This is an Angry Human x Trickster Sídhe romance. Or, as a character accurately observes: Blake is a powder keg and Flea is pure kerosene; they are destined to explode, and they spend all their time fighting over who gets to light the match first (paraphrasing). And yknow what? Yeah. The chemistry is just that good. Their love story is fiery and magnetic and (consensually) violent.

The fantasy plot is there, and it’s important, but didn’t consume all of my attention. As with the rest of the Court of Chains series, this book does an amazing job focusing on character study and romance. I want to emphasize how this world has incredible secondary characters, they all have their own lives and arcs woven together in the background, so no one feels one-dimensional.

While Blake’s rage was kind of grating to me at first, I came to understand and sympathize with her throughout the book. Flea got on board faster with his arc, but the fae cannot tell a lie, even to himself, so it was bound to happen. I really appreciated that the characters grew, but remained true to themselves and didn’t become strangers to their initial selves. By the end of the book, Blake is still Blake, Flea is still Flea. Just enhanced with that special romance story kind of magic. That’s what made the ending scene hit me in my not-so-sweet heart 🥹

The spice. This book is a (bdsm) switch’s wet dream. The game Flea proposes made the dynamic work in a fun way that built up the chemistry and tension (omg the tension!). This was an evenly balanced dynamic. (I love both Domme Blake and Dom Flea, don’t make me choose a favorite.) Each character crafted scenes uniquely tailored for the other, like evil little masterminds. The submission was torturously perfect and well-earned. Some of those scenes will live on in my mind forever (I maintain that brats should fucking FEAR Blake Kane).

Overall, a fantastic and fun read. This would 100% be a game I would want to repeatedly lose.

thank you to William Morrow for access to this eARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

speaking objectively:

games is a coming of age story that follows 23 year old lili marwan, an economics grad student at columbia. it involves love, loss, pain, grief. it made me experience the full range of human emotions.

and now speaking subjectively:

if you, like me, have attachment issues, this book will dig your softest insides out for you to look at. it will keep you on your toes, dig into your flesh, and make you want to run away. but you can’t. because you will fall in love with these characters.

at first, Games is an intimidating book. there appears to be a lot of technical jargon and debates about economics and politics. but when you look at the bigger picture, the things that are core to the story, to its themes, are not gated behind these topics, so to speak. my professional background is not in either of these things, and i have enjoyed every page of this book.

overall, this is a wonderfully written book. the characters have volume, weight. they take up space, they have personality, presence, and substance. the dialogue and banter between lili and aleksandr is intense and witty, revealing so much about them without needing to explicitly state it in plain english. you can tell volkova loves these characters and it will make you fall in love with them too.

there’s also tangible growth and development in this book. it’s gradual and feels natural, like a dance. with steps moving forward and back. i felt a sense of pride and longing. pride to see that lili had grown, and longing because i want to have that growth for myself as well. a book making me want to work on myself is not unheard of, but to feel it this strongly? like i’m looking for therapists that will take my insurance right now.

the sex scenes are cathartic. the character work during these scenes makes them so satisfying to read. it reveals the rawest parts of lili, elucidating her trauma and reflecting it back to the reader. they are also very hot.

i cannot recommend this book enough. this has become my new roman empire.

tldr: this book made me feel physically unwell (affectionate). i’m telling on it to my therapist.