Can two girls—one enchanted, one the enchantress—save their kingdom and each other?
A Treachery of Swans is a sapphic retelling of Swan Lake and introduces us to a new fantastical land with it’s own magic system which can be determined by people who’s blood is golden, and those sorcerers have been pushed out of the Kingdom of Auréal.
The story of Odile and her brother being taken in and raised in a theatre after having been forced to the streets because Odile is one of the “magic” bearers with her golden blood was a bit jarring just because we don’t really get a deep look into their relationship. Damien decides to go work for the royal family and Odile stays with their adopted father to hopefully learn more about magic, but we don’t really seem to feel a connection between the siblings. The way that Odile reacts to the world around her and the people is quite harsh and she seems to only see others as a means to an end.
In the spirit of transparency, I am truly struggling to get through this book. Perhaps I am not a big enough fan of Swan Lake to be fully drawn into the characters and the story, but even with the introduction of a magical beasts and finding out hidden secrets, I am having a hard time finishing the last 30% of this book. We see Odile falling in love with Marie but then treats her horribly. I am not sure if this is a commentary on internal homophobia but it comes off as a spoiled brat who doesn’t have a kind bone in her body even though we are supposed to believe she loves her brother enough to put herself at risk to save his life. The character just doesn’t feel fleshed out in my opinion. Keep in mind however, she is 17 years old so technically she is not a fully formed human brain yet 😉
I will come back to this post to update if I am able to finish but at this point it is sitting as a DNF just due to the fact I don’t find myself caring enough about any of the characters to actually find out what happens to any of them.
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