing it

This is a pretty enjoyable book, following a pretty tried and true (if not a bit tired) formula for fantasy novels.

It falls into my "past the time" on the long drive category. It is written for adults and is done well. Didn't really come up with anything original (and missed a few opportunities for an interesting twist on the coming of age story of a young criminal with a heart of gold).

I haven't gone on to the sequel yet. But I'll consider it if I can't find another more interesting option.

Not what I was hoping for

This book is about fighting between thieve guilds and the grooming of a teenage heir of a guild who is to eventually assume his fathers place. Magic is mentioned just a few times in passing. It's nothing that is developed, or anything that happens with any frequency. I had high hopes for a new sword and sorcery epic fantasy, but was truly disappointed. I made it through the entire book only because of the excellent naration. I'd give the narrator 9 stars out of 10 if that was possible.

Good, brutal fantasy, but the reader? Ack!

A busy coming of age fantasy. Some characters well developed, others unfortunately two - dimensional. (one is greedy, one naive, one brutal, one stupid etc) that would have been fine if the narrator had been better with secondary characters. Weird, fake accents, high pitched voices, set my teeth on edge. I understand he was trying to differentiate this assorted bunch, but it grated more often then not. Will not be listening to the next, though I might read it.

Another series I must have!

I will look forward to completing this series and your others. Need I say more?

Good story, Bad narrator

I really liked the story, if I hadn't I would have stopped to listen after 30 minutes because the narrator was terrible. With another narrator I might even have given the book 5 stars. The story is in the Morgan and Abercrombie tradition, ruthless fantasy.

Great book unfortunate voice acting

I’ve read this book before when I was younger and decided to get the audiobook. The story is amazing and holds your attention. Unfortunately the voice acting doesn’t do it anywhere close to justice.

Refreshing

I blew through this whole book series in just a couple weeks, and now im back at it again through Audible. Alongside thoroughly enjoying it, this series also gave me some inspiration for my own novel. Specifically, how the author swaps perspective several times per chapter to give the reader a view of events from multiple angles and with varying opinions. This is tricky to pull off without interrupting the flow of the story, but the writer nails it.
the story basically feels like an Assasins Creed novelization, but there's nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, it is a joy to read because of that very fact. I've always been interested in this incarnation of fantasy, and David knows his stuff. Along with an interesting premise, the writing doesn't get stale, the story takes interesting turns, and the characters are memorable. Bravo, David. Bravo.