The Devil's in the Dancers - by Catherine Yu (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Scholarship student Mars Chang has finally been accepted into the most prestigious dance academy--and she'll do anything to stay.

Earning a scholarship to the Allegra Academy summer intensive was supposed to fix everything for Mars Chang. The academy is owned and run by the Bechlers, a big pharma family. And if Mars befriends the right girls, she could unlock the doors to the Ivy League future of her dreams.

When Mars is unexpectedly assigned to room with Alex Bechler, she knows impressing Alex will make or break all her plans. Alex is annoyingly attractive, the best dancer at the academy, and her great-aunt runs the program. So when the headmistress pulls Mars aside and asks her to swap Alex's supplements with a new Bechler product, APL, in exchange for year-round admittance, Mars can't say no.

But as Mars gets to know Alex and how much she dislikes her family and ballet, swapping the pills proves harder than Mars bargained for. Knowing Alex better only makes it clearer how unfair the academy is. So Mars decides to help another scholarship student by letting her try the supplements. At first, the pills give the girl an instant edge in class. But when they also produce terrifying side effects, Mars suspects that APL might not be safe after all.

But how can Mars, the new girl, convince the academy's best that her life is in danger without jeopardizing her own dreams in the process?

Review Quotes

"The elite ballet school setting provides opportunities for examining race, class, and privilege, and provides a backdrop for high-stakes plotlines [...]. Gory descriptions of injuries come together with dramatic behind-the-curtains plotting to create a tense, foreboding atmosphere [...]"
--Kirkus Reviews

"Yu's intense ballet drama is as much a critique of class divisions as it is an adolescent melodrama of ambition and moral conflict, and the feints and flourishes will keep readers riveted. Present alongside other visceral stagings of elitism and entitlement, such as A. K. Small's Bright Burning Stars and Erica Ridley's The Protégée."
--Booklist

"A riveting exploration of ambition, cruelty, and desperation set against the gilded backdrop of a cutthroat ballet academy, The Devil's in the Dancers is as horrifying as it is mesmerizing."
--KELSEA YU, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of It's Only a Game and Bound Feet

"Decadent and sinister. It's tautly paced, delightfully messy, and cutting in its takedown of so-called meritocracy. I couldn't stop reading."
--P. H. LOW, Rhysling- and Locus-nominated author of These Deathless Shores

"This harrowing book artfully dances between themes of success, isolation, sacrifice, and family with the deft grace of a ballerina."
--AM KVITA, author of An Unlikely Coven

"The Devil's in the Dancers cracks the terrifyingly thin veneer of civility to reveal the sickening inside of those whose only desire is to maintain their status at the top."
--EDEN ROYCE, award-winning author of Root Magic and Hollow Tongue

"Alluring, addictive, and admirable--Catherine Yu's The Devil's in the Dancers is a powerful and compelling masterpiece of dancers' desperation, rivalry, and ambition."
--MADELINE DYER, editor of These Bodies Ain't Broken

About the Author