Seeing the Suspiria comparison drew me in like the scent of a freshly-baked pie in a old cartoon, and its devilishly-sweet literary flavour fed me plenty.

Once I finished, I felt satiated like only a good story can make me feel. Great writing, characters, and everything else that made this novel.

So good. The cover gave me BLack Swam vibes and it delivered on its promise. This actually reminded me of the old Fear Street novels by RL Stine, just much darker and cooler. Looking forward to everyone getting to read it. Would make an epic movie.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Devil's in the Dancers by Catherine Yu is a first person-POV YA Sapphic dark speculative contemporary. Mars Chang is a scholarship student for a summer at Allegra Academy, staying in the same room as Alex Bechler, a member of the rich and influential Bechler family. Most of the ballet dancers at the summer session know each other and are not always kind to Mars, who is new to their group. But something dangerous is brewing at the Academy and Mars is going to get to the bottom of it.

There is a very slowburn annoyed-to-lovers romance that is brewing between Mars and Alex throughout the book. At the beginning of the book, Mars is dumped by her boyfriend and Alex, who was breaking up with her girlfriend, overhears. This gets them off on the wrong foot and it takes a while for them to get on the right one because of Mars’ annoyance with Alex and how Alex is surrounded by other dancers at the Academy most of the time, but their time together as roommates helps create room for a relationship to grow. We don’t get a ton of it, but it is representation of Sapphic ballerinas.

I wouldn’t call this a horror because I feel that it didn’t really have the atmosphere or beats that I expect of a horror, which is either closer to a thriller or is building up the horror elements throughout. When I saw that Catherine Yu’s bio lists her as a ‘dark speculative writer,’ I immediately felt that that was what this book was for me. There is a speculative element, it is on the darker side of YA, it’s just not horror or Gothic as the book’s focus is a bit different.

The main thrust of the story is the competition between the dancers as they try-out for the role of Eurydice in the season’s performance. Alex is one of the best dancers in the group and gets a lot of praise from their teachers, while Mars is often told that she isn’t good enough and that she has to push harder. Another dancer in the group starts getting supplements from Mars that negatively impact her health, but also make her a better dancer. The need to be the best in a cutthroat world dressed in glamor like ballet does come through in Mars’ voice and her in her relationships with everyone else.

I would recommend this to fans of darker stories centering ballet and readers of YA who like a complicated lead with a strong voice