An Ugly Duckling attends the Swan Ball. Diane gets desperate.

Violent passions erupt at the Tremontaine Ball! A misunderstanding comes between Rafe and Will, while Micah threatens to expose Kaab's secret to her family. Diane's plans to salvage the Tremontaine name and fortune hang by a thread, and Kaab recognizes the locket sketched by Tess . . . in the last place she would have expected to see it.

This episode is brought to you by Joel Derfner, whose sparkling wit makes him the perfect party companion.

“The Swan Ball” continues the 13-part serial,
Tremontaine
, presented by Serial Box. This prequel to the cult classic Swordspoint is brought to you by the collaborative effort of a team of writers under the creative direction of Ellen Kushner herself.

Join the dance of swordplay and scandal, week after week, on Serial Box.com.

And don’t forget to share the love! If you’re enjoying Tremontaine, help us get the word out by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and Tumblr, and telling your friends about us! We’d also love to hear what you think so please give us a review!

“Sharp blades and even sharper wits abound! Delicious new adventures await fans in this welcome return to the world of Swordspoint.”
– Jacqueline Carey, New York Times Bestselling author of the Kushiel’s Legacy series

“Lovely! Beneath a froth of silk and lace Tremontaine is finely muscled, rippling with skill and promise.”
– Nicola Griffith, author of Hild

“More Tremontaine stories? YESPLEASE. Tremontaine stories by some of my favorite, excellent writers? HELLA YESPLEASE. I can't wait to read them all! ”
– N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Kingdom

“A pure delight full of sparkling characters that match equally dazzling wits and swords. If you've visited the world of Swordspoint before, you'll be delighted to return; if it's your first time, you'll be welcomed in style. I can't wait to read more myself!”
– Naomi Novaik, author of Uprooted

Reader Reviews

Teleseparatist

(3/5)

May 13, 2024

The beginning (view spoiler)[ dream sequence + breaking the fourth wall (hide spoiler)] didn't work for me, but the rest of the chapter did, particularly by showcasing the Duchess and Kaab some more. The interactions and group scenes are growing ever more interesting. The relationships - progress and become more life-like, beyond just being sketched. My only complaint would be the fact that Micah seemed to be completely superfluous / artificially inserted into the action here, but perhaps there'...

Julia

Grand balls in fiction don’t tend to go well for the hosts and hostesses. I am thinking of A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, where everything that can go wrong for Miles does go wrong, so much so that my stomach hurt from laughing. Things go very wrong here, but Joel Derfner – another author I am reading for the first time in these novellas --- uses an omniscient narrator and it stands out, clumsily, from the others of these novellas that employ a switching third person POV across a larg...

Althea Ann

Mixed feelings about this episode... I'm never a big fan of dream sequences, and I also thought that the "recap and summary from an omniscient perspective" was unnecessary and too large a chunk of the chapter.However, the ball of the title is an epic (and humorous) scene, which makes it all worthwhile.

Rachel (Kalanadi)

3.5 stars. The new parts that address the reader directly were jarring. But overall this episode moved the action along nicely.

Pers

I could've done without the authorial asides to the reader in this one.

Alleyne Dickens

I didn't like the style this installment was written in.

Corrie

(5/5)

We continue with episode seven (Season One) of Tremontaine titled The Swan Ball written by Joel Derfner.Violent passions erupt at the Tremontaine Ball! A misunderstanding comes between Rafe and Will, while Micah threatens to expose Kaab's secret to her family. Diane's plans to salvage the Tremontaine name and fortune hang by a thread, and Kaab recognizes the locket sketched by Tess . . . in the last place she would have expected to see it.The creative choices Derfner made in the beginning (and e...

terka

(4/5)

I love this author’s chapters, the characters are witty and smart. But… I might drop this series after all. I just dislike Kaab more and more. And she is one of the three main characters, so I can’t just avoid her… even though it feels so silly, to drop an entire series because of one insufferable character. Sigh.

Sidsel Pedersen

I didn't quite like the mod of storytelling in this story, however the story as always is good

HornFan2

(2/5)

Another horrible installment from Joel Derfner, the flow of 'The Swan Ball' was terrible, his writing style sucks compared to the other writers, he fumbled the dream sequence with the Duchess and just doesn't work with his writing style. The flow of his writing is like being behind someone driving that's on the gas, on the break and just drives you crazy.One of the reason's for reading a serial series like this for me, is to discover new author's to read. I won't be bothering to read anything by...

Christine

I love the ending of the ball.

Andrea D. McCarthage

(1/5)

I'm burning through all of Riverside this autumn.What an incredible letdown of an episode following such an excellent setup in the previous ones. This one opens with a dream sequence, including a "Gotcha!" moment as the dreamer wakes up, segues into an incredibly stiff and drawn-out aside ("And now, dear reader, watch as...") which serves no purpose at all, and includes some incredibly clumsy foreshadowing to boot (in the vein of "Something will happen, soon, though I can't tell you what..."). T...

Jason

The Swan Ball!The annual Tremontaine Swan Ball is not an event to be missed. Read to see whose plans pan out and whose go awry in this next excellent episode of Tremontaine.

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The Swan Ball

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