Dance of the Starlit Sea

By: Jamie Steinberg

Tedious. Unfortunately, that was my experience reading the book Dance of the Starlit Sea. It’s all a bit confusing as pleasing angels, pageantry and the Devil muddle the intended message within the pages. What begins as a tale of a young girl banished by her family for stumbling at a dance recital and lashing out takes an odd and dark twist that somehow turns into a story that is supposed to inspire readers to find confidence and care more about self-love.

Lila is a ballet dancer that has the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her parents expect perfection and after collapsing on stage, she lashes out violently at them. Based on her bad behavior she is exiled to Luna Island – a place with beautiful blue waters and sweet boutiques to live with her aunt Laina. Struggling to deal with the consequences of her actions, Laina offers Lila a distraction by entering the Angel of the Sea Pageant. When Luna Island began to decline angels arrived to bless them with abundance. Therefore, the pageant was created in thanks of the angels’ generosity and to become “High Priestess” is an honor. That all changes when Lila begins hearing an eerie voice that is calling her to the depths of the oceans. What is happening on this island? Lila’s only way to find out the truth is to enter the pageant…and win.

To go into greater depths of the plot would only give too much of the plot away and, frankly, only confuse you as much as I am. Lila finds a bestie on the island in fellow pageant participant Roisin, but I was never really truly certain until the end of the book if she was truly a friend rather than a foe. Add in an angel with black wings named Damien who seems to have a need to protect Lila at all costs, but isn’t willing to tell her why and a story about how the Devil chose to fall from the stars and wound up as the King of Hell and I’m just not sure what is going on and why!

Author Kiana Krystle does a great job at creating a beautiful world on Luna Island filled with an idyllic landscape that would be the perfect vacation spot. However, pageant participants would have to pay an arm and a leg just to afford the fancy dresses and spa treatments needed to take part! And the dresses seem to be picked out a day or two in advance of the events of the pageant, which is odd because realistically you would have to have clothes picked out ahead of time. Roisin’s family is never mentioned and attend none of the pageant events. In fact, none of the parents seem to play a role in the girls’ pageantry. Laina only is there as she is part of the committee!

There is a lot more than meets the eye to Lila Rose Li and Luna Island. The secrets kept inside both of them were worth exploring, but the way they came to light is convoluted. It is very difficult to invest in Lila’s plight when it’s kept so close to the vest and readers are mostly distracted by her efforts to get gussied up to prove she deserves to be cared for in all her imperfect ways. Dance of the Starlit Sea may be a fun young-adult read for some, but it lacks enough pizzazz to make it worth diving into.