A Dance of Silver and Shadow

Beyond the Four Kingdoms Series, Book 1

By: Melanie Cellier

Narrated by: Esther Wane

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

When Princess Liliana and her twin sister set sail for new lands, Lily hopes to find adventure and romance. But the people of Marin live under the shadow of a curse-one powerful enough to destroy entire kingdoms. To protect them all, Lily and 11 other princesses are forced to participate in a mysterious and secret tournament.

Lily spends her nights competing in a magical underground realm and her days unraveling the dangers of this new court. Although she needs the help of the Marinese prince, Lily knows she can't let herself grow too close to him. There's no time for romance when the duchy is about to fall to the encroaching darkness and the winner of the tournament faces a terrible fate.

But Lily and her twin have a secret advantage. And Lily grows increasingly determined to use their magical bond to defeat the tournament, save the princesses, and free Marin. Except she might have to sacrifice true love to do it.

©2017 Melanie Cellier (P)2018 Tantor

Strong Heroines, Intriguing Competition

This is my first experience with a Melanie Cellier story, but even coming to her work fresh, I loved the portrayals of the kingdoms beyond the realm of her first series. It was fun to picture the story world, to see hints at different fairy tales in the other royals, and to "watch" Lily and her twin sister, Sophie, face the completely unexpected (with no way around it) Princess Tourney. The "always something about to happen" plot helped make this a fascinating listen, and I really enjoyed the narrator's voice/accent. I confess her portrayal of Lily is interesting...coming across as a bit bored or harsh in some ways, perhaps, with the deeper, firmer voice? But it definitely made her character distinct compared to the gentler portrayal of Sophie and some of the other girls, and it didn't keep me from anticipating my time listening to the story. The romance was really sweet and light, with the plight of the princesses taking center stage. I found this to be a clever audiobook about an intriguing competition, and once I was finished, I was super eager to get the second audiobook, A Tale of Beauty and Beast (performed by the same narrator)!

DANCING SILVER AND SHADOW

A DANCE OF SILVER AND SHADOW. BOOK 1

LILY AND SOPHIE ARE THE YOUNG PRINCESSES THAT YOU MEET IN THE BOOK THE PRINCESSES COMPANION. ARE NOW GROWN UP AND VISITING THE KINGDOM OF MARIN, UP THEIR SHIP LANDING AT PORT SOPHIE AND LILY ARE RUSHED TO THE PALACE TO ENTER IN THE PRINCESS TOURNEY FOR THE HAND IN MARRIAGE OF PRINCE DOMINIC OF PALINAR WHOM IS THE BEAST. THERE ARE SEVERAL PRINCESSES THAT AND PRINCES THAT YOU WILL MEET IN THIS ONE THAT YOU WILL ENCOUNTER TO LATER ON IN THIS SERIES. THIS AN AMAZING CLEAN FAIRYTALE SERIES!! THE BOOKS ARE WELL WRITTEN AND THE NARRATOR ESTHER WANE DOES A PHENOMENAL JOB WITH THE CHARACTERS WITH HER VOICE!! SOPHIE IS THE WINNER OF THE TOURNEY ABD THE BETROTHED OF PRINCE DOMINIC AND FUTURE BRIDE. YOU CAN LISTEN TO A DANCE OF SILVER AND SHADOW, BUT FOR THE MOST ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE YOU MAY DESIRE TO FOLLOW IT UP A TALE OF BEAUTY AND BEAST!!!!

Wonderful story!

I loved this story. It is full of adventure, magic, and a little bit of romance. It is a clean story and there are no foul language. I also think the narrator Esther Wane did a wonderful job narrating this and she really brought you into the story! I can’t wait to read the next one.

Narration Disappointing

Loved the sweet magical story and the romance that developed. The narrator unfortunately is not very good. The male voices she does I thought were terrible and without much feeling, they are very stiff. I did not like the voice she uses for Lily either.

A Great Fairy Tale Retelling

The narrator does a great job. Her voice has a slight British accent, so in some ways the world felt like a medieval fairy tale meets Regency England, but that didn't detract from the story at all. If anything, it made all the politics and economics feel even more real.

My only disappointment is that this author only has this book and the second one on Audible. I would happily listen to them all!

great story

Loved it, the Magic and the castles charm with love in the air was amazing

loved the performance

Loved it and I love alternative tellings, of fairy tales. the main character Twins a so relatable. Also how all the fairy tales blended to make one world.

Gorgeous fairytale retelling

I really enjoyed this sweet, romantic retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses, it was like a combination of The Selection, Hunger Games and A Court of Thorns and Roses. The world building was fantastic, and even though it's part of a series of interconnected fairytale retellings, it was a self contained story and can be read as a standalone. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series now!