Poison Dance

by Livia Blackburne

[inlibrisveritas]

Poison Dance was an unexpected surprise as I had no idea there was a prequel novel out for the upcoming book Midnight Thief. I was already really excited to meet Kyra in book one, but now that I have gotten a little taste of what Blackburne’s world is going to be like I’m more than ready to have Midnight Thief in my hands.

This centers around James, a hired blade that works for the Assassin’s Guild. I really like that he’s not one with clean morals but he still proves likable.I was surprised to see that we got a peek at his past and a good feel for his personality, and I can definitely see his motivation. Thalia was also surprisingly fleshed out. She’s tough, resourceful and willing to do what she needs to do in order to get things done. I really enjoyed seeing how these two interacted and I loved seeing how Thalia really managed to change things for James. I’m pretty sure that James will be in Midnight Thief and I look forward to seeing just what sort of role he’ll play in Kyra’s story, though I have some idea.

While we only get to see a little bit of the world Blackburne has created it still stood out to me despite having less than 100 pages to do so. I’m always a fan of having any sort of guild in a book, especially if it’s an Assassin’s Guild and the book is YA. It opens things up for a new kind of fun and introduces characters I would hesitate to call normal, and that’s exactly what we get here. The little taste of danger, guild politics, and off personalities really have me ready to snatch Midnight Thief from the bookstore shelves as soon as I can.