Vanessa Adler decides to attend the New York Ballet Academy to try to find out what happened to her sister who went to the same school but mysteriously disappeared. She's also a very talented dancer and soon attracts the attention of the best male dancer (and gorgeous) Zep, the odd and annoying Justin and the strange choreographer Josef. When one of her new friends Elly suddenly quits it takes Vanessa and her friends completely by surprise. After Vanessa is cast as the lead role in the school's production things start to get even weirder and so Vanessa must figure out who she can trust before it gets too late and her talent attracts the wrong kind of attention.
So the first thing I noticed about this book was the very striking cover. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but this one would totally make me want to buy it and that's without the augmented cover that will be available on the finished book. With such a beautiful and eye-catching cover I really wanted to love it but it ended up becoming a bit odd.
Ignoring the typos (mine was an advanced reading copy) it was reasonably well written although the passage of time was a little odd. Black spends lots of time going into great detail about one event or day but then suddenly leaps ahead but not necessarily as far as you would think, leaving you feeling a little disoriented. She does describe the feeling of what it is like to dance very well though and begins to cover the crazy stress and pressure that can be found in some dance schools. I think there is possibly some room for more world building as you don't really get a proper feel for what the school is truly like due to Vanessa being so absorbed in The Firebird or having discussions in her room and the situation regarding her sister might have worked better if they weren't related as you can anticipate the ending.
As a character Vanessa started out very likeable and you really wanted her to be strong and succeed. However, I found that I became frustrated that she was so stubborn and refused to give Justin a chance even though he hadn't really done anything to her. I also found her absolute trust in Zep infuriating too as again he hadn't really earned it and they got together far too easily to be even vaguely realistic. This in turn made me very suspicious of Zep and trusting of Justin, making things a little bit predictable.
The twist with the occult theme is one aspect that I feel could have been built in better, possibly through the world building. When it finally came up it was a bit like "where did that come from?" and didn't sit so well with the rest of the story. That said, this is the first novel in a series and so perhaps it will sit more naturally as part of the bigger picture.
I think this is a book that will sell as it is perfect for a lot of the female teenage audience. There's romance, suspense and danger, three very good ingredients. It could have been done better but is still a good book with an original idea and I would read the sequel.
I give it 6.5/10.
Title: Dance of Shadows
Author: Yelana Black
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Teenage Fiction
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