TALE: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
AUTHOR: Suzanne Weyn
ALSO BY AUTHOR: Water Song, The Crimson Thread, The Diamond Secret
The Night Dance is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses with a heaping helping of Arthurian legend thrown in. I found that these mixed believably and I did enjoy what I saw of the characters. Precious few get actual characterization. Most of the sisters are cookie cutter, except for Rowena (the main girl and youngest sister), Eleanore (the control freak eldest sister) and Ione (whose only defining moment is that she handled a mouse without being squeamish).
I found that while I enjoyed the book, it was another one that could have been doubled in size. The romance between Rowena and Bedivere feels a bit forced. So do romances in many fairy tales, but this is a novel, not a short tale. The 10 middle sisters needed characterization and Morgan Le Fay needed to not be dispatched quite so easily. I think Weyn did a good job for as many pages as she put into it, but she could have done a lot more. Not sure if this is her fault or the publisher's. These books are all about the same length, so perhaps the authors are restricted.
No comments:
Post a Comment