Shea Fury’s sister is so special that she was taken by the High King of the Otherworld, a fae of unimaginable power. Shea was always good at chess, but she's worked hard ever since her sister was taken away in order to earn a coveted invitation to a once-in-a-lifetime chess tournament in the Otherworld where the winner can ask the High King for anything, such as having one's sister released. However, dark magic and the strange world of fae make entering and winning two very different things. Shea will have to team up with rivals if she hopes to win, even if the sharply beautiful fae princess, Ciara of Bri Leith, makes her forget everything she's playing for.

The characters are interesting, even though Shea kind of annoyed me at first with her obsession and lack of care for anything else. She has her reasons, and so does everyone around her, but it takes a bit to get to the point where they become characters you care to know more about. It has a slow start, but picks up about halfway and doesn't let up after that. For most of the book, one basic conversation between characters could have solved most of the tension, yet it kind of fits that these are people so focused on one thing that they don't have some basic skills. It makes the rare moment when a character opens up and admits their feelings feel extra special.

I have bare-bones knowledge of chess and couldn't follow a blindfold chess game if my life depended on it, so a good 15 to 20 percent of the book was gibberish to me. I have a feeling that if you love chess and know the lingo, it's probably very exciting to read how the games play out, not only the moves, but the strategies. For me, it was mostly skimming to get to parts pertinent to the story. I get that it's weird to complain about too much chess in a chess-themed book, but I wasn't expecting it to get so deep into it when there is so much drama and magic to explore.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the smart read!