Wow there is a lot to think about here and some of it is hard to unpack without spoiling. Bridget Collins is the master of slow burn and yearning. Sometimes I’d have to stop reading so I could catch my breath from some of her lines. It was agonizing. There is no denying her writing, specifically the way she writes relationships is absolutely gorgeous. And to have a concept like the grand jeu that is so abstract yet still able to convey the beauty of it is mesmerizing. 

Like in The Binding there was a bit where the pacing dipped for me but I honestly don’t know if it was because of my state of mind or the book. Once I was in the last 200 pages I read for 5 hours nonstop. I will also say there were a few parts of the book that I wish she got into some more or not included at all. They felt a little too unresolved at the end.