Pages & Pressings

NO SPOILERS

You can be a great many things, dear heart. But you cannot be fewer.

This book takes the cake for being the most original fantasy book I’ve ever read to date. The writing is absolutely spectacular, especially considering this is a debut novel and a standalone at that. Shannon J. Spann has created a lush, magical world so grand it will never be forgotten (at least not by me).

A Stage Set for Villains follows our female protagonist, Riven Hesper who was cursed by a Player as a young girl. Players are immortal beings that perform in the Playhouse- a theater of sorts. As the curse slowly kills her, Riven goes to the Playhouse in search of answers and meets Lead Player Jude Stepharros. In an attempt to save her life, Riven bargains with Jude, and learns that bargains come with a price.

This book markets itself as a high stakes slow burn fantasy romance, and it sure was all of those things and more. I really appreciated the true slow burn that it was, as most books that sell themselves as such aren’t much of a slow burn. While I was reading I was considering even calling this ‘enemies to lovers’, but it’s far deeper and worse than that. Worse read: heart-breaking. The romance was beautiful, and leaves the reader with a nostalgic feeling that I believe comes with the ‘fated mates’ trope. This is one of those books that has an equal share of fantasy and romance, leaning possibly more fantasy than romance.

A Stage Set for Villains has you believing it’s going in a certain plot track and completely veers you off. It almost felt like a story within a story in an oddly trippy type of way. Needless to say, my brain was working overtime on understanding the plot. I do love a challenge. This book was beautifully written, so much so that I have decided that I would read anything this author puts out. The writing style scratched a specific itch in my brain that left me incredibly satisfied and wanting more. It’s very impressive how Spann managed to write such a complex story in a little over 500 pages without it feeling lacking or incomplete.

Overall, this reading experience was lovely and helped me get over a reading slump. I’ve been reading too many books that simply didn’t warrant a review lately, so I’m really glad to be back and writing reviews again.

I’ll be on the look-out for anything written by Shannon J. Spann in the future, and I think everyone should too!