• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2015 May #2
  *Starred Review* Jessamy's family is in a difficult place. Her father, born poor but with noble blood, has risen to prominence as a skillful soldier. However, love for his commoner wife, and affection for his four daughters (who, according to society's dictates, should have been abandoned), leaves him vulnerable when his patron dies. Jes' skill in running the Fives—intricate, multidisciplinary endurance tests—saves her when his new patron, Lord Gargaron, breaks up the family. Jes gets to train in the Fives' stable at Gargaron's palace, but her father must leave his family and marry a noblewoman of Gargaron's choosing. Jes assumes her pregnant mother and sisters are well taken care of, but nothing could be further from the truth, and rescuing them becomes her dangerous responsibility. In her first YA novel, World Fantasy Award finalist Elliott once again shows she is a master at world building. The requisite (and forbidden) romance between Jes and Gargaron's nephew, Kalliarkos, has real spirit, and Jes will remind readers of fearless Katniss with her skill and strategy for games. But it's the fascinating descriptions of traditions, royal interactions, and, of course, the intensities of the Fives that will enthrall readers most of all. Let the games continue! Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Kate Elliott is the author of more than twenty-five novels, including her New York Times bestselling young adult debut Court of Fives, Poisoned Blade, Buried Heart, and Black Wolves. She has also writtenthe Spiritwalker trilogy, the Novels of the Jaran, and the Crossroads trilogy, among others, and two of her books have been finalists for the Nebula Award and the World Fantasy Award. Kate was born in Iowa, raised in Oregon, and now lives in Hawaii. She invites you to visit her website at kateelliott.com or follow her on Twitter @KateElliottSFF.