Great audiobook. Very good narrators. The story was whimsical and had a great female character. It had a good pace, it did not disappoint. It had good character and relationship development. Very enjoyable.

Okay, first of all, the audiobook seemed really good. The voices were quite good, and I could tell that if this was another storyline I would have been completely drawn in by their work.

However, the story. I am a massive fan of Juliet Marillier, but I found the first book in this series to be somewhat lacking, and then this one I ended up having to DNF. I am really quite upset about this, but honestly I just didn't think this was great representation in terms of disability. I was deeply uncomfortable with the idea of someone being forced back into a place where they had been repeatedly traumatised simply because the leaders of the clan failed to talk to anyone about the ramifications of their actions in contacting someone's family - that they were clearly estranged from! Dau's reaction to becoming blind was understandable but also difficult to hear, and the plot seemed to hinge on circumstance - Liobhan needing to travel with Dau actually made very little sense to me.
I have also since found out about an element of this story towards the end which just screams ableism and left me feeling cold and very upset.

I think I will probably still read Juliet Marillier in the future, but this series - particularly this book - is not for me. No thank you.

4.25 Stars (I received an e-arc from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review)
*Trigger warning for mental, emotional and physical abuse, as well manipulation through extreme measures, PTSD)

I was elated to be approved for an audiobook arc especially after being turned down for the e-book a few months before. I read/ listened to the audiobook of the first book also and the narrators are just as amazing the second time around. Moira Quick is one of the favourite audiobook narrators and the males are great as well. I did take a break midway through because I was so angry with the actions of the antagonists. I was wondering how the story was going to go with the previous trio being split up after the events of the first book. It was magical, emotional, angst filled, massive family issues and a little bit of a convenient ending. But Juliet’s writing is so immersive and enchanting. If you loved the first book, this a great continuation in the series

A Dance with Fate is a powerful emotional story.

While the plot is rather simple, the characters are complicated and authentic, with rich narrative arcs and independant voices. In my opinion, Dau and Liobhan are Marillier's most fleshed-out characters so far. Since Blackthorn and Grimm, Marillier has broken up with her usual patterns of writings and I find it refreshing.

Like in the previous book, A Dance with Fate entertwins three points of view. While Liobhan follows an injured and broken-hearted Dau to his childhood home, in the Otherworld, Brock is trying to prevent a new war. With her usual talent, Marillier is able to connect the two storylines and delivers a well-crafted story about abuse and mending. Liobhan and Brocke are both warriors and bards, protectors and healers. They show that words and music can be as powerful weapons as swords.

Dau has already suffered terribly as a child, but fate stricks him once more, and he finds himself at the mercy of his past tormenters. In the previous book, he had to play a mute for a mission and was belittled by everyone.

In this one, he goes blind and his own family treats him as if he was as good as dead. I can only imagine what Marillier has in store for him in the next novel! More seriously, Dau is an extremely well-drawn character whose struggle with fear and loathing is excruciating. His friendship with Liobhan is by far my favorite aspect of the novel. I love the girl. She is ardent, devoted and full of humour. The book would have been totally dark without her spark.

•Character development- 4☆
• Story Plot- 3☆
• Side characters- 3.5☆
• Flow of the story- 4☆
• Overall - 4☆

I just adore Juliet Marillier's writing and the world she's created in her books - and the little (or sometimes large) hints that link them all together. A Dance with Fate was no exception, and so of course I enjoyed it. Dreamer's Pool was the first Marillier book I ever read and it helped me fall in love with reading when I was going through a tough time, and so any mention of Blackthorn or Grim made my heart sing. And the fact that this particular series is about warrior bards - what's not to love!?

This is also a review of the audiobook version, as I was lucky enough to get an audio ARC! This book is the second in a series and I listened to the first as well, so it was easy to fall back into the rhythm of the three narrators. I'm fairly sure they had a new narrator for Dau (I just double checked and I was right!) but I got used to the change quickly and came to enjoy his perspective. Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of Brocc's voice actor in the first book and this didn't change. I found his voice quite grating, but I'm sure that's just a matter of perspective. Liobhan's narration was my favourite, she really captured the essence of her character in my opinion.

I adored this book! I need to read more from Juliet Marillier because I love her style of writing. This book is told in multiple perspectives and as the reader you can tell who’s perspective it is even without the different narrators.

This series is different from many other fantasy books I’ve read. It’s more fairytale style and I love it. I can’t wait to read the next book.

I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story was well-written. The female narrator did an excellent performance. However, the male narrators did not do so well. Their voices sounded exactly the same as the male voices in my Siri’s iPhone! There was no emotion in their voices, and I did not finish listening and read the book instead. Thus, I will post a second review soon under A Dance With Fate’s egalley that I downloaded because Juliet Marillier’s story is very beautiful and lyrical. However, she deserves better audiobook narrators that will bring her story to life.

Audio review first: I love all three narrators. They're clear, they make you really connect with the three POV characters. They each bring something different to the story. My quibble is that since (according to rough Marillier book timeline calculations - ie this is set after the Sevenwaters series which are 9th C Ireland) that this is set in late 9th to mid 10th C Ireland, and Irish names and pronunciations are used, why have we got three English narrators? Yes maybe it's nitpicking and I honestly loved the three narrators chosen - but seriously? Were no Irish narrators available?



The story picks up around eight months after the events of Harp of Kings. Some readers will find this a slower story since here we're delving into Dau's backstory and the focus is on facing the past and character development. Personally, I enjoyed this even more than the first book. The friendship between Liabhan and Dau has progressed naturally and Brocc is facing challenges in the otherworld with his new queen and wife and people. Marillier is good at creating villains who are still human as well as the 'little evil' people do when they ignore wrongs and injustices.



During a friendly competition, Liabhan accidently injures Dau, resulting in his loss of sight. The seniors of Swan Island feel compelled to inform his family since he is chieftain's son. Things go from bad to worse, when Dau's father and older brothers insist he must be returned to them. Liabhan bravely undertakes one year's service as a bond-slave as compensation for causing the injury. But Dau's past is even darker than she knows and things are most definitely not right. Liabhan is walking into the greatest danger of her life - one connected with the mysterious and vicious crow people.



This was a great book. I felt very connected to characters. The plot wasn't just blind battle scenes and the character development was satisfying. Highly recommend - Marillier is back on form.

For me the plot took an unexpected turn and heightened the narrative tension and connection between the characters. Liobhan, Dau, and Brocc are pressed into unexpected situations and roles where success comes from their weaknesses or what they aren’t naturally good at. After the first book I was eager to see more of these three, and this book brings all the things Marillier fans know and love about her work. If you enjoy listening to your reads, you’ll be in for a treat because narrators Raphael Corkhill, Moira Quirk, and Alex Wyndham have returned as voices for the three main characters.

What I loved about this book:
1. The characters are faced with real challenges. Liobhan is a naturally strong and gifted warrior with natural leadership abilities and is someone prone to speaking her mind. It's a legitimate challenge to strip away her natural gifts and place the burden of success on how well she performs in a role that is below servant, while also doing what she can to keep one of her best friends from coming to harm. Dau is a strong warrior who has made his life’s mission to never return to his familial home. It’s a legitimate challenge to see him navigate his accident and forced retreat home, his feelings about his self-worth, and his struggle to allow himself to care about others while making them targets of his sociopathic brother. Brocc faces the challenge of a new role in his marriage and how the dynamic has shifted allegiance among his wife’s people. He has to navigate the communication difficulties and a stress of opposing loyalty between his wife and human family.
2. Dau’s story. The power and heartbreak of his story was masterful. Usually a person expects any tearful moments to happen at the end of a story, but there were moments in the first quarter, and then midway that broke my heart. Don’t worry, this book ends on a happily ever after moment, but be prepared for some legitimate darkness.
3. The thread of love throughout the story. It’s wonderful to see the deep connections established and new ones formed. There is true redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness, and thoughtfulness throughout.

The blend of Marillier’s magic, creatures, and mystical places in a realistic old Celtic world are all present. If you are new to Marillier’s strong voice and layered characters, this series could be a nice introduction to her style. I look forward to the next installment of this series and I highly recommend this book. I received an advance review copy of the audible version of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

(Thank you NetGalley for this arc, also apologies I had the audiobook, so I’m not entirely sure how to spell some of the names, I have done my best,)
This was a stupidly fun book.
Marillier does a great job of creating a really fun, whimsical world, if anything I really wanted to read more about the fairy world and Enya. It’s fairly fast paced, but has a decent amount of breathing room, and whilst the writing style is fairly simplistic, the way she describes things is quite beautiful and you always had a detailed idea of what the world around the characters looked like.
I loved the characters, I would have so loved to have more chapters from the point of view of Brock, not only is the idea of the character super interesting, but he’s clearly so well thought out, and you can really feel the inner turmoil going on inside him. Dau (pronounced; Dow) could have easily turned out to be an awful character, he is an archetype we’ve all read before, the bullied kid with temper issues. But you can see every line of thought, and whilst he does fall into some of the tropes, he is a truly loveable character and you can always see his line of thinking, and is easily one of my favourite in the book. Liobhan was just awesome. I’d like to make it known every time the narrator said ‘Swan island warrior,’ I laughed because of the sheer confidence she said it with, and she’s just the perfect main character for this type of world. The narrator took herself so seriously, and it just made her so fun to listen to, and really endeared me to the character, that and I’d quite like “I am a swan Island warrior” in mercy and as a ringtone, please and thank you.
I adored the dynamics between all the characters. Between Dau and his siblings was done somewhat stereotypically, but I enjoyed that Shannon (definitely not how that’s spelt but it’s the best I’ve got) is a manipulative and cruel villain done well, you see he’s intelligent but vile, Marillier does a great job of showing that, but it was a bit ruined by how often she told us it. Dau and Liobhan were cute together and worked off each other well, I really loved their friendship though admittedly didn’t think it was necessary for them to get together in the end. (I’m not a prude but the description of sex in the book wasn’t very well done.) but Enya and Brock were my favourite despite not having much time with them, I would so love a book from Brock’s point of view, his good nature and loyal heart reminded me a lot of John Snow but better, and his chapters were some of my favourite to listen to, and the fairy woeks’s turmoil with the crow folk was so interesting to learn about. I’d have loved more of it.
I do have a couple of complaints, however, the first of which is that I wish more time was spent at the climax of the book. A lot of time was spent at the court/trial scenes, and I’m a lawyer myself. If you want to do a court scene accurately, you need things repeated 80,000 times, and Marillier reexplain the details a lot as is, but the trial scenes were quite tedious to me. Lastly, I really didn’t think Dau and Liobhan getting together was necessary, they were so enjoyable as friends it was a bit tropey that they got together, and I just didn’t think that they had that sort of chemistry.

3.5

There's a lot to like about this series so far, and some things that I think could use improvement.

Liobhan is pretty rad. Dau has some excellent character growth. This installment has a lot more story development than the first.

I still don't understand Brock and Anya's marriage. I'm told repeatedly that they're in love and happy and devoted to each other, but I never see them interacting when one of them isn't exhausted and distant. I don't know if it's a quality of the person narrating Brock, but there's something that just feels really shallow about their relationship. This issue with Brock extended to the first book too; nothing he did felt important to the story, it was just another person with another perspective?

The narrators were Raphael Corkhill, Moira Quirk, and Alex Wyndham. I honestly don't know which man narrated which character, but both were good. Moira Quirk was great. She encompasses Liobhan entirely, her emotions were consistent and honest, I really enjoyed it.

I am a bit bothered by the shoehorned romance, but I like Dau and Liobhan so I'll let it go. It felt really uninvested though.

Overall, I like where the story is going and would be interested in continuing the series.

I received a copy of this audiobook from NetGalley and Recorded Books in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

A Dance with Fate by Juliet Marillier was impossible to put down! I listened to the audiobook without having read the first book in the series or anything else that Marillier has written.

The story was exciting from stop to finish. I do not want to tell you too much, as I do not like to write spoilers. I enjoyed the characters. I thought they were well written, and I enjoyed the interactions between them.

The narration was performed by several people. I enjoyed each of the voice actors. I always love it when books are narrated by multiple people. It gives the characters their own distinct voice, and you can easily tell them apart. I found they each did other character voices well and had great tone, inflection, and speed.

I am eager to read the first book in the series and anything else that Marillier writes in the future. I enjoyed the narrators, and I would listen to any of them again.

I received an advanced audiobook from RB Media through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

I wasn't able to listen to this title before it was archived but from listening to the sample I really liked the narrator. I'm a huge fan of Juliet Marillier and of this series so I'm sure I'm going to love this book.

thank you netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to this audiobook

this book is just as beautifully written as Marillier's previous works. We meet Liobhan, Dau and Brocc who we meet in the previous book.
I don't want to spoil any of the action during this book but something unravels due to an accident. How this affects both Liobhan as well as Dau (who the accident happened to) is done well, as well as how Liobhan has to pay for it. I don't want to say anyting else because I'm really afraid of spoiling anything major here.
I would say that I see a lot of the writing from Marillier's previous book Blackthorn and Grim in this, as the book turns darker in this instance. The previous book I didn't think was dark at all, but this book had a much darker undertone to it. It wasn't anything that would put me off a book by her since I truly enjoy all of Marillier's book. All of those I've read this far at least.

One thing I want to highlight is the new settings which shows more of the casts true colors. Which is something again is one of Marillier's strongest features. However when I mention that, I do not care that much for Brocc's chapter and they feel at times stale. This might have to do with that Liobhan and Dau's story is much more appealing to me. However I think this is much more of an "taste" thing than it has anything to do with the book overall.

I'm 100% reading book #3. (I hate the wait..)

This review is for the audio version. First, let me admit to being out of the loop regarding this series. I read the Sevenwaters books as they came out years ago and loved them greatly. I didn't realize there was a new series until I was offered the chance to review this title, A Dance With Fate. While I was excited, I was also hesitant, as I don't generally like audiobooks with multiple narrators. In this case though, it worked very well. The format of the book lends itself nicely to more than one voice, and I believe it would have been lacking otherwise. As for the story itself, I found myself transported quickly and thoroughly into the world of the Swan Islanders, laughing, crying, and cheering them on as the story unfolded. The settings are brilliant in their detail, and the characters are fully fledged and easy to believe. I must now get busy reading the first title in this wonderful new series by this great author.
I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Dance With Fate by Juliet Marillier is the second book in the Warrior Bards trilogy and takes place about 9 months after the events of first book, The Harp of Kings. In this story, Liobhan and Dau, comrades, competitors and sometimes friends and dueling in a show match when Dau trips and falls. It is soon found out that the fall has caused him to lose his sight. In an effort to be courteous, the Swan Island leaders contact his estranged family and inform them of the news.

Hoping that her presence will provide a balm for her distressed friend, Liobhan volunteers to be a bondservant for the period of one year as recompense for Dau's injuries. This sets both Liobhan and Dau on a journey together back to Dau's home where he suffered cruel torture at the hands of his elder brothers. Neglected and sick, Dau retreats further into his own mind until Liobhan takes charge of his care and tries to bring him back to himself. But they are faced with a familiar foe and long-held secrets within the household that will have both of them using all their talents as Swan Island warriors to survive.

I have been a fan of Marillier since her first book Daughter of the Forest and A Dance with Fate did not disappoint. I love all her characters, but Dau especially. I was torn between wanting to give the man a hug and beating up all those who sought to bring him low. This is a story of survival and hope in the face of unspeakable cruelty. I loved that Marillier chose to include all main characters viewpoints in the story because it gave fresh perspective. Listening to the full audio cast performance was an added benefit, giving subtlety and nuance to a phrase. Marillier's writing is lyrical and magical and the audio cast only added to it.

I highly recommend this author and this series, but to be fair, I must include some trigger warnings for animal abuse (both in the past and present, though most occurs "off screen"), bullying, parental neglect and verbal and physical abuse. This is story of rising above the darkness and it is told beautifully. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

Note: I received an advance reader copy of the audiobook from Netgalley.

5 stars! This was my first read by Juliet Marrilier and it was actually an Audiobook. This was book two of this series and can be read as a stand-alone. I thought the narrators, three of them were awesome. Very articulate and believable. I fell right into the story and wanted to finish it in one sitting.
This was the best YA, sci-fi, fantasy romance book I’ve read this year. There isn’t one thing I would change about it. The author skillfully wrote a book that had great pace and depth. A colorful world full of Kings, warriors and magic.
I highly recommend this audiobook for anyone who loves YA, fantasy romance.


Thank you NETGALLEY and the publisher for this audiobook ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

A Dance With Fate (Warrior Bards #2) by Juliet Marillier
Narrated by Raphael Corkhill, Moira Quirk, Alex Wyndham
Publisher: RB Media Recorded Books
Genre: Sci Fi & Fantasy
Release Date: September 1, 2020

A Dance With Fate is the second book in the Warrior Bards series by Juliet Marillier. I have not read the first book, but I found it pretty easy to catch on to the story line.

I really struggled to get into this book. At first, I found the story line really dragged and moved so slowly. However, I reached a point in the story and everything changed for me! I fell in love with the characters and became invested in what happened to them.

There was so much depth in this story. It is truly an epic tale! I will be reading the first book, The Harp of Kings, and re-reading this while I wait for the next book in the Warrior Bards series to be written and release!

The narration of this was incredible!!!!

I'm so grateful to Juliet Marillier, RB Media Recorded Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This was slower than The Harp of Kings and very different in terms of plot. It was on the predictable side but a lot of building and fleshing out was done. I love Liobhan even more now and Dau was involved in the story a lot more which made me happy. Brocc, however, was absent for most of the book which is fine with me since I don't particularly care for his wife. I'm eager to see what happens with the Crow-Folk and Liobhan and Dau in the third book!

The narrators are just perfect and I'm actually sad I read instead of listened to the first book.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC of A Dance with Fate!

From experience, I know things don’t always go as planned. And sometimes, the unexpected happens for a reason;: maybe to help us grow or to teach a lesson.

This book, A Dance with fate is a well written story about family, courage, hope and perseverance in the face of unexpected, hostile and crippling circumstances. I was hooked from the beginning to the very end.