General Description: The city of San-Er hosts a deadly game where 88 folks get the chance for untold riches. The catch: only 1 of them can live to see it through. The elusive Princess Calla Tuoleimi throws her hat in the ring under a different name with one goal: Kill the King. Luckily, prince August has the same goal and offers to help Calla. Both of them aren't expecting a ghost from the past to show up: Anton Makusa. Under a different name, Anton enters with the goal of winning the riches to keep his love alive. However, when Anton and Calla meet in the games and temporarily form an alliance, what could possibly go wrong?

The goods:
- The idea of the game of 88 is unique and I loved having that plot to sink my teeth into.
- The politics of the book were twisty and mysterious, I loved it.
- The side plots were a nice supplement to the main arc of the story.
- Calla is a pretty bad-ass main character and I loved getting to see her in action. Anton and August interacting with Calla were some of my favorite scenes.

The loss of a star:
- The world building is EXTREMELY heavy. I feel like we are world building throughout the entire book and I just wanted to live in the world for a bit instead of continuously learning about it.
- Also there is one spicy scene that felt so out of place, definitely not needed in my opinion.

Overall, if you like dystopian-fantasy books and don't mind the world building, I think you'd enjoy this book.