'The Duchess Gambit' is written by my least favorite author in this series, although this one mostly about the Duchess deceit, along with Ixkabb and Tess have problems due to her putting her family first over their relationship and probably the best Joel Derfner has done so far.

POV – 3rd person, multi character, often omni-present
Would I read it again – Yes!
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Serial, Historical, Coming-of-Age, Queer
Content Warning – mild violence, sexual situations, adultery/cheating, prostitution
Orientations – MM, MF, FF



** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **



I love the world building of this series, and the talented writers who bring it all together, but I was left heartbroken by the events of Season One and I'm hopeful that Season Two will at least offer some relief from that. I'm coming straight into this, just an hour after finishing Season One, so it's all fresh in my mind. There are still the infrequent issues of editing mistakes, changes of tense that don't always make sense, as were in Season One, but the recurring issue of font change has been eliminated, which is a relief.

Because of the format Netgalley sent, or perhaps because of how Kindle interprets them, the formatting for the first half of this series of ARC's was terrible. The documents had either one or two lines then a line of gapping, repeated throughout and it wasn't only hard on the eyes, but made it more difficult to follow in terms of flow. The second half were much better formatted.

~

Episode 7: The Duchess Gambit, by Joel Derfner

★★★★★
Pages: 44

Oh God! Joel Derfner you always know how to break my heart! My Rafe! Ruggish, adorable, intellectual Rafe, who was so desperate to find Will has finally discovered the truth, thanks to being drunk! I might have known. Ixkaab finally told the truth – though she never meant to! – and he has the first two clues he needs to rescue Will and save him from a life of insanity.
I can barely remember what else happened in this episode except that Diane was bested by the opponent she thought most in her pocket, which was awesome! And Micah finally found her backbone and told off a drunken Rafe and Ixkaab for being stupid. Poor Vincent got himself into a whole lot of trouble he can't handle, with no way out except maybe Rafe's new adventure.
So much happening and so much to look forward to!

Favourite Quote

““You could have stopped this!” He was shouting, he felt his throat tearing. “You could have saved him, you could have told me – this is your fault!””

““Rafe, do not –”
He opened the door. “You and I can have nothing more to say to each other.”
“Do not do this.”
“I have done nothing. You are the one who has made the choices that led us here.””

This episode was half-good and half-less so, mixing interesting developments with some more of what I've liked least about the series so far, namely: utter lack of skills in characters we're supposed to believe to be great at what they do.

Thus, the titular gambit is enjoyable and the actions of the Duchess, whether she is outmaneuvering or being outmaneuvered, are just so fun to follow. Less fun: Kaab proving herself, yet again, to be utterly awful at anything related to spying or keeping secrets. At this point I'll be surprised if her family do not ship her off (at best) to keep her from destroying everything they've accomplished.

But at least that means that the plot moves forward. The characters are in motion, and we'll see where the new information leads them. I look forward to it.