The premise of Yelena Black's DANCE OF SHADOWS had scads of
potential, but unfortunately it didn't reach its potential.
Three years before the beginning of the book, Margaret
Adler disappeared from the prestigious New York Ballet
Academy. Her younger sister, Vanessa, also loves to dance,
but her main purpose for going to NYBA is to find out what
happened to her sister. Within what seems like minutes of
arriving, Vanessa has three best friends, two boys
interested in her and has made enemies of the "popular"
clique.
Vanessa slowly finds clues to what's going on but it's
interspersed with periods of overdramatized angst: one of
the boys is obviously all good and the other is all bad. It
turns out that Margaret isn't the only girl to land a lead
in Firebird to have gone missing, but it's been going on
for nearly 20 years.
I also had a hard time getting excited about the two boys
who liked Vanessa. They seemed too black and white rather
than both being gray until you find out their true motives.
I realize some of this sounds harsh, but with so many YA
paranormal books on the market, I want to be honest.
There are hints of Black Swan in how the students treat
each other and the characters all lack depth. If one
manages to suspend disbelief to this point though, then one
might as well follow the paranormal portion which actually
was the part that had the most potential.
However, Black includes a prologue that hints at a dark,
paranormal secret, and without it, I think both the reader
and Vanessa would have been more intriguing rather than the
reader having an idea what was coming and waiting for
Vanessa to catch up.
I love paranormal, and I love young adult, but this plot
required too much for me to believe. I couldn't wrap my
head around girls going missing from such a prominent
school and no one making a big deal about it. Given more depth
to characters and more believability in a plot, Black
definitely has potential. She has a strong imagination and
parts of the story, done a bit differently, would have made
a terrific read.
Vanessa Adler isn't so sure she really belongs at the School of American Ballet. But dance runs in her family. It's been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. Her grandmother and mother were prima ballerinas, and her older sister Margaret was, too. That is, until Margaret mysteriously disappeared from school three years ago. Vanessa is heir to the family's gift and the only person who can fulfill her sister's destiny. She has no choice. But she never could have guessed how dangerous the school is. The infamous choreographer, Josef, isn't just ruthless with his pupils, he guards a sinister secret, one in which the school's dancers-prized for their beauty, grace, and discipline-become pawns in a world of dark, deadly demons.
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