Nolan Sawyer is known as the "Kingkiller" of chess, currently the world champion and reigning bad boy of chess. In the midst of the American War of Independence, a young, freed slave escapes his gaol and finds himself fighting with an underequipped American army. But I do want to start a conspiracy theory that books will have product inserts as the new form of tv commercials because Hazelwood name-checks so many corporate brands and highly-specific product names that it feels weird. This morning my roommate repeatedly farted on my pillow because I dared to ask her not to practice her xylophone at 5:30 am.

out of 5 stars whilst noughts and crosses was brilliant because of the way the world was turned inside out. I loved Nolan’s sarcasm and his bluntness, how he was unafraid to say the first thing that came to mind, even during public/press interviews, it made for some very funny lines 🤭 He initially seemed closed-off and cold, but he’s a total pushover for Mallory. She had family issues and mostly daddy issues and on top of that commitment issues and it took her years to finally talk about them with her family and stop hating herself for them.

The story is yet again fantastic and I loved every narrative and each character as they draw you in, in their own way and every narrative is intriguing. she’s a three dimensional character with clearly defined interests, motives, fears, and desires, and she is incredibly easy to root for. Though Sawyer’s grandfather and his mental health issues come up, thankfully he wasn’t notable for having committed a genocide. Sure I could probably nitpick stuff about plot holes or whatever, but at the end of the day that seems beside the point to me.

anyway you just read some random paragraphs that i wrote as an excuse because i have no review and because i have no proper recollection of this book.

Anyway I’m now reading the fourth, and I think its the last (although I am holding out for a fifth even if it has been three years since she wrote the fourth one!