68 pages • 2 hours read
Dance of Thieves
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Background
Literary Context: Popularity of the High Fantasy Genre in the 2000s
High fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, in which an epic story is set in an alternate fictional world featuring magical or supernatural elements. Other characteristics of high fantasy include vast, imagined settings such as continents (often accompanied by a map in the book's front matter), a quest plot, high character counts, mythical creatures, magic, adventure, and high-stakes conflicts such as the struggle between good and evil or the fate of kingdoms or civilizations. While the term "high fantasy" was coined by author Lloyd Alexander in 1971, the genre is an evolution of ancient myths and legends and has been popular throughout literary history.
Although the genre is best-known through works from the mid-19th century, like J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, high fantasy has become a very popular genre across all reading levels in the 21st century. In the introduction to The Big Book of Modern Fantasy, Ann and Jeff Vandermeer claimed the increase in popularity started in 2001 because “the first Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies were released, having an effect on the popular imagination of fantasy comparable to the effect of Star Wars on the popular idea of science fiction in 1977” (Vandermeer Jeff. “How Fantasy Literature Helped Create the 21st Century.” Electric Lit, July 16, 2020). The Vandermeers claim these popular fantasy movies left audiences craving more and inspired a new generation of fantasy writers. Later screen adaptations of fantasy books prove the enduring popularity of the genre in the 2000s including Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Rings of Power (2022), and The Witcher (2019).
The genre is often associated with children's literature because of its relationship to fairy tales and fantastical qualities. One of the reasons it’s so popular is because real-world issues can be tackled allegorically in a fantasy setting. Tomi Adeyemi, the best-selling author of the young adult novel Children of Blood and Bone (2018), thinks the proliferation of high fantasy is the result of marginalized authors using a fantasy world to discuss these issues:
A lot of fantasy and science fiction in general have always dealt with oppression, marginalization, and power structures. The new wave of fantasy we're seeing right now is, even though we’re seeing something and we know it’s fake, you can't ignore the parallels to the real world. (Canfield, David, “The New Wave of Fantasy: How Millennial Authors are Transforming the Genre.” )
Adeyemi and other high fantasy authors write realistic characters in fictional worlds to bring up current issues in thoughtful ways. This strategy can be particularly effective for adolescent readers, who are at the developmental stage of learning how they as individuals interact with systems and cultures. Considering magic as an analog for the increasing role of technology in daily life or the unique abilities of individuals, fantasy offers young people a way to interrogate how their own values, cultures, and skills inform one another.
Literary Context: The Remnant Chronicles World
Dance of Thieves is the first book in a duology that is set in the same fictional universe as Pearson's Remnant Chronicles trilogy. It is not necessary to have read the Remnant Chronicles to understand Dance of Thieves, but the two series do feature recurring characters, and familiarity with the preceding trilogy will aid understanding of Pearson's follow-ups.
The Remnant Chronicles follow Lia, First Daughter and Princess of Morrighan. In the first book, Kiss of Deception (2014), 17-year-old Lia is determined to marry for love, so she flees her wedding to Rafe, the Prince of Dalbrecht whom she’s never met. She settles in the village of Terravin, but is followed by Rafe and Kaden, an assassin from the Kingdom of Venda who was sent to kill her and prevent the alliance between Morrighan and Dalbrecht. They both fall in love with Lia, who falls for Rafe, though she doesn't know either man's real identity to start. When Lia’s sister-in-law is killed, she returns to Morrighan but is captured by Vendan troops led by Kaden. Lia learns she has a magical gift given to the first daughters of Venda: She can see visions of the future and past and interpret ancient scrolls.
In the second book, Heart of Betrayal (2015), Lia is imprisoned by the cruel Vendan Komizar. She discovers a prophecy about her saving Venda and meets a girl named Aster who helps her sneak around. The Komizar forces Lia to become his fiancé by threatening Rafe. He is also planning an attack Morrighan. Lia tries to warn her parents, but they think she has turned on them. On her wedding day, Lia tells the people the history of Venda and her role in saving them and they cheer. In revenge, the Komizar kills Aster and starts massacring the crowd. Lia stabs him but is shot with arrows during her escape with Rafe.
The last book is The Beauty of Darkness (2016). Lia recovers from her near-death injuries and travels with Rafe to Dalbrecht, where Rafe becomes king because his father died. Visions show Lia that the combined Morrighan and Dalbreck must fight the Komizar’s troops to save the kingdoms. During the Great Battle, Lia gives a speech that stops the fighting and saves the day. The Komizar and his cronies are killed or become fugitives and Lia becomes Queen of Venda and continues a relationship with Rafe.
Dance with Thieves takes place six years after Lia ascends the Vendan throne.
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By Mary E. Pearson
