Customer Reviews

The Night Dance: A Retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (Once Upon a Time)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've enjoyed each book I've read so far in the "Once Upon A Time" series of reworked fairy tales. I enjoyed "The Night Dance" as well but it wasn't at all what I had hoped for. I have appreciated the new ideas and plot twists in each story and delighted in seeing how each story changed, and (in some cases) improved the fairy tales I knew. The story of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" doesn't completely work when mixed with characters from Arthurian tales of the Knights of the Round Table. "The Night Dance" feels like two disjointed and separate tales being mashed together. The actual book still read quickly and when I wasn't puzzled by what was happening, I enjoyed the sisters and I loved the part where the suitors had to figure out how the sisters were ruining their slippers every night. I love magical stories but I feel like the "Arthur" magic is different in feel from fairy tale magic. Overall the book was enjoyable for what it was but it would have made more sense for the author to have written two different "Once Upon A Time" books....one based on Arthur and the other on Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Of all the Once Upon a Time books, this is probably my favorite. I love the setting, and working it into Arthurian legends was a stroke of genius. Any girl who likes cultural legends would dig this story, but especially King Arthur nerds like me. All the characters are vivid, never flat. It is an excellent read, if a quick one.

The Night Dance is an interesting mesh of King Arthur and the fairy tale, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". It was quite interesting to see how the Lady of the Lake was a part of the story. However, maybe because of the short length, it felt quite abrupt in the romantic aspect between the knight and Rowena, the protagonist. How does she fall desperately in love with a man she had never seen before? Also, sometimes it felt like the author was mashing the fairy tale to fit her interpretation - especially when it got to the scene with the trees from the fairy tale. The story would have probably been stronger alone, without the fairy tale interruptions.

This is an enchanting tale of The Twelve Dancing Princess's set in the time of King Aurthur and the knights. These twelve sisters are trapped in a castle and Rowena sneaks into the forest. Then soon Rowena and Bedivere meet and fall in love but before they meet in person they have visons of each other. Then the father Sir Ethan catches Rowena outside and he thinks all the daughters are sneaking out with Rowena. Then they find a secret underground room where they dance to their hearts delight. And when Sir Ethan finds out about the girls sneaking out again he has a competition where if the man guesses where the girls have been sneaking out to at night that man will get to marry the woman he chooses. This is Bediveres chance to win Rowena and for him and her to marry. If you like fairytales and king aurthur you will love this book. This is one of my favorites from the Once Upon a Time Series. So if you like fairytales, fairytale retellings and girlish fantasy this is a book you'll love/ It has action, romance and adventure and a villian. Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella" (Once Upon a Time)The Night Dance: A Retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (Once Upon a Time)The World Above (Once Upon a Time)Violet Eyes (Once Upon a Time)The Enchanted Collection Box Set: Ella Enchanted, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Fairest

I was intrigued by the idea of this story, which is a mix of the 12 Dancing Princesses, and some Arthurian lore. The mother of the princesses is actually Vivienne, the Lady of the Lake, and maker of Excalibur. She ends up being trapped in an underground lake by her nemesis, Morgan Le Fay. Vivienne's husband has no clue what happened to his wife, so he locked his daughters away to keep them safe from the world. In comes Bedivere, after Arthur's death, on a quest to find the magical lake and return the sword to its lady. Meanwhile, Rowena, the youngest of the sisters, seems to have her mother's affinity for visions and has begun to see a strange lady trapped in a lake. Morgan le Fay discovers this, and also the whereabouts of the sword, and so creates the magical world where the princesses go to dance to keep them from searching from their mother. Of course, everyone knows the rest, about the worn out slippers and the contest to win a daughter.

So the core idea of the story very much intrigued me. However, the plot developement and the characters fell short. Most of the characters were underdeveloped. With 12 sisters, naturally most of them will be nothing more than a name, and that's fine. However, the two sisters, the eldest and youngest , were the two that were supposed to stand out, and I felt their personalities didn't hold up. Bedivere had some interesting moments, but he was pretty flat too. Morgan was dissapointing as a villian--I hardly felt she was evil, it was just clear she wanted Excalibur. Bedivere and the youngest princess, Rowena, fell instantly and madly in love, and did more kissing than talking. I felt like that was a bit ridiculous. But they were "soul mates," so apparently they didn't have to waste time getting to know each other? The ending for me was just too "happily ever after" and everything was wrapped up so neatly as to be unrealistic.

I'm glad I read it, because I do enjoy the Once Upon A Time series, and I'm always open to new twists on old classis. But I felt the story could have been twice as long, in order to take the time to really develope the characters and the plot.

The Night Dance is an interesting retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The book lets the reader "get away" into another world.

If some of the Once Upon a Time books have reenvisioned the stories they tell, this is not one of them. It is a fine retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, but the attempt to make it new through Bedivere is not successful. Weyn satisfactorily explains why the twelve are locked away (their father worries that he will lose them like he lost his wife.) She helps us like the girls, though they are largely a gaggle, with only Rowena and Eleanore sticking out as individuals. She has a convincing reason for this magical underworld appearing under their house and how their access to it might have happened without their father's knowledge. Unfortunately, while wrapping up these loose ends, she has too few pages left to expand the story into something new. I might have liked where the book ended up a bit more if she had another hundred pages or so to do it.

Teens who enjoy the series will be happy with this one, but you may have to explain who Bedivere is. Although it doesn't especially shine amid the current crop of fairy tales retold, it is solid enough and safe enough to be worth it for some.

While I know not to judge a book by its cover, I am ver disappointed in the book that I've recieved. This has nothing to do with the actual book, but with what print of the book that I received. I'm obsessive complusive, I cannot abide it when things dont match (if i have a series it must all be paper back or hard back, etc.) I have been collect the new-printed verison of the 'once upon a time' however, for The Night Dance, though the new print picture is shown on the order I received the old print cover, a cover that does not match the other of the 'once upon a time' books that I own and is ugly compared to the new print. If you'll be sending out old copies, please have that picture in the display box rather than the new print. I'm probably going to have to give this to my aunt and wait for The Night Dance to be available at my local book store. The Night Dance (Once Upon a Time) That is the cover I received. The cover I thought I was getting was this one The Night Dance: A Retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (Once Upon a Time)

It was very misleading to sale the old print with the new print cover being shown. I am vastly disappointed.

I'm a big Suzanne Weyn fan and I found the NIGHT DANCER one of her best yet. Its' a retelling of the old fable, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses but with a twist. Weyn weaves in the story Sir Bedivere, the last of the Knights of the Round Table. She tells how Sir Belivere promised the dying King Arthur he would return the magic sword, Excalibur to the Lady of Lake and sets off on a quest to do that. The story switches back and forth between Sir Belivere and his yet-to-be-discovered love, Rowena. Rowena and her sisters are kept locked in a castle by their father who is heart broken over the loss of their mother and lives in terror that he may one day lose his daughters too if they go beyond the castle walls. But the girls are determined to get out and explore and Rowena discovers a way to do that.

The story moves along briskly. There is plenty of adventure and danger and romance. The cast of characters is intriquing; the noble but poor Bedivere, the beautiful Rowena, the evil witch Morgan le Fay, the mysterious Lady of the Lake and many more including the seductive yet menacing Stag Princes. I think this story was terrific!

This won was good not my favorite but well done. I like it when they are nothing like the original.