[Blog Tour] Review: The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston

Hey guys!

I think I’m getting back to writing reviews again. Today, I’m sharing with y’all my review for The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston as part of The WriteReads blog tour. There were many great reviews of this book that went live in the past week, which you can check out by following the hashtags #TheKnaveOfSecrets #TheWriteReads on Twitter.

Thank you for the free digital ARC of this book TheWriteReads Tours and Rebellion Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Now let’s start this tour.

Book DETAILS

► Title: The Knave of Secrets ► BY: Alex Livingston

► publishing on: 7June 2022 (US); 9 June 2022 (UK)

► GENRE: Fantasy ► Standalone

► pace: Medium ► age: 15+

► paGES: 400 ► rating: 3/5

BUY BOOK: AMAZON | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo

A twisty tale of magicians, con artists and card games, where secrets are traded and gambled like coin, for fans of The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Mask of Mirrors.

Never stake more than you can afford to lose.

When failed magician turned cardsharp Valen Quinol is given the chance to play in the Forbearance Game—the invitation-only tournament where players gamble with secrets—he can’t resist. Or refuse, for that matter, according to the petty gangster sponsoring his seat at the table. Valen beats the man he was sent to play, and wins the most valuable secret ever staked in the history of the tournament. Now Valen and his motley crew are being hunted by thieves, gangsters, spies and wizards, all with their own reasons for wanting what’s in that envelope. It’s a game of nations where Valen doesn’t know all the rules or who all the players are, and can’t see all the moves. But he does know if the secret falls into the wrong hands, it could plunge the whole world into war…

ADD TO GOODREADS

True to the synopsis, The Knave of Secrets was tinged with magic, carried secrets that could topple kingdoms, and leave you anticipating more.

This was my first time reading a full-blown tournament book specifically for cards. The fact that players had to gamble with their secrets was just the cherry on top. Trying to uncover the secrets felt like solving a complex puzzle, each piece falling into the right place one chapter after the other.

This book was told through multiple POVs. I was waiting to see how these characters would meet up, given how they were in different places in the kingdoms, but they got together right on time for the climax tying up all the questions and doubts I had.

We don’t directly jump into the main tournament until the second quarter of the book. Meanwhile, we are introduced to our main characters, the political atmosphere of the kingdoms, and the rules of the games. The story thoroughly laid out the strategies and tricks that Valen employed to beat his opponents. But there were times I wanted it to pick its pacing so I was not lost in my thoughts and wouldn’t have to go back to read the text again to understand what was happening in the chapter.

Reading about Valen’s inner circle was the best part of this book. They all had their own chapters and never felt like caricatures. When Valen was offered to play in the Forbearance game, everyone had different opinions on what he should do. But they came around and never left him or the others to fight alone, staying loyal till the end.

Magic in this book was not accessible to everyone. There was an academy where men could study and become a Brother of divination. (Yeah, women couldn’t become a Brother apparently in this kingdom.) Only the Brothers held the power to use magic in the whole kingdom. Valen was a dropout of this academy and never fully learned about divination and enchantments.
But he possessed the ability to predict cards, which came in handy for playing the games.

Divination and Enchantments were the driving force behind the hard-earned wins of the most players in the book. Everyone was a cheat or cheated back, and to some extent, it felt like it was the unspoken rule of the game. I liked how they were scrying to predict one’s next move or to locate someone in the kingdom and then used enchantments to execute their plans. So these two (divination and enchantments) went hand in hand in the story.

What I was looking forward to the most in the story was what the secret was ever since that envelope landed in Valen’s hands. The anticipation around it fuelled my curiosity and kept me reading the book, but when the secret was out, it fell short of achieving what it was supposed to.

Regardless, come witness gamemasters, cardsharps, and enchanters gambling secrets embark on a quest to chase the darkest secrets that could change kingdoms in this book.

Every choice you make sets up all the rest

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex Livingston grew up in various quiet New England towns before moving to Buffalo, NY to study English at Canisius College. He writes SFF prose and interactive fiction. Alex is married and lives in an old house with his brilliant wife and a pile of aged videogame systems.