Queen of Volts

• Author: Amanda Foody
• Genre: YA Fantasy
• Publication Date: September 1, 2020
• Publisher: Inkyard Press
• Series: The Shadow Game #1

CONTENT WARNING: blood, violence, gore, mention of suicide, murder, gun violence

Return to the City of Sin, where the final game is about to begin…and winning will demand the ultimate sacrifice.

Only days after a corrupt election and brutal street war, one last bloodthirsty game has begun. The players? The twenty-two most powerful, notorious people in New Reynes.

After realizing they have no choice but to play, Enne Scordata and Levi Glaisyer are desperate to forge new alliances and bargain for their safety. But while Levi offers false smiles and an even falser peace to the city’s politicians, Enne must face a world where her true Mizer identity has been revealed…and any misstep could turn deadly.

Meanwhile, a far more dangerous opponent has appeared on the board, one plucked right from the most gruesome legends of New Reynes. As the game takes its final, vicious turn, Levi and Enne must decide once and for all whether to be partners or enemies.

Because in a game for survival, there are no winners…

There are only monsters.

I’ve really enjoyed this series, and this last book lived up to the very high expectations that I’ve had throughout the trilogy. It feels like such an underrated series, full of damaged and traumatized teens, murder, mayhem, and diverse, queer kids making tough decisions and just doing the best that they can. 

The first part of the book is a bit tough to read, since all of the characters that I’ve grown attached to are seriously hurting, grieving losses, and just lashing out all over the place. And unfortunately, this often affects the people closest to them the most, resulting in even more pain for all of them. It’s painful to read, watching each of them struggle so much, often without the support that they need the most.

“Jac’s death had left behind a wound in Levi that had not even begun to heal, but it had left one in her, too. It was taking from her, piece by piece. Her closest friend was gone. Her sense of security, gone. If even a strand of her and Levi’s partnership remained intact, she needed to cling to it like a lifeline.”

We also get the perspective of some new characters in this story as well, and it adds a new depth to the story, especially since we lost one of the main characters in the previous book. That death is still sending shockwaves throughout this story, but the new events are even more shocking, and setting the stage for a huge showdown that threatens to tear down the City of Sin and wreck all the people within.

“A reckoning was coming for the City of Sin—and if not revolution, if not war, then it would bring violence all the same. Lola wasn’t paranoid for heeding its warning signs; she was merely clever enough to pay attention.”

This book talks a lot about how individuals deal with trauma and cope in their own ways, and a lot of the people in the story have unhealthy coping skills that they’ve developed in their years of living on the streets.

“Only months before, the memory of that card and that night had haunted him, but he’d thought he’d gotten over that. Instead, he realized, he’d been burying all his traumas in the same spot, and after the pain and fear of the last few days, they’d all been unearthed together, like the bones of the dead after a torrential rain.”

I loved the fast pace of the story, which made it hard to stop reading even when I had other things that needed to get done. There were so many plot twists that I didn’t see coming, and I’m impressed at how complex the story was, especially when I realized how young the author was when she wrote this book. The acknowledgements section talked about how the author wrote this when she was SEVENTEEN! This is a huge accomplishment for anyone, let alone a teenager, and I really enjoyed this story. If there’s one underrated series to pick up, this is the one.

People who have sat around with me while I’m reading, especially when there’s a surprising reveal, a shocking plot twist, or an unexpected event often look up in alarm when I gasp audibly. The gasp factor is directly related to the number of times I audibly gasp during a reading, and there isn’t an upper limit.

Gasp Factor: 16