The Knave of Secrets

Valen Quinol aspires to run his own casino one day, and with his wife, the best card shaver around, friends Ten and Jaq, and his own brand of luck magic, Valen is well on his way. Pushed into joining the Forbearance Game, a tournament where secrets are used as currency, Valen wins the biggest secrets of all. Now this crew of card sharps and con artists find themselves in the middle of a much more dangerous game involving thieves, gangs, spies, and magi. They are gambling with a secret so valuable the stakes are their very lives.

The Knave of Secrets is the latest novel by Alex Livingston. In this fantasy, gambling and intrigue are the name of the game. Livingston’s characters are the most wholesome bunch of cons and cheats that you would never want to play against. While Livingston excels at character- and world-building, the plot is more complex than the cons that Valen and his crew pull off. The story is at times as exciting and as fast-paced as a game of cards, but the reader must pay close attention so as not to get lost in the narrative.