Book Review: Court of Fives by Kate Elliott

Series: Court of Fives Book #1

Format: Paperback

Pages: 432

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

How I Got It: Purchased

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Little Brown Books

Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best contenders. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between two Fives competitors--one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy--causes heads to turn. When Kal's powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test her new friend's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death. 

Review

I want to write a review, but may have waited too long to write this.

Overall, I enjoyed this. I've already purchased the sequel so my "issues" aren't too bad obviously. I have two main problems-the romance and I was soooo confused.

I love romance, so me complaining about it really says something. I have no issue with the relationship between these two characters, but it escalated way too fast. And it is a trilogy so there is time for more development and a slower burn. It is a class-difference story which is one of my favorite tropes.

Then, there's my confusion. I expect some level of confusion in a fantasy, but this started to interfere with my enjoyment. I'm just really confused about the politics and relationships between these groups of people. Hopefully, it will make more sense as the series continues.

I picked this up because of the family relationship. Initially, that wasn't as strong as I wanted, but that started to get better and I think that will continue. I love family relationships and interactions and I'm particularly interested in Jessamy's mother. She just fascinates me. 

While the social and political elements confuse me, I am interested in it. Ms. Elliott is exploring difficult topics which I like reading about. Fantasy offers that opportunity without all of the real-world history if you tried to write in our world. It sort of reminds me of The Winner's Curse in that way. But they aren't the same books/series in any way.

I will keep reading this series and see where it goes. 

Oh, apparently, this is a Little Women re-telling. I've never read that and honestly have no interest, so I can't tell you how it works as a retelling.

Thanks for reading!

Holly