Ballet, Betrayal, and Primordial Soup
2.5/5
This novel follows our MC Laure as she graduates from her ballet academy and joins the Parisian Ballet, all the while navigating the toxic institution of the ballet itself and its politics and prejudices. To survive, Laure makes a deal with a blood river in the Paris Catacombs, and finds that making bargains with dark beings might be even more dangerous than she thinks.
If you love, spooky Black Swan vibes, primordial beings and deals with the devil, slow-burn horror, and stories of drama and power and betrayal, this is for you. The ballet setting is very real, to the point where I was googling terms just to get an idea of what was going on, but the world Jamison Shea built in this novel was immersive and eerie.
In the kindest way, this felt like a debut. The concept and overarching ideas were intense and so compelling, but the execution left something to be desired. There was no chapter that I finished that I thought "oh wow, what happens next?"--it's almost as if there was so much going on that the stakes weren't as clear as they could be (or, maybe they were, but I got so lost in the ballet terms that I didn't understand it). It's hard to explain, it's one of those things that when it's done well, you don't notice it because you're sucked into the world and flying through the pages. I really wanted that to happen here, but I struggled a fair bit. I feel like if this were shorter, or a series of novellas perhaps, the pacing could have really worked with the ballet world. Since we started with the last big audition, and then moved to post-grad ballet work, the MC's motivations remained kind of nebulous throughout.
I will say, there were parts where Shea for sure hit their stride writing about the dark side of ballet, or real human experience with prejudice and institutional racism that was really beautiful. Some passages took my breath away. I feel like Jamison Shea is for sure an author to watch, even though this particular story didn't do it for me. I'd still pick up future books from them, because I can just feel there's one coming that'll blow me away.
This novel follows our MC Laure as she graduates from her ballet academy and joins the Parisian Ballet, all the while navigating the toxic institution of the ballet itself and its politics and prejudices. To survive, Laure makes a deal with a blood river in the Paris Catacombs, and finds that making bargains with dark beings might be even more dangerous than she thinks.
If you love, spooky Black Swan vibes, primordial beings and deals with the devil, slow-burn horror, and stories of drama and power and betrayal, this is for you. The ballet setting is very real, to the point where I was googling terms just to get an idea of what was going on, but the world Jamison Shea built in this novel was immersive and eerie.
In the kindest way, this felt like a debut. The concept and overarching ideas were intense and so compelling, but the execution left something to be desired. There was no chapter that I finished that I thought "oh wow, what happens next?"--it's almost as if there was so much going on that the stakes weren't as clear as they could be (or, maybe they were, but I got so lost in the ballet terms that I didn't understand it). It's hard to explain, it's one of those things that when it's done well, you don't notice it because you're sucked into the world and flying through the pages. I really wanted that to happen here, but I struggled a fair bit. I feel like if this were shorter, or a series of novellas perhaps, the pacing could have really worked with the ballet world. Since we started with the last big audition, and then moved to post-grad ballet work, the MC's motivations remained kind of nebulous throughout.
I will say, there were parts where Shea for sure hit their stride writing about the dark side of ballet, or real human experience with prejudice and institutional racism that was really beautiful. Some passages took my breath away. I feel like Jamison Shea is for sure an author to watch, even though this particular story didn't do it for me. I'd still pick up future books from them, because I can just feel there's one coming that'll blow me away.