A review by orshi999
The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I mostly read the book the find the differences between it and the series. While Anya has my whole heart I'm more fond of book Beth. The series did a good job at showing her drive and her genius but in my opinion left out a lot of the flaws that made the character so complex in the book.
Beth in the series has a dependency on the pills, in a way it looks like she needs them to function but finds out she's just fine (even better) without them. In the book Beth is aware how pills and alcohol affect her and as a result avoids them, it's forms more of a dependency on chess because chess is her drug and without it she spirals into others.
Many of the tournaments were either squished together or cut because of the limited episodes which makes sense but they add a lot of complexity,
Beth loses more often in the books and when she does she gets angry and develops as a person especially as she gets older
. All in all it was a very interesting read even though I don't understand chess and sometimes to descriptions of the games made no sense the author makes up for it with visuals. Someone who understands it better might have a better opinion on that.
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