#ReadingLife - No. 4 & 5

I finished my fourth #ReadingLife book of the year last week, but given it was the second in a trilogy - and given its shocking ending - I wanted to wait until I'd read the trilogy's conclusion to post about it. 

Nora Sakavic's All For The Game trilogy is bonkers. You can read my slightly-more professional write-up on book one HERE. The Foxhole Court piqued my interest, then The Raven King delivered all sorts of delicious plot twists in the way of all great middle books of a trilogy. The King's Men offered a few jaw-drops and a satisfying wrap-up that makes me wish this was a longer series. 

I think my favorite thing about this trilogy is the way all of the development feels earned. The Foxes are a Messed Up bunch of characters, all of them with skeletons - often literal - in their closets; violent pasts, tons of trauma, and an array of bad attitudes. But as Neil slowly grows to like and trust them, so do we as the readers. The team that plays the Ravens for the championship has come a long way from those early chapters, and all that growth was the product of tense interactions, and slow, worthwhile reveals. And, in the end, things are resolved without being tied up nice and neat - not a happily-ever-after, but an acceptable way to leave our characters. Given the darkness of the storyline, it would have felt cheesy and over the top for Neil and Andrew and the team to have completely severed all ties with the underworld. Neil's going to owe the Moriyamas for the rest of his life...but the conclusion is satisfying all the same, and felt visceral and real given all that had happened. 

Two thumbs up and a big recommendation from me. I've got a book hangover now - nothing else I've tried to start has held my attention. A good problem to have, all things considered. If anyone has any similar recs, I'm all ears!