Reviews - Damin Gambit | The StoryGraph

6.36k reviews for:

Read a book a few decades after it's published, and you learn a lot about writing. The Queen's Gambit was recently given the mini-series treatment to great acclaim. I picked up the book without benefit of the miniseries. It's well-enough crafted fiction, but what stands out is that the characters, even the protagonist, are not the point here. It's a championship story, and so needs some easy-to-recognize villains and sidekicks. The protagonist will have to work to become a champion, and so there must be some Issues to overcome. All are properly supplied. What's very admirable about the writing is that there is a ton of specialized description about chess games, and yet one need not know chess to be compelled by the drama of the games. That's a trick!

srah_'s review against another edition

3.5

Lots of chess moves lingo I didn’t care about

claireyoh's review against another edition

4.0

The magic of Walter Tevis' writing is that he convinced me to read a nearly intolerable amount of chess gameplay when I have never been remotely interested in chess. The way he writes scenes with omniscient perspective gives Beth a terribly neurotic inner monologue that adds so much more humor and relatability to her book character compared to the show.

theamazingantman's review against another edition

4.5

tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ryangraymoore's review against another edition

5.0

This book is beautifully intricate. You don’t need to know anything about chess to appreciate the story about a orphan chess prodigy, triumph, strength, and friendship, but if you do know chess, the author is a chess player and the games seem detailed and accurate. This author has a beautiful writing style and reading this book was a great experience. Give it a read!