Reviews

I cannot think of a single moment when I was not insanely frustrated by this book. There is not one remotely likable character. Anna, our protagonist, has to be the most inept fact checker in the history of the world, and is also completely incapable of making anything except the worst possible decision in any circumstance. She is the sole architect of almost every one of her problems, but can never quite figure out why the rest of the world keeps shitting on her.

The only thing that kept me from DNF'ing the book entirely was sending excerpts of horrifically bad writing to a friend so she could suffer with me.

I could also never fully escape the feeling that this book was written by someone who hates women. The tone and word choices in almost every chapter seep with a constant sensation of cringe. To see that it was written by a woman who is apparently also in academia just added to the frustration on every level.

erinld2005's review

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4.0

http://angelerin.blogspot.com/2016/08/dancing-with-tiger-by-lili-wright-review.html

I won a free copy of Dancing With The Tiger By: Lili Wright in a Goodreads giveaway, so thank you to Goodreads and Putnam Books!

When I first saw the summary for Dancing With The Tiger I was immediately intrigued by the Mexico setting and the colorful cover. I haven't read very many books set in Mexico. I am so glad that the setting was done well in this one. The writing throughout is so vivid and beautiful. I really enjoyed the writing style in general.
#VividWriting

The characters are also well done and they are pretty fleshed out. I liked Anna and I had to keep reading to see what would happen next with her. In general I love the whole literal/metaphorical mask thing this book has going on as well. The plot just really hooked me with the masks and art angles.
#Hooked

Dancing With The Tiger is such a stunning debut, but I did have one issue. It's really slow paced at times. Some parts seemed to really drag on and on with too many descriptions. I really do wish that this was faster paced, but pushing through the slower parts is worth it. Thankfully it's not all slow and the ending is action packed. I like how everything turned out too.
#AFewSlowParts

Overall Dancing With The Tiger is an enjoyable read! I love how it has a little bit of everything. Adventure, crime, art, history, and more! It's an amazing novel, despite a few parts that were bogged down a bit. I would love to read more by this author in the future!
#ALittleBitOfEverything

I recommend Dancing With The Tiger for mystery/thriller fans looking for an intricate plot.
#LiteraryThrillerLovers

sundragonheartt's review

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3.0

“A man is a mask above the law. He makes his own rules. He is free to transgress, anonymous, unknown. Be someone else. Be yourself, be god. This my friends is freedom. Jesus died for our sins. Masks live for our fears.”

I was very pleased to find that this book was all about masks! I love me some masks! Very nice and the writing style is exactly my cup of tea, but this book could go all over the place at times. Also was not a fan of the totally out of nowhere rape scene!

oneanjana's review

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3.0

So before I begin, let me tell you that this story is divided into three parts.

Part One: fighting over a precious, valuable death mask of Montezuma. Everyone involved in hunting has their own reasons to fight. For money, pride, or simply hoping that the mask will bring them a brand new life.

Part Two: It goes deeper into every character. Their motives, backstory, past engagement with another character. Their struggle for mask is now about life and death. Every move is dangerous, you can’t trust anyone, and things are complicated.

Part Three: So now some of them are teaming up, taking sides, and execute their plans. More shots and terror happens, but there are some life lessons too. Some found home, and some found their meaning in life.

Then I’ll start with things that I liked about this book. It has a good badass yet miserable woman character. Great carrier, strong character. So brave to take all the risk, but not too lucky with love story. Not afraid of death, and set her eyes on the prize. Focusing on her goal, regardless of any obstacles.

Now the things is, I personally don’t like with this style of narrated writing. More like the story with real POV of its characters. So we can see what they’re thinking, how its character detailing things around. Its plots sometimes are unnecessarily long. Some characters are no use, makes the story less attractive. This book contains many conversations in Spanish, which is kinda hard for me to understand. But overall, I love the core idea about Montezuma’s mask, art collectors, carvers, Aztecs, Mexican, and drug dealers.

haleyross's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

hkihm's review

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5.0

If you like art heists but were disappointed by The Goldfinch, you may like this book. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the end. I loved all the points of view that told the story, which is set mostly in Oaxaca. It has many of the same elements as the Goldfinch - the seedy underbelly of the art collecting world, a protagonist mourning a lost parent and figuring out where they belong, and a thrilling spring to the finish. All the characters were well fleshed-out and multidimensional.

tasneemm's review

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

kinda racist? idk odd book. plot was okay writing was okay a bit boring

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