I am so thrilled to be the next stop on the blog tour for Mary E. Pearson’s Dance of Thieves! Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox is one of the first books I ever reviewed on my blog way back in 2010. And when Kiss of Deception, the first book in the Remnant Chronicles, came out? I was hooked! You can only image how thrilled I was to hear we’re getting more books in that universe! Read on for more about the book and a post from the author!
About the Book:
A new novel in the New York Times–bestselling Remnant Chronicles universe, in which a reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that may cost them their lives—and their hearts.
When the patriarch of the Ballenger empire dies, his son, Jase, becomes its new leader. Even nearby kingdoms bow to the strength of this outlaw family, who have always governed by their own rules. But a new era looms on the horizon, set in motion by a young queen, which makes her the target of the dynasty’s resentment and anger.
At the same time, Kazi, a legendary former street thief, is sent by the queen to investigate transgressions against the new settlements. When Kazi arrives in the forbidding land of the Ballengers, she learns that there is more to Jase than she thought. As unexpected events spiral out of their control, bringing them intimately together, they continue to play a cat and mouse game of false moves and motives in order to fulfill their own secret missions.
Goodreads * Amazon * Indiebound
Author Post:
For this blog tour I was able to ask Mary E. Pearson a question about the book. Of course I wanted to know more about the mythologies in the Remnant Universe… specifically about the creation of it and where she drew inspiration from. Here’s what she had to say…
The mythologies evolved over time, especially as new characters entered on the scene, but I always knew each history would tell a slightly different story. The kingdom of Morrighan, where the story begins, has its own extensive history that is taught to its citizens, but Venda, and also a small tribe led by a woman named Gaudrel, have their own unique perspectives of how things actually went down. Stars falling from the sky loom large in all of them.
It is not until Lia ventures outside of her kingdom that she learns the history she was taught her whole life may not be entirely true. In fact, some powerful people were working to make sure no one ever knew about the other histories, because Morrighan’s claim to greatness was that their kingdom was favored by the gods. Maybe it wasn’t after all? And maybe its supposed heroes weren’t really so heroic?
The inspiration for these various histories came in part from the origin of this fictional world itself. A cataclysmic event happened where only a few survived—and it was a harrowing survival. Imagine being driven to the point of having to burn the pages of a book for heat! But surviving one more day was all that mattered, and sometimes—often—when there was no food, they survived on telling stories to take them away from the horrors of their world.
Over time, story intertwined with truth and each person who passed on this oral history told it having only limited information. Most of them were only children when the Devastation happened so their recollections are colored by their tender ages. It became something like childhood game of “telephone,” where a message is whispered down the line one ear to the next, until the final recipient reveals a garbled message that bears no resemblance to the original one.
History is always colored by who tells it. And some histories will never truly be known. That’s what happens in the Remnant world as every kingdom and character tries to piece the truth together.
Thank you so much to Mary for answering my question!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I loved this book, and it’s really interesting to read how the history of her world evolved. Thanks for sharing!