GIRLS OF DARK DIVINE

The lead dancer of a renowned ballet troupe fights to save her fellow dancers from a destructive curse.

The Marionettes of New Kora are preternaturally talented ballet dancers, known for their beauty and skill. They are also horrifically cursed. Troupe leader Malcolm Manrow, who turns on the charm when he wants to get his way, collects girls and makes them his puppets, controlling everything from their movements to their memories and making himself rich from their talents. But the curse is also slowly killing the girls. Lead dancer Emberlyn, nicknamed the “Princess of New Kora,” who has pale skin and “hair like fire,” is desperate to save her Marionette sisters from Malcolm’s control and the terrible fate that awaits them all. When the troupe leaves New Kora for a performance in the city of Parlizia, Emberlyn thinks the unfamiliar terrain may offer them an opportunity to escape, but she’ll need to understand more about the curse and its limits. With the help of a mysterious boy, she delves into Malcolm’s past, but breaking the curse may mean her own undoing. The curse, which robs the dancers of their memories, also limits the narrative; there’s little sense of a world beyond the dancers, whose personalities blend together, and necessary worldbuilding comes too late in the story. Potentially compelling elements are lost under thin characterizations, awkward pacing, and cartoon villainy. Characters are diverse in skin tone.

More atmosphere than substance.