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…

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

Please note
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programmes I earn a small commission from items purchased using links featured in this post at no extra cost to you. Click here to learn more. Every purchase you make through Just Geeking By helps keep this blog running.

After reading the excellent Spellslinger series by Sebastien de Castell, I was in the mood for card slinging fantasy, so when I saw the synopsis for The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, the author’s style and the plot fell very short of what the synopsis promised.

This was one of those books that I just couldn’t get into from the start. The author’s writing style rubbed me the wrong way; however, I always give a book a fair try to see if it’s just a weak start. I struggled to get to 31%, and eventually had to admit defeat. The Knave of Secrets starts out with an excellent scene, which suggests a book of adventure, con artists and Robin Hood-style escapades. It then quickly devolves into badly explained politics.

The maps at the front of the book make it clear that the reader can expect there to be several factions vying for control, with locations marked as being under the control of this or that faction. Normally, I would be able to tell you the names of the factions, and that there is a sign of one of the issues with this book. Nothing stuck with me. The names, places, and factions – the little that the author deigned to actually give to the reader. Other than the four main characters’ names and some details about their backstories, and the basic plot (which is in the synopsis), I could not tell you much about The Knave of Secrets.

By the point in the book that I had got to, there were four narratives taking place; however, a review on GoodReads suggests that there may have been more to come. The first is the most logical; the main character, Varen, is named in the synopsis. The second is one of his crew, Teneriéve (Ten), a woman who belongs to the pale blue-skinned humanoid race called Mistigris. At this point, the narratives then jump to two completely different people, one being Ria, a Gamesmaster of one of the factions (she’s introduced as “Gamesmaster to the Corte” and the reader is supposed to just know exactly who or what “Corte” is). What is evident is that Ria is influential; she has a high place in her society. She is also the person responsible for creating the Forbearance Game, the tournament that Valen enters.

The final narrative feels completely random. Omer-Guy, an ambassador for another faction. In the only chapter I read with his narration, he has a conversation with a Lady who belongs to yet another faction. While it is how it all ties to the tournament, the who and what, by this point, are a complete mess. The names of the factions are thrown around with no background, no explanation as to who they are or why they are even against each other in the first place. There doesn’t need to be huge information dumps, just a bit of background.

Not that Livingston is against information dumps. Teneriéve’s first narration is, in fact, just a huge information dump rather than an actual narration. It isn’t even told from her perspective; it is just the author telling us her entire backstory in one go rather than sprinkling it throughout the novel. Perhaps this is just Livingston’s style? That was my first thought, and I prepared myself for the same thing to happen with the third member of the crew, Jacquemin. Instead, the former pirate’s background remains shrouded in mystery without any information at all.

I felt that too much emphasis was being placed on Teneriéve as the outsider, as the non-human of the group. This became even more obvious when Ten attempted to talk to Valen’s wife, Margo, about her concerns about the job. By this point in the book, it has been emphasised multiple times that Margo and Ten are good friends, that they are close. Rather than listening to Ten, Margo dismisses her concerns and states that the rewards outweigh the risk. When Ten explains that she worries about Valen’s safety as she cannot enter the tournament with him, Margo is quick to point out that Ten and Jaq will be outside the tournament to watch his back.

Ten changes tactics and explains that, as a Mistigris, she is more at risk walking the streets at night than Valen will be. Margo completely dismisses her again. While it is not unbelievable that Margo cannot truly comprehend the racism that Ten experiences, the entire conversation felt poorly written and was a clumsy attempt to include a conversation about race. It wasn’t the first time that the character writing felt thin, and while Teneriéve and Ria felt like interesting characters, none of them had particularly caught my interest. No one was particularly likeable in The Knave of Secrets.

What I also did not realise until writing this review and re-reading the synopsis was that the 31% and however much after it before the tournament actually happens is pure filler. The synopsis already tells you what happens: “Valen beats the man he was sent to play, and wins the most valuable secret ever staked in the history of the tournament”. I think that is part of the problem. I picked up this book expecting a tournament, and instead I got a bunch of characters arguing over whether they were even going to do a tournament that I already know they’re going to do. Understandably, there should be some set-up to introduce the reader to what is happening, but get to the actual action, especially if you’ve already told readers what to expect!

Overall, The Knave of Secrets just fell completely flat for me. Maybe it gets better further in; however, I just could not force myself to keep reading to find out.

Thanks for reading my review for The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!

---

Support Just Geeking By

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did please consider sharing it on social media using the nifty buttons at the end of this post <3

If you enjoyed this content please consider helping to support my blog. You can do this in multiple ways (click here to find out how!) or by donating via Ko-Fi to help me reach my current goal.