Book Review: The Dark King and the Eternal Dance

The Dark King and the Eternal Dance by Alesha Adamson

Fairytale Retelling. 221 Pages. 4 Stars

Synopsis:

An unwanted proposal. An unexpected curse. Will Rayna, and her eleven sisters ever be free of the Dark King and his eternal dance?

Rayna is not usually the boldest of her sisters. However, when her eldest sister, Faelynn, seems ready to abandon her own happily ever after and accept the Dark King’s proposal, Rayna knows she must act and take drastic measures before someone gets hurt. Measures that just might cost her her heart.

Drake’s reputation as the Dark King precedes him—a reputation he doesn’t quite deserve. When the opportunity arises, Drake seizes the chance to barter for Princess Faelynn’s hand. Weaving his magic, he establishes a weekly ball to court his intended. After six months of rejection, something must change. He never anticipated finding Princess Rayna in his castle disrupting his quiet life.

Will he change directions and acknowledge his heart before it is too late? Or will he live up to his reputation as the Dark King, shattering more than one happily ever after?

The Dark King and the Eternal Dance is one of twelve short novels in A Villain’s Ever After, a collection of stand-alone stories featuring villainous twists on some of your favorite classic fairy tales. Read the series in any order for magical adventures . . . and fall in love with villains as you’ve never seen them before. Who said villains can’t have happily-ever-afters?

My Review:

Slowly making my way through this series. I will get there! I’m so close to finishing! XD

The 12 Dancing Princesses is one of my very favorite stories. It has been for a long, long time. So, naturally, I was looking forward to this book in the series. I will say, I was a little disappointed, but it did turn out to be a cute addition to the series. And there were some positives, too.

The writing was a little cheesy in some places. It did make me shake my head and roll my eyes, but it was cute, so it was kind of like enduring a Hallmark movie even though you know it isn’t the highest quality ever. Now, to be clear, I think Adamson definitely has potential for growth. And we all always have areas we can do better! So this is no judgement. I think if she keeps working on growing her craft and keeps getting feedback, she can really shine.

The story was a novella, so there isn’t always enough room to dig deeper into a story and really flesh out the characters and plot. That makes the pacing a little uneven in places, some abrupt transitions, plotting, and character “growth.” But even still, Adamson had a cute story with some unique twists on the classic tale. I liked the play on the king and the boy who breaks the curse. And the way she brought significance to the forest and the way she folded the midnight dances into her plot and adjusted them to make them weekly. There were some clever moves here for sure.

It was weird to be in a few different points of view, and I never really felt like it was clear when we were switching around. But I liked Rayna and Drake. Rayna’s father felt pretty flat. Always angry and shouting. I would love to have seen a little more variety in dynamics from him to make him a little more realistic. He was the character who most stood out to me as underdeveloped. And though the development was a little off paced, like I mentioned, Drake and Rayna were a fun pair. I get why Drake was the Dark King to fit the theme of the series and the classic tale, but his “transformation” was sweet, if a little rocky in places. I did really appreciate how his temperament didn’t suddenly change after the happily ever after moment. He was still a grumpy fellow XD Rayna came out of her shell pretty easily and matured pretty quickly, but I loved her devotion to her sisters and her courage to do something and figure things out as she went.

There were hints of themes that I think could have been beautifully highlighted and threaded throughout the story, and perhaps in a novel Adamson would have dug deeper into that. But it was still a lighthearted, uplifting tone in an otherwise stereotypically dark tale.

And as much as I did actually like the plot, I really wish we could have fleshed some of the elements out more. The festivals were cool and I’d have loved to dwell in those longer, to see more of them, not just talk about them. (A quartet, one for each season would be neat!!) The side characters I would have loved to see more development in plotwise. I wanted to see more of who Edmond was and spend more time in his part of the dances. The way he was woven into the plot was cool; I’d have just loved to see it solidified and expanded a little more. I’m not sure how we’re supposed to feel about Rafe. I felt a little suspicious of him, honestly, and wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be good or bad, but he also distinctly gave off genuine vibes. So, maybe he’s a mystery for another story. Kyron was such a fun character, too. I would have loved to see more of his backstory (and maybe more of his future story at some point). What made him so loyal? What duties did he have? He was mischievous and fun, but also had a string of true, genuine care and relationship to him that I wanted to know more about. And whatever happened to the silver-haired guy (I cannot for the life of me think of his name right now. Hagar?)? How did things turn out with him? I felt like we kind of just left that hanging, though Drake addressed the issue, we don’t know about the character himself. Things like that. I wanted to dig deeper and see more. But I admit sometimes that just isn’t easy to do in a novella.

All in all, it was a cute story with some fun perspectives on the original tale with likable characters, even if a little inconsistently paced and shallow in some areas. There’s no swearing and no violence, the closest thing was the “overprotective father” flat king who was angry and yelled all the time. It is a romance, and there was a fair bit of kissing, though completely shallow and clean. I’d say the book is fine for a 14+ probably.

A Villain’s Ever After Book 1 is The Beast and the Enchantress (3 Stars)

Book 2 is The Sultan and the Storyteller (4 Stars)

Book 3 is Bluebeard and the Outlaw (5 Stars)

Book 4 is The Stepsister and the Slipper (4 Stars)

Book 5 is The Goblin and the Dancer (4 Stars)

Book 6 is Hansel and the Gingerbread Queen (5 Stars)

Book 7 is The Dark King and the Eternal Dance (4 Stars)

Book 8 is Gothel and the Maiden Prince (4 Stars)

Book 9 is The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess (3 Stars)

Book 10 is The Baker and the Wolf (4 Stars)

Book 11 is The Prince and the Sea Witch (5 Stars)

Book 12 is Carabosse and the Spindle Spell (5 Stars)