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David Dalglish
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A Dance of Cloaks: Book 1 of Shadowdance by Dalglish, David (2013) Paperback Paperback

4.2 out of 5 stars 1,308 ratings
3.8 on Goodreads
13,314 ratings
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  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00IIB6AQQ
  • Book 1 of 6 ‏ : ‎ Shadowdance
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 1,308 ratings

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David Dalglish

David Dalglish

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David Dalglish graduated from Missouri Southern State University in 2006 with a degree in Mathematics. He's self-published over twelve novels, as well as had seventeen books traditionally published through Orbit Books and 47North.

He also has a lovely wife and three beautiful daughters, with all four being far better than he deserves.

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4.2 out of 5 stars
1,308 global ratings

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Top reviews from Canada

  • Katherine White
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
    Reviewed in Canada on May 25, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Couldn't put the book down. Fast moving action, gut wrenching personal turmoil all keep you glued to this book. Haern is a lost soul looking for a home, but not sure how to find it.
    One person found this helpful
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  • M O A D
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
    Reviewed in Canada on May 13, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Liked it and on to book # 2 !
    One person found this helpful
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  • EhmTeeEhf
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in Canada on July 24, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    See my review of the whole series in my book 6 review
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  • Kevin
    4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
    Reviewed in Canada on June 9, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Great recommendation from Amazon based on past purchases.

    If you enjoy the work of Brent Weeks and Peter V. Brett I recommend giving this book by David Dalglish a try.
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  • Terrie
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on November 4, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    A lot of fun
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  • Tom Armour
    5.0 out of 5 stars Looking forward to book 2
    Reviewed in Canada on April 29, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Very hard to put down. A good read
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Paul Tapner
    5.0 out of 5 stars Aaron's education
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    First in a series of fantasy novels entitled 'Shadowdance.'

    This volume runs for four hundred and forty eight pages, plus a prologue and an epilogue. There's a map of the land in which it is set at the start. And being the start of a series does mean it ends with everything up in the air and nothing much resolved.

    Some strong language, quite a bit of violence, and a few adult moments make it not a book for younger readers.

    In the city of Veldaren, there's a war that's been going on for five years. Between the thieves guilds, all of which are under the control of Thren. An extremely ruthless man. They are fighting those who hold the power. Thren is raising his son Aaron to follow in his footsteps. Aaron, at the start of the story, is young and bookish and rarely speaks. But his father starts him down the road to becoming his heir.

    But when Aaron gets a glimpse of what his life could be like, he starts down a different path. And things will never be the same again...

    This starts at a cracking pace, and has very readable prose from the off. The world building is subtle, never overloading the reader with too much detail in one go, thus you do steadily get used to this world.

    Aaron as a character does grab from the off as well because his very nature at the start makes him an interesting and sympathetic creation.

    We have seen this kind of setting and story in many other books though, so initially it does feel like a good effort in a crowded field and nothing more than that. But steadily, as it goes along, it starts to get absolutely gripping and become a real page turner. This is because it does what all great fantasy should. It becomes solidly character led. The setting and the plot don't drive the narrative, the actions of the characters do.

    There are quite a few viewpoint characters, but you do get easily used to the constant switching of these. Aaron is incredibly sympathetic and easily to relate to throughout. And even other ones who aren't quite the same are interesting reading, because they are very good and very three dimensional creations. I did find myself wanting to know what all of them were going to do next.

    The treatment of religion in this world, in particular how it effects one character, is quite intriguing also.

    Ultimately this will perhaps hinge, as you can see from the variances in the star ratings here, on how the characters in here grab you. But they certainly worked for me. So this was a five star and I look forward to finding out what happens next.

    There's a short excerpt from book two 'A Dance of Blades' right at the end, along with a short afterword from the writer.
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  • Amanda
    4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining & well written
    Reviewed in Australia on May 28, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This was especially good for adult lovers of this genre. I enjoyed it thoroughly and am looking forward to the next book.
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  • javelinx
    5.0 out of 5 stars Temporeiche Cloak-and-Dagger-Fantasy
    Reviewed in Germany on May 19, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Thren Felhorn ist der gefürchtetste Dieb und Mörder von Dezrel. Seit Jahren hält er die Reichen und Mächtigen des Trifect in Atem, die seine Kontrolle über die Gaunergilden der Stadt Valdaren zu brechen versuchen. Nun droht ein offener Krieg auszubrechen, wobei beiden Seiten jedes Mittel recht ist. Mitten in diesen Konflikt wird Felhorns Sohn Aaron hineingezogen, der seit frühester Kindheit als sein Nachfolger gedrillt wird. Felhorn will aus ihm den perfekten, eiskalten Killer machen und unterdrückt erbarmungslos jede Regung von Freundschaft, Mitleid, Vertrauen oder Glauben.
    Bei Aaron scheint diese Saat aufzugehen; bereits mit 8 Jahren begeht er scheinbar ungerührt einen besonders verwerflichen Mord. Als er die Tochter eines Priesters töten soll, gewinnen seine Bedenken die Oberhand und setzen eine ganze Kette von Ereignissen in Gang, die auch für die Machtkämpfe in der Stadt von entscheidender Bedeutung werden sollen.

    Bereits von der Auftaktszene an legt die Handlung ein hohes Tempo vor, und wenn man in die Geschichte einsteigt, wird einem schnell klar, daß es hier nicht um zartere Gefühle geht. Wie Aaron, selbst noch ein Kind, seinem Vater hörig schon früh zu morden beginnt, setzt den düsteren Grundtenor der Handlung, die im weiteren Verlauf mit immer erschreckenderen Grausamkeiten aufwartet, die von den handelnden Charakteren ohne großes Aufhebens hingenommen werden.
    Einen wesentlichen Teil des Plots macht der Konflikt zwischen dem alles beherrschenden Vater und seinem wortlos folgenden Sohn aus. Wie dieser um jeden Preis auf Linie gebracht werden und lieber gebrochen sterben als einen eigenen Willen entwickeln soll, ist realistisch in Szene gesetzt. Wie Aaron damit umgeht und welchen Preis er und andere, die für ihn einstehen, dafür zahlen müssen, ist eine der Stärken des Plots, der viele weitere Schichten von Machtkämpfen innerhalb der Gilden, unter den Mächtigen und am Königshof aufbietet.
    Ein weiterer Machtfaktor in Dezrel sind zwei Glaubensrichtungen, die oft mehr mit weltlichen Dingen und Machtzuwachs beschäftigt scheinen als mit Glauben und Barmherzigkeit, und dafür gern selbst eine Waffe in die Hand nehmen oder andere dafür anheuern. Hier stechen besonders die Gesichtslosen heraus - die Ausgestoßenen und unterste Kaste der Anhänger des Gottes Karak; Frauen, die völlig verhüllt, unter Zuhilfenahme von Magie und Schatten, die sie wie ein Umhang umhüllen, lautlos den Tod über ihre Gegner bringen.

    Dalglish glänzt mit der Darstellung zahlreicher Kampfszenen, die gemeinsam mit komplexen Intrigen das Tempo der Handlung hochhalten. Der Einsatz von Magie hält sich eher im Hintergrund, sie stellt lediglich eine weitere Waffe dar, die die Kämpfenden einsetzen. Innerhalb der eher klassischen Fantasy-Kulisse von Königen und Gilden macht sich positiv bemerkbar, daß hier auch Frauen eine wichtige Rolle bei den Kämpfen und Machtspielen innehaben. Romantische Elemente werden angedeutet, spielen aber keine wesentliche Rolle für die Handlung, die mehr von menschlichen Abgründen jeder erdenklichen Art handelt und wenige gute Seiten der Handelnden zeigt.
    Teil 1 der Trilogie endet mit einem furiosen Showdown zwischen den Gilden und den Mächtigen, der ein neues Kräfteverhältnis herbeiführt und das Ende einiger bisheriger Hauptfiguren bringt, mit dem der Leser nicht unbedingt gerechnet hätte. Die Fortsetzung, A DANCE OF BLADES, ist bereits erhältlich.

    Auf das Buch wurde ich in den englischsprachigen Bestsellerlisten aufmerksam; von dem Autor hatte ich bisher noch nichts gelesen oder gehört. Ich hatte allerdings die Befürchtung, einen Aufwasch von Weeks' Assassins-Trilogie in die Hände zu bekommen. Mit den Assassinen scheint es in der Fantasy jedoch zu sein wie mit den Drachen - immer wenn man denkt, es gibt zu dem Thema nichts Interessantes mehr zu erzählen, kommt ein Autor, dem es gelingt, den Leser eines Besseren zu belehren. Dalglishs Stil erinnert nur teilweise an Weeks; ich bin mir noch nicht schlüssig, an wen er mich am meisten erinnert. Wer jedenfalls gern Martin, Morgan, Weeks oder Lynch liest, sollte Dalglish eine Chance geben. Ich habe es jedenfalls nicht bereut.

    Übrigens habe ich dieses Buch als eBook auf dem Kindle gelesen und konnte so die anfangs wochenlange Lieferfrist umgehen und den günstigen Preis nutzen. Einziger Nachteil an der Kindle-Ausgabe ist, daß man das wunderbar gestaltete Cover, das eine der Gesichtslosen darstellt, nicht in die Hände bekommt.
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  • Maxx the Cat
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great beginning to a new trilogy
    Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    "A Dance of Cloaks" is the first novel in 'The Shadowdance Trilogy' by author David Dalglish. The paperback book is 386 pages in length while the Kindle e-edition is a 1162 Kb download.

    CONTENT WARNING...there are fights, battles, murders and executions etc. whose descriptions are extremely graphic in nature.

    Background:
    I'd just finish this author's five book 'the Half-Orcs' series; a fascinating, different work that improved immensely with every subsequent book. So when I saw that he'd started a new trilogy called 'Shadowdance', I became interested in reading his latest offering.

    General theme...no specific details given
    This series (at least this first book) predates in time the 'Half-Orcs' stories and in addition to being a good story on it's own, is used as a vehicle to provide some interesting background history and character development of several protagonists found in the previously mentioned series...namely Veliana, Haern and Delysia. Most of the story takes place in or around the city of Veldaren in the land of Dezrel.

    The Pros:
    1.) an interesting, intriguing story...vividly told, with little being held back. Full of clandestine plotting and some unexpected twists and turns.

    2.) a nice job of providing information and hints on how these three important characters from 'The Half-Orcs' series, came to end up in their 'professions' and how they developed their unique traits and personalities.

    3.) a believable tale within the context of the fantasy genre. No superhero battles, no unrealistic victories against overwhelming odds, no last minute miraculous saves. Concerns so important to me, that most books with these unfortunate qualities will probably not be finished or at best, garner a 1 Star rating in any review I write on them. No worries here in this first book.

    4.) no one appears sacrosanct; both good and bad characters can get hurt...some die.

    5.) a skilful blend of quality writing that is superbly paced.

    The Cons:
    None that come to mind.

    Conclusion:
    This is a work that compliments and actually sets-up the five book 'The Half-Orcs' series that precedes it.
    This book just confirms how much author David Dalglish's story-telling has developed since writing his 'Half-Orcs' series and the overall improvement has resulted in this great fantasy/ adventure novel. 5 Stars.

    Ray Nicholson
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  • Rosa
    2.0 out of 5 stars Decevant
    Reviewed in France on April 11, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Hase, im Kleingedruckten von Verträgen von Eltern steht, dass man sich Sorgen um die Kinder zu machen hat. Manche Eltern machen sich keine Sorgen, wir gehören nicht dazu. 3 Tage und Feiertag, da hätten wir schon mal ein Lebenszeichen erwartet. Wenn Du 3 Tage wegen frommer Gesellschaft kein Telefon anfassen kannst, hättest Du vorher Bescheid sagen können. Melde Dich bitte bevor wir die Polizei alarmieren.
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