Fairy Tale Retellings! discussion

Hi everyone! It's nearing the end of September and so with a new month comes a new book. This vote was a really close one all around. But according to popular vote, the book this month is A Dance of Silver and Shadow: A Retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses by Melanie Cellier. As always, happy reading.

Just scored the library's streaming audio version.

It will be interesting to read two retellings of the Dancing Princesses one after the other.

Definitely. Can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks :)

Oh, I'm not so sure I want to continue reading Silver and Shadow just yet. Entwined made such a strong impression, and in the first chapters Melanie Cellier seems to be trying to strike similar notes. I'll wait a couple of weeks and read something completely different to clear my brain. But I'll check back to see what anybody else might be saying/feeling.

Susan wrote: "Oh, I'm not so sure I want to continue reading Silver and Shadow just yet. Entwined made such a strong impression, and in the first chapters Melanie Cellier seems to be trying to strike similar not..."
That's fair. Hope you find a good read!

Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "Susan wrote: "Oh, I'm not so sure I want to continue reading Silver and Shadow just yet. Entwined made such a strong impression, and in the first chapters Melanie Cellier seems to be trying to stri..."

I have to reply to correct my own comment!

I got confused, and started reading Kingdom of Dance, which is a third 12 Dancing Princesses retelling that I had waiting to be read on my e-reader. Kingdom of Dance is the one where the set-up felt similar to Entwined, right down to the Princesses named after flowers.

I finally figured out that I was supposed to be reading A Dance of Silver and Shadow: A Retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. And it's got a terrific and startlingly different hook--a mashup of dancing princesses and Dark Tournament in the mode of Divergent. Clever.

Lol three 12 dancing princess retelling?! You’re on a roll! How did you enjoy the second one you picked up? Yeah this month’s 12 dancing princesses has an interesting twist :)

Just finished! 3.5 out of 5.

This feels like two separate books to me. Would I recommend this as a 12 Dancing Princesses retelling? No. Honestly, the fairytale retelling aspect of this feels more like an afterthought. I can understand not wanting to go into detail for all 12 challenges but so many of them were glazed over, particularly the riddle and logic ones which I would have liked to hear more of. Other elements were meh too like the cape, the twigs, and not to mention our main "villain" isn't even in the book. Also, there's hardly any mention of dancing which enchanted me so thoroughly in the last book we read. It's hard not to compare to the previous Botm which was such a masterful retelling of the beloved fairy tale or the one we read earlier in the year. Truly, this felt more to me like a period drama where the real heart of the story is the conflict in Marin with the fairy tale aspect thrown in to attract readers.

HOWEVER, despite my disappointment in the fairy tale retelling aspect of this, I really enjoyed the book! If I don't think of this as a retelling I only have many good things to say. Lily is a very likable and flawed character and I love her relationship with Sophie who happens to be my favorite character. Jon won my heart in the scene where he first lets out that restraint Sophie kept insisting needed to be let out when he finally confesses his feelings. His love for Marin made me really like him.

I have such a huge appreciation for how deep Cellier dived into building the world. From the maps, discussion on trades, and introducing all the princesses and conflicts, it was all very well done. I have a feeling the next books in the series will be much stronger and have more of that fairy tale retelling feeling I'm looking for. The 12 Dancing Princesses is one of the hardest fairy tales to retell and it was very wise of her to use it as a starting point to introduce other future storylines in the series (the little mermaid, beauty and the beast, snow white, and I'm curious what Giselle, Emmaline, and Celine are hinting to).

I do wish we could have had a lot more character interaction, particularly in the tourney. For such high stakes there was hardly any drama and that's strange when you have 12 differing personalities. I think a lot more could have been done with this story but I did get the sense that Cellier wanted this book done to be able to move on to her future books.

I read this one earlier this year and loved it!♡♡♡

I love the sibling relationship in this book. I did wish we could go a little more into depth about Jon and Lily's relationship, but it makes sense why they fell in love. Just wish I could've seen more of them together. I actually really enjoyed the different vibe of this book from our last 12 dancing princess retelling.

Tiffany wrote: "Just finished! 3.5 out of 5.

This feels like two separate books to me. Would I recommend this as a 12 Dancing Princesses retelling? No. Honestly, the fairytale retelling aspect of this feels more..."
The author did a great job not making the whole story into just a drama where girls tear each other down and I really appreciate that. I was wary of that when I realized that they wouldn't all be sisters and they would be competing against each other. And then we got into the tone of the book and how the girls viewed their position. It's fascinating because it's 180 degrees from how the characters of such a plot would usually view their situation.

I never really realized that there wasn't much dancing in this retelling. Thanks for pointing it out! You're right that there wasn't. It would've been interesting if one of the challenges had been dancing. Then it would've tied into the overall theme and it would've been interesting to see what sort of test it could be.

Great review Tiffany! And thanks for sharing you perspective. You pointed out things that I hadn't considered and it was an interesting comparison between the two books.

Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "Just finished! 3.5 out of 5.

This feels like two separate books to me. Would I recommend this as a 12 Dancing Princesses retelling? No. Honestly, the fairytale retelling aspect of..."

Yes! There was an attempt with the dancing in the first challenge where I believe they are jumping around to get on the platforms or something like that and the girls said it looks like they're dancing. And the balls prior to the challenges of course but the dancing isn't exactly highlighted. If there had just been one challenge where dancing was central I think I would then recommend it as a retelling.

I am glad there wasn't a lot of drama but I was confused by there being almost no drama between the characters. I think the author managed to avoid that by making this a challenge that no one really wanted to win so that was pretty interesting.

Thank you! I'm excited for the next BOTM

Tiffany wrote: "Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "Just finished! 3.5 out of 5.

This feels like two separate books to me. Would I recommend this as a 12 Dancing Princesses retelling? No. Honestly, the fa..."

Me too! It's by one of my favorite authors, but her books are a hit and miss, so it keeps me on my toes. Exciting~