A stunningly written but ultimately disappointing story, which didn't live up to the wonder of The Binding.

I found I was able to enjoy this more when I stopped trying to understand what the hell the grand jeu was, and instead focused on the characters. I liked how this book seems to be set out of time; there are a lot of technical advances, but seemingly no electricity and everyone wears robes. It's an interesting alternate world.

I did event ally get immersed in the human story. But it felt so dressed up in this incredibly elaborate (and, yes, pretentious) game that it seemed to heavily favour style over substance. A lot about the wider world went unanswered, and although the writing was beautiful (I'd expect no less after The Binding), I just didn't care about the grand jeu.

Carfax and Claire are what I cared about; Léo and his total lack of self-awareness actually annoyed me a bit. The way the plot progressed definitely kept me interested (and I came so close to working out what was going on). But I just felt like this grand setting and lofty idea of the grand jeu seemed almost purposely difficult to understand, which actually distracted me rather than pulling me in.

TLDR: the writing style is slower paced with 3 character perspectives that navigate Monteverre with flashbacks from 10 years previous. There are points in the book that are interesting and will keep your attention but there are other points where you're confused as to why the event makes sense in the storyline.

To start off, I was excited to read this book just by the description it seemed like the book was going to be about adventure, love, and mystery. However, as I was reading, it was slow-paced with no world building or character building. 

The entire book is based around the grand jeu but it was never explained how it was played or what is involved with making a grand jeu. I felt that I was left confused half the time trying to figure out who the characters were and how they fit into the story. With that, there were 3 different perspectives which "The Rat" would not have been missed if their perspective wasn't written.

It seemed like there wasn't enough thought put into writing the storyline and how the book would have ultimately ended. 

I went into this book with my mind full of Bridget Collins’ first book for adults, “The Binding;” that book had a similar, indescribable magic-like act that was well-known but misunderstood or feared. However, this book wasn’t quite what I expected and in some ways, that was disappointing … but it also says a lot about starting a story with expectations, and not meeting it where it is.

I won’t go as far to say that the relationships between these characters is queer-baiting, but there are definite shades of it.

When Leo started to have feelings for Carfax, I thought that his queerness may play into his desire to succeed and be the best, but he’s unable to do so because he wears a mask of what he thinks is right versus being authentic. I really liked that reading, and felt that Leo’s growing feelings for Claire was the true betrayal; not only did it feel disingenuous to his relationship to Carfax and Leo’s queer identity, but it felt wildly unfair to Claire to be a stand-in for her brother.

The tone of the book overall was wholly melancholy; successes, love, relationships, and triumphs were all tinged with this overarching sadness. The government cracking down and distorting all the good and beautiful in the world and the game of grand jeu felt inevitable; the lies and self-loathing of the main characters felt insurmountable; and no matter how they wanted something else, the rift between Leo and Carfax and Claire was so intense.

I didn’t guess the twist before it happened.

There were hints to it, enough that I thought perhaps Carfax disguised himself as a woman to come back to Montverre, but the opposite never occurred to me because, again, I was so bought in to the queer subplot.

It was an interesting feeling as a reader to feel betrayed by the story and in that way, I felt how masterful Collins is with her storytelling.

There was enough here that I can’t deny the book was GOOD, but I rated it three stars because I didn’t feel good or satisfied after finishing it. Not all books need to make me feel those things to be enjoyable reads, and I appreciate the novel for everything it did. I might enjoy it more on a re-read in the future.