Review // A Treachery of Swans by AB Poranek
An enthralling sapphic retelling of Swan Lake, for fans of Allison Saft and V.E Schwab.
Magic has long been outlawed in Auréal . Odile has always known she’d be the one to restore it.
Raised by a sorcerer, Odile has spent years preparing for the heist of a lifetime. It’s perfectly simple. Impersonate a princess, infiltrate the palace, steal the king's enchanted crown and restore magic to the kingdom.
But when the King is unexpectedly murdered, she’s forced to recruit the help of Marie d'Odette, the real princess, and the two begin to unravel a web of lies and deceit that leaves Odile uncertain of who to trust.
Soon though Odile must decide – her mission or the girl she’s falling for?
The fate of the Kingdom depends on her making the right choice. . .
Let's begin with the fact that I really, really loved When the Dark Stands Still by AB Poranek so I had quite high expectations. Not only was this a book by an author I had already loved before, it was a Swan Lake retelling? Excuse me, my childhood Barbie Swan Lake and The Swan Princess loving self is so incredibly excited.
So let's start with The Good:
This story isn't told from Odette's perspective, which is something I recently saw done in A Feather so Black as well. I love seeing stories written from the perspectives of characters we usually only see through the eyes of the main character and I appreciate how this book explored Odile and her relationship to Rothbart and Odette
SAPPHIC!!! SWAN LAKE!!! Need I say more?
While this is a Swan Lake retelling, there were also a lot of undertones of Phantom of the Opera. The atmosphere, in general, was really good.
Marie (our 'Odette') isn't just some damsel in distress. She's an active participant in the story
The eh/not so good:
This read very YA. Yes, I know, it is a YA book. But so was Where the Dark Stands Still and yet that didn't really bother me. With A Treachery of Swans, I felt a bit more bothered by its YA-ness
The relationship left some to be desired. I wish it had been explored more. While I like a rivals/enemies to lovers, I think the lovers part could have been developed more
The ending. I don't like these kinds of endings, I'm not going to lie. I won't delve into what exactly about it I don't like because spoilers.
The mystery of the book was intriguing and the side characters were as good as the main characters. I didn't love it like Poranek's previous book, but I had a good time nonetheless.
