I received an ARC from the author as part of her review team and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own. 

After really liking, hell almost loving the prior two books in the series, I was so excited to get into book three, A Game of Deceit and Desire. And while I did enjoy this book, I found myself upon finishing asking myself “Why did I not like it more?” It’s not massively different tonally than the other two, and even the nitpicks I have come from things I easily handwaved away before. Thus is the danger with hyping books (and having a lot of hype from the others on the team, most of whose style and taste I’m not familiar with, going constantly, did not help). 

But let me make this clear, I did not hate this book! In fact, I had fun! Both Bella and Remy are very compelling characters, and their chemistry is well-done, perfectly balancing the tension that a great rivals-to-lovers romance needs. They have a fraught history of competition, laced with said romantic tension, and I love how the Runic Games challenges both their rivalry and their romance in a new way. 
Plus, the Games themselves are a lot of fun, and it keeps the plot moving, balanced with the more intimate (and sensual) moments. I flew through the book, and even the issues I had did not keep me from being engrossed from beginning to end. 

But that brings me to said issues. The shallow world building definitely interfered with my immersion once again, in a similar way to an incident in the last book. But instead of a mere reference to an IRL thing, I now found myself questioning when and where this was meant to be set. There’s a reference to someone’s birthday being the tenth of March 1980, and I found myself wondering, are we on Earth in the present? Then why do some of the systems feel more akin to medieval-inspired fantasy, with kingdoms and powerful families who need to marry primarily to make alliances? I may have glossed over some pertinent information in a prior book that further set the scene, but for the moment, I have no choice but to be confused. 

I did also feel like some of the bigger conflicts were sometimes solved a little too easily. Granted, I’m glad Bella wasn’t ever considering obeying her mother, but while I definitely felt like the moment was earned, it almost felt like an afterthought, because of the fact that it appears in an epilogue, which, while it’s part of the main story, always signified something “extra” that didn’t necessarily add anything to make or break the narrative, but instead complement it. Granted, others may feel differently about this choice, but that’s just my perspective. 

While this is my least favorite of the trilogy, it’s still fairly solid for what it is, and I’m still excited for the tease for what’s to come next. If you’re looking for a fun sapphic fantasy romance read, and you’re not overly nitpicky about world building details, I’d recommend checking this series out!