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A Stage Set for Villains

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A Stage Set for Villains

By: Shannon J. Spann
Narrated by: Suzy Jackson
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The gods are dead. All that’s left are the Players …

The performers of the Playhouse are as worshipped as they are feared, their enchanting shows bending hearts, minds, and even reality itself. Vicious, godlike, lethal. Eighteen-year-old Riven Hesper knows the dangers better than anyone, after her own encounter with a Player resulted in a curse that is slowly killing her.

When the Playhouse announces the spectacle of a lifetime—a chance for one mortal to steal a Player’s immortality—Riven sees her last chance to live. Desperate for answers, she infiltrates the competition. There, she finds Jude, the Playhouse’s brilliant, merciless Lead Player, whose charm is as dangerous as his Craft, and strikes a deadly bargain to save her life.

But with time running out and the Playhouse’s secrets unraveling into a disturbing picture, Riven faces a grim possibility: she might not be the hero of her story after all. In fact, she may be the villain.

Because the Playhouse doesn’t just tell stories. It rewrites them.

And Riven’s might end in blood.

Caraval meets One Dark Window in this lush and dark fantasy.

©2026 Shannon Spann (P)2026 Recorded Books
Difficult Situations Literature & Fiction Loners & Outcasts Science Fiction & Fantasy Heartfelt
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Nice little plot twist there :) At one point I genuinely thought, “okay… but where is this story even supposed to go from here for another hundred pages?” and then the book completely twisted the whole thing around. Nothing really got explained about the players — where they came from or why they exist — which was pretty annoying.

And I still didn’t really connect with any of the characters, yet I ended up rating it pretty highly anyway.

I liked it more than I can justify :D

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