A New York Times bestseller In this imaginative escape into enthralling new lands, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s first bestselling young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege. Jessamy’s life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. … 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.more
Court of Fives
By kateelliott
This was a richly imagined YA fantasy set in a world based loosely on Ptolymaic Egypt (after the Greeks moved in). It has shades of the Hunger Games, but is far from a copy-cat book. In fact, I liked this heroine a lot more than Katniss, with her beloved yet problematic family, her passion for the national sport, and her misplaced affections for an interesting and imperfect prince.
Elloitt’s one my fav authors since she always tackles privilege and all the -isms while still delivering a compelling story. This book is more YA than her others, and the heroine starts more naive than I usually like (though that allows for good character development), but after the first quarter the action ramps up and the world building (based on Ptolemaic Egypt after the Roman conquest) is great. Rec’d strongly for YA fantasy fans.
Kate Elliott manages to combine everything I love best in a YA novel. Jes is a killer protagonist: tough, capable, but also lost in her upbringing and faced with impossible choices that test her character and her beliefs. Her family dynamic is genius. The love and combativeness between sisters is touching and realistic. The story is tight and tidy, comprised of rings within rings twisting and matching to one another. It’s rich with detail, but plot is tied back to description in a way that makes the reader grateful for having paid attention to Kate’s lyrical prose.
It’s the world building I truly love in this book. The setting is fantasy (although with little magic and no fantastical creatures), but there are definite overtones of Ancient Egypt under Roman rule, and perhaps a little Etruscan feel here or there, all bundled up with commentary on colonialism and race relations. The game trials themselves made me think of Sparta’s agōgē, although there is a component of the Roman chariot races ~ what with the training stables and crowd’s allegiances.
Loved this book and its female protagonist. Great world building, plenty of action, romantic interest, and the lead in to a fantastic series.
I had high hopes, but this book isn’t particularly engaging. The characters didn’t draw me in and it has a pretty slow start. I’d say the last 100 pages are where the story really takes shape and pulls you in a bit. It’s the first of the series and I’m not convinced I should read on.
This is not a new original idea for a series. It reads like a lot of dystopian, YA fantasy novels. Main character is self-centered, but a strong fighter in the games she is competing in. She comes from a family she both loves and hates. She is gaining feelings for someone above her station that she shouldn’t be. That boy doesn’t want to be like the others before him or who he is supposed to grow up to be. They’re both selfish and will probably hurt each other in the end.
It was still entertaining it spite of the fact that I felt it was about ten books I’ve read before all mashed together. I might read the next one.
good read, engrossing
I absolutely love, love, love this book. I bought the other two in the series after reading it and I never buy books, but the library didn’t have them yet and I had to keep reading.
An interesting world full of family dynamics, cultural tensions and political ploys. A lot of the game action would play well in a movie. Jes learns that there comes a point when we all have to make tough choices and those that love us may not understand. I will read the next in the series.