Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Sugared Game

THESE BOYS I'M SO 🥺🥺

This is just a really fun, straightforward espionage-y time. Strong Tommy&Tuppence vibes once again, and a really well developed plot. Not overly complicated, but twisty enough to keep you on your toes. And the character work is just absolutely perfect. I love this whole gang 🥺🥺🥺

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the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

While the general plot of the Will Darling adventures is interesting and engaging, the relationship between Will and Kim feels like it's experiencing perpetual whiplash and it can be hard to follow the intense ups and downs. They fight and make up almost too quickly, so the reader feels pulled in a lot of directions.

As well, there is a lot of death, murder and violence that is mentioned almost constantly throughout the story. If that isn't to your taste, these books are not likely to be.

Finally, while the first book had some criticisms of war in it, this one seems to be way more ambivalent about the wartime experience and it's affects on soldiers.

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criticalgayze's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In my review of Slippery Creatures, I said I thought this was a set of characters I'd come to love in time, and I was proven right with The Sugared Game.

Once again, Charles proves a deft hand with a plot, keeping a tight handle on things with enough twist and turns to keep the mystery propulsive. She also does a wonderful job at throwing enough wrenches in between the love birds at the story's center to make the reader anxious about what will happen with them. Oh, and the steam is pretty nice, too. Maybe even better in this second installment.

I am sad to only have one more outing left with these two, but I'm very excited (but nervous) to see where they end up.

Quotes:
"Don't look at me," Will said. "I've no idea what he's up to. I haven't heard from him since I don't know when."
He knew exactly when: the second of January. It was currently the twenty-second of February. (Page 6)
"Phoebe says he's always falling in love and it doesn't matter who with. Well, it matters to him, but you know what I mean. There's a word for it. Ambidextrous? Something like that." (Pages 221 - 222)

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yellow_star's review

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The sequel is just as good as the first book! Will and Kim have just as messy a connection as ever, Maisie and Phoebe have adventures together as strong suffragist 20's women outside of their friendships with the male leads, and the secret society of Zodiac themed criminals leads to more dramatic action. The characters have developed, Will has picked up Kim's secrecy habit and Kim has picked up Will's straight forward approach to dealing with thugs, so maybe not positive character development but it's still fun to read dynamic characters.

For diversity Will is confirmed Bi while Kim is still Gay. Maisie deals with some racism for being Black, but all the cool and likeable characters are too busy loving her creative genius to be jerks. Will's Shellshock (PTSD) is shown again but not a main focus of the story.

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