Court of Fives: Court of Fives #1 • Kate Elliott

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott begins a new trilogy with her debut young adult novel, weaving 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. But at night she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test Kal’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.

So I’ve never read any books by Kate Elliott. I feel like this is very wrong of me. But I’m really looking forward to dipping my toe into her catalog with her debut YA, COURT OF FIVES. It sounds kind of like a Roman gladitor-ish thing, with racial overtones and schemes and CLANS. CLANS! I’m really ready for this book NOW.

COURT OF FIVES comes out August 18, 2015 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers