I’ve never seen Swan Lake so I can’t speak to how this book is as a retelling, but as its own book I quite enjoyed it!

Our FMC Odile takes the place of a noble girl, Marie, in an effort to get close to the royal family and use their magical crown to restore magic to her world. The story continues with more magic, murder, courtly intrigue, budding friendships/relationships, and betrayals. The writing is lovely and reads on the older end of YA. The gothic atmosphere is enchanting. Odile did annoy me at times, but hey, she’s a teen. I thought the interpersonal relationships between Odile and Marie, Aimé, and Damien were done well and their growth as characters felt realistic (though I would’ve loved to see more of Damien and Aimé together). I saw parts of the twist coming, but other parts did surprise me. Pacing-wise the beginning was a bit slow after the initial swap, but after that it moves along nicely. The only thing is I can’t decide how I feel about the ending. It seemed a bit unnecessarily dramatic, then I was worried it would leave off for a sequel, then the epilogue resolved things but I don’t think that it was more satisfying than if we had just skipped all the drama.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Such a great twist on the original Swan Lake story we all grew up with. I am in love with how I stayed on the edge of my seat reading this entire book and all the twists and turns that came with it. Five stars. Such a wonderful read and great YA book!

Thank you NetGalley and Margaret K McElderry Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a delightful gothic retelling of The Swan Lake: full of yearning and intrigue and a heart wrenching ending, I was so pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this. Sometimes I struggle with retellings, and even more so with young adult retellings (which, to be fair, is probably because I am no longer the target audience, as an adult) but I loved the atmosphere and Poranek’s ability to give this story a fairytale quality while keeping the story fresh. The quality of Poranek’s writing is wonderful, and while there were times I was frustrated with Odile, I loved her character arc and the way the story unfolded.

A beautiful retelling of "The Swan Maiden". A.B. Poranek's writing is breathtaking. I loved her characters and the depth of their stories. I recommend A Treachery of Swans to everyone.

I think overall I wanted more from the story. I felt like I was missing parts and wished it would be explained later on. The magical system felt vague and small. How were other sorcerers never mentioned or brought up? Is her 'dad' and herself the only ones who had access to it? The story was centered in two places, the castle and the theatre. I wanted more from her theatre life and to find out if she liked acting or was, she good at it? I honestly wished Marie was the main narrator or had her own POV chapter. I thought she was more interesting, especially that she was turned swan and didn't seem to mind it. I think I relate more to her wanting freedom and what being an animal with wings meant to her. I even looked forward to her parts. Their romance wasn't so believable either. It seemed sudden, just like the last two chapters.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and it did not disappoint. 🦢

A Treachery of Swans is a retelling of Swan Lake, and follows Odile, the Black Swan. After turning the future queen Marie d’Odette into a swan and stealing her identity in a plot to restore magic back to the land, the king is found brutally murdered, and the blame is placed on Odile’s brother. To save the kingdom, the two girls find themselves teaming up to stop the prince and Odile’s brother from meeting the same fate.

This had the perfect atmosphere. The writing was equal parts whimsical as much as haunting, elevating the story to another level. I loved the way magic was portrayed- both stunning but dangerous. The dynamic between Odile and her father was so well described. The subtle manipulation of Odile’s feelings throughout the story added to her character, and made her development beautiful. I loved the cast of characters and the unexpected found family that sprouted towards the end of the story, as well as the dynamic between Odile and Odette. The gothic fantasy setting made this the perfect dark fairytale to read during winter.

3.5

This is a good story, though for a story inspired by Swan Lake and The Swan Princess, I think its a bit weak. The story, taken as a whole, really seems to lack a driving purpose and the sense of darkness that can be found in Swan Lake. Yes, this book and that source material share similarities, but compared to Swan Lake, Odile's actions are tame. Again, this book is based on those tales, but I feel like the story could have been more well-served to take a little more direction from them.

As individual beats, there are good moments. However, they do not add up into a strong collection of the story. I felt the central romance was only half played out and not really explored. There seems to be so much more depth that could have been discovered between Odile and Marie that is glossed over which does a disservice to the reader and the characters.

I was worried, as I hit the end of the book, that Poranek was going to try to extend this story into at least a duology, instead, we got a really strong epilogue, which paints what Odile went through in broad strokes, but it works really well, more so than many of the other beats of this story.

the magical elements were cool. loved the idea that magic can literally be seen in the blood and the curse on the kingdom was interesting, but again, glossed over after some really wonderful explanations of what happened at the outset.

I thought this book was beautiful! It made me emotional when Marie was yearning for freedom. I loved the intrigue and mystery. I am very familiar with swan lake and this book surprised me nonetheless
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – A Dark, Lush, Sapphic Swan Lake Retelling Full of Magic, Murder, and Messy Feelings

This atmospheric fantasy pulls you in with its rich world-building and keeps you turning pages with high-stakes court intrigue, forbidden magic, and a delightfully complicated sapphic dynamic.

Odile is raised by her sorcerer father to steal the crown and restore magic to the kingdom—but her plan involves impersonating Marie, her former childhood friend turned rival… whom she turns into a swan. Naturally. Things spiral quickly when the king is murdered and her brother is blamed, forcing Odile to team up with the elegant (and understandably furious) Marie to untangle a mystery that might involve something more monstrous than either of them expected.

Odile and Marie’s relationship is the emotional heart of the novel—equal parts tension, vulnerability, and chemistry. Their reluctant alliance brings all the enemies-to-lovers energy, and their interactions are layered with history, hurt, and the slow rebuild of trust.

This story is twisty, romantic, and enchantingly dark, with a mythic edge and enough political intrigue to keep things interesting. The pacing occasionally dips under the weight of the plot’s complexity, but the lush writing and strong character arcs more than make up for it.

If you love fairytale retellings with teeth, morally gray heroines, and slow-burn sapphic tension, this one is absolutely worth diving into.

There isn’t much to say about this book that has not already been said before by reviews of equal or worse opinion than mine—which is quite unfortunate, as I was really looking forward to this one.

While I think this book has an extremely interesting premise, it falls flat. There’s a lot going for it—Swan Lake is a classic story that everybody loves, gothic is one of my favorite aesthetics, and I love a friends to enemies to lovers romance—especially when it’s queer.

The main issue with this book, more so than anything else I can say about it, is that Odile sucks. I don’t like her. She’s completely unlikable as a main character, she’s selfish, thinks she’s much smarter than she is, and is, frankly, downright rude. And she gets away with it, too. She steals Marie’s identity and doesn’t even try to come across as a convincing one—she plays herself, hiding behind Marie’s image, and no one really says anything, except Marie herself, and that’s short-lived. Her relationships with others feel two-toned and predictable, and she gets way better treatment from them than she’s treated them. Better treatment than what, personally, I felt she deserves.

It was nearly impossible to enjoy the story because of Odile. I couldn’t get behind it. Telling it from Odile’s perspective was the main draw of this story, in my opinion. I do think there’s some extremely interesting ideas in her. I liked when Odile would talk about magic history. I liked when the book would talk about magic in general. The mystery intrigued me and made me want to keep reading. But books with horrible main characters that it expects you to like are a no from me.

This is a dark, sapphic re-telling of Swan Lake. I loved the French setting and the mystery at the beginning of the book. The first half was filled with tension and intrigue. However, the second half of the book kind of fell off for me. I would recommend this book if you're into French folklore and are interested in a new take on Swan Lake.

I flew (pun absolutely intended) through this one and my goodness, A. B. Poranek is quickly becoming an autobuy author! She crafts exquisitely layered characters that you can't help but root for and I loved the way she handled parental emotional/verbal abuse and manipulation. This is the way retellings should be done!

Thank you so much, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Margaret K. McElderry Books and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Two hundred years ago a slighted deity stole magic from Aureal and disappeared and now seventeen years old Odile has a plan to restore magic to her kingdom and win her father's, a vengeful sorcerer, approval. She had to steal Marie d'Odette's identity, a noblewoman, infiltrate the palace and steal the king's crown, an artefact able to restore magic. Marie d'Odette is rumored to be the future queen, so Odile will have to interpret that role. Even though Marie was a childhood friend turned enemy. With her father's help, Marie is turned into a swan and Odile takes her place, but when the king is murdered and her own brother is accused of doing it, Odile is forced to ask Marie for help. To make things worse, there are rumors the king was killed by a beast and Odile is torn between loyalty to her father and her growing feeling for Marie, her friendship with the king's son Aimè and her love for the brother Damian. In a web of lies and treachery, Odile and Marie investigate and to save her kingdom, Odile will have to risk everything she ever held dear and find the real killer before it strikes again.

A treachery of Swan is a imaginative retelling of Swan Lake and deliciously queer, so queer. I loved everything about this book. The complex and abusive relationship between Odile and Rothbarte is the key of what Odile does, trying to win his approval, his love, his respect and she's been molded since childhood to be a liar, a thief and someone able to change at will. But meeting Marie, Amiè and Damian changed everything for her, pushing her to open her eyes and to realize her real situation and to do the right thing.
I loved the relationship between Marie and Odile, made of bickering, saving one other, talking, confessing, trying slowly to be true to themselves and each other and their growing feelings. It was so beautiful to read. Also, I do love Damien and Amiè and I wanted more of them.
The story is intricate, filled with lies, incantations, old and new magic and I truly loved everything, Morgane in particular.
This book is very recommended! If you are looking for a queer set of characters, complex relationship and magic, this book is for you.

2/5 stars. (this one hurts)

Having loved the eerie, folklorish yearning in Where the Dark Stands Still, I was very much looking forward to this story. I also think the Swan Lake/Princess fairy tale is so underused in fairy tale retellings and its one of my favorites, so a gothic, sapphic retelling from the POV of one of the villains had me so hopeful. Sadly, I was left wanting by this story, and not in a good way.

For most of the story, I just did not really care about any of the characters. Though there was a teasing of romantic, gothic prose, much of writing felt very flat - in a way, I'm not sure the first person POV served the story as well as it should. The interactions between the characters felt rushed and forced, or were explained by awkward, not complete backstories that I don't think did the job they were intended to of helping to flesh out the character motivations. Even the world building felt a little flat - the lore of the three goddesses was not well integrated and it felt like the story was a mishmash of potential world features.

There were also many areas of plot holes or sort of convenient "oh this is now explained", and a lot of just very bad decision making. Odile is supposed to be clever, but literally fails at everything when she tries on her own (which would be fine if the narrative felt aware of that, but we are instead fed the idea from other characters that Odile is indeed clever). The drama between Odile and Marie also felt so forced - like they were sort of friends once and then Marie let an adult be kind of mean to Odile, so Odile hated Marie for the rest of her life. There is nothing I dislike more in a story than an overwrought, unnecessary conflict. Even accounting for characters being younger, the conflict between them was so worthless and just felt like it was a way to force an "enemies" to lovers trope. And while I don't think the conflict between Odile and her brother was quite as trivial, the story would hav benefited from that being more fleshed out.

And just a quick note - this is young adult. While I have no problem with that and acknowledge that it is labeled as such, much of the marketing I have seen has positioned it as more romance forward and adult - while romance is involved, I don't think it is well developed enough to truly be romance forward. I also feel like even the author teased elements on social media (like what a dressing room scene would look like if one of the love interests has wings), but those elements are not actually really in the story.

I appreciate many of the elements that were introduced in this story - the perspective of Odile, the idea of a magic heist as motivation for the whole "swan princess" curse and the use of theatre as a backdrop (in an ode to the stage/ballet), but it felt like the author tried to do too much at once, and so nothing felt as fleshed out as it could have.

Thank you to NetGalley/Simon and Schuster Publishing for an advanced copy of this story.

“I want to feel like I’m worth. I’m scared that if I’m not worthy, if I don’t prove myself, I will end up alone again” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

“Villain are pitiless, villains are unfeeling, villains can’t be hurt. And I am so tired of being hurt”

This book is beautifully written. The story was so intriguing and unique! I loved understanding Odiles life and all her insecurities and overall seeing herself growth throughout the book. I love seeing the “villainous” character recognize how wrong their beliefs are and they end up redeeming themselves. I truly fell in love with Odile because she just didn’t want to be alone anymore 😭😭. I also felt sympathy for Marie, being trapped by societal expectations and feeling her freedom is revoked. Marie truly had “everything” but the one thing she wanted…freedom. MY HEART HURT FOR THESE TWO GIRLS 😭. My only comments is that I wish the ending was longer, I felt like more than 50% of the book was Odile trying to solve the murder. I wish Marie and her were able to work sooner because their complex friendship was so good. I wanted to see her relationship expand to new horizons. I LOVEDDDDDDDDD the plot twists though. PLZ READ THE EPILOGUE!!! Don’t skip it!

Thank you NetGalley for the free electronic arc!!!!

When I heard about a sapphic retelling of Swan Lake, my response was basically "Gimme now!"

This is an incredibly beautifully written love story, and I was enchanted the entire time.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc for this!

Fun retelling, I like the French terms, what I don't like is mostly the pacing. It took more than 2 weeks to read this. I feel like the middle was stretched and then everything happens in the last 40 pages. It's interesting that we find out about the truth before Odile realizes it herself? Was that intentional? When the beast was killing the step mother, it was so obvious that it's Aimé and yet Odile found that out like a while later. It's like I was Chandler waiting for Joey to get it and catch up on the delay.

thank you to Simon Teen for the e-ARC

I did overall enjoy this book, though I had even higher hopes for it initially. sapphic take on swan lake is very much a good sell to me, and I was satisfied by it. this author is a great writer, and I enjoy her prose and characterization.

I have two main gripes: the manipulation and the ending. I struggle in books where our main character is being manipulated and oblivious, which is very much the case here. it leaves me frustrated with our main character’s decisions because they’re so obviously bad. the ending was also just….. strange? a a bit of a left turn, and bit rushed, and then just over.

still, I enjoyed it as a whole, and felt like the main relationship was moving and believable- in the good and the struggle.

A moody, slow-burn, sapphic retelling of Swan Lake for the ages. It was exactly what I needed today. It completely filled my daily quota of yearning!

Lush writing, gothic atmosphere, fully-developed characters, and so on and so forth. Really, it checked all my boxes, I couldn't have asked for more.

A Treachery of Swans follows Odile, the foster daughter of a sorcerer who has trained her to help bring magic back to Auréal. All she needs to do is steal her former friend’s identity, trick the prince into marrying her, and to steal the king’s crown. Easy. Surely no familiar faces from her past or unexpected murders will make this difficult for her.

Odile’s desperation for power and security drive this story. The Black Swan had to be the main character, and it’s so interesting to spend time in her head. She’s a deliciously biased narrator, and I loved getting to uncover truths alongside her. A plot that sounded relatively uncomplicated on the surface had so many twists and turns I got myself caught up in.

All our main character relationships are a delicious tangled knot. I loved watching how Odile bumped up against Marie, Damian, and Aimé just as much as I enjoyed Odile trying to understand how the three of them related to one another. They’re all so desperate for control and freedom in their lives, but it means something very different to all of them.

It’s strange to finish a standalone and wish it had been part of a series. The way the final threads wrap up made me wish more of it had happened on page, it’s an ending that’s maybe a little too neat for all the messy and jagged aspects of the characters I’d previously appreciated.

I really enjoyed my time with this! If you’re even mildly intrigued by the gorgeous US cover like I was, I think you’ll have a great time with this. It promises you sapphic Swan Lake, and oh boy does it deliver.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC.