The Spider Dance Blog Tour: Book Review

The Spider Dance by Nick Setchfield

Hey everyone. Today is my official stop on the blog tour for the upcoming release of Nick Setchfield’s wonderful new novel, The Spider Dance. It’s not actually a YA novel [I know, I know] but I did really love the book and wanted to get in on all the hype. For my tour stop, I’m going to be giving my non-spoilery review of the novel 😀

From Goodreads: It’s 1965 and Christopher Winter is trying to carve a new life, a new identity, beyond his days in British Intelligence. Recruited by London’s gangland he now finds himself on the wrong side of the law – and about to discover that the secret service has a way of claiming back its own. Who is the fatally alluring succubus working honeytraps for foreign paymasters? What is the true secret of the Shadowless, a fabled criminal cabal deadlier than the Mafia? And why do both parties covet long-buried caskets said to hold the hearts of kings? Winter must confront the buried knowledge of his own past to survive – but is he ready to embrace the magic that created the darkness of Tobias Hart?

First up, I should state that this is technically the second book in a series [even though it isn’t listed as such on Goodreads]. That being said, I haven’t actually read the first book yet, and apart from the odd mention of a handful of characters, there was never a real sense that I didn’t know what was going on. By the looks of it, there’s a lot about the Winter/Hart stuff in the previous novel, but there’s enough of a grasp of it in The Spider Dance that you could leap straight in with book two. I found this pretty refreshing, since I am currently well-buried under the avalanche known as TBR Mountain. I know it’s a bad thing to do, read book two before book one, but it sounded so intriguing that I just had to bend the rules a bit.

In fairness, I wasn’t immediately sold on the blurb. The idea of a secret service type novel set during the cold war has never seemed like my cup of tea, and I was tempted to pass when I got the promo email through. But then… but then, I saw the words succubus and Shadowless, and I was drawn in by the promise of a fantasy twist to the old spy genre. It helps too that the cover is really compelling. It actually reminds me a bit of the A Darker Shade of Magic series covers. In fact, I even had to go away and look up the artist, just to see if they were the same person. They weren’t, but I really liked the way the cover is designed.

Plot-wise, the book is very fast paced, as I kind of expected it to be. I think it would be difficult and probably quite disappointing, to have a spy thriller type book be slow and plodding. I read the whole thing in two sittings, and found it hard to put down even then. The opening really hooked me, especially that first line. I knew straight from there that it was going to be dark and creepy with a lot of twists and turns. The first scene, where we follow a bunch of criminals to an illicit sale to a shady client, totally grabbed me and left me wanting more. Setchfield isn’t afraid to go there, either. He didn’t pull any punches with the gore and violence. And while I feel there’s a time and place for that and it isn’t everyone’s thing, I did appreciate that I’d picked up the kind of book which was going to be violent.

Also, I have to say the descriptions were gorgeous. There were so many that I tabbed, just so I could look back at them later and sigh at how great they are. A lot of beautiful scenes, and actions, and just that kind of almost noire perfection to them. Sharp somehow, and yet languid at the same time. I also appreciated that even in the descriptions of the settings, characters and actions like lighting a cigarette etc, Setchfield gives us a firm sense of Winter’s character. At one point, Winter is described as being ‘hunched over the guard rail that bordered the balcony of his room. He was in a cotton shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, starched white cuffs curling with perspiration in the sultry air. The bright wink of a Woodbine flared between his lips. It was his fourth so far and it tasted like his tenth.’ Honestly, that description gave me goosebumps. It’s something I’m trying to do more and more in my writing, give descriptions that also add a sense of the character and the situation. I just think Setchfield has such an amazing way with them.

In terms of the plot, it wasn’t the most twisting and turning of narratives. It was a little bit predictable, a few tropes here and there. Nothing you probably couldn’t guess at along the way. However, as I’ve already mentioned, it was quick and compelling, even when I had a good sense of what was going to happen next. The magic and strange creatures and things were incorporated nicely, and they felt woven into the weave of the narrative with care. Nothing that happened felt impossible or caused me to eye-roll at the page. It is a big risk to throw genres together like this and see what sticks, but honestly I feel like The Spider Dance worked.

Overall, I’m giving The Spider Dance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved the descriptions and the reckless, unrelenting pace of the book. The violence was quite stark at times, but I was aware it would be rather graphic from the very first line, so I knew what I was getting into. And the descriptions were, quite honestly, flawless. The only reason I didn’t give it full marks was the kinda predictable narrative, but even then it really isn’t much of an issue in the grand scheme of things. I’ll definitely be picking up book one, The War in the Dark, once the avalanche of TBR books gets a little lighter.

The Spider Dance by Nick Setchfield is now available for purchase so grab yourself a copy now!

And that about concludes my stop on the tour. Thanks so much to Titan for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. Please check out some of the other wonderful blogs on the rest of this tour here:

Until next time, everyone 😀