“Tell me again about the first time the two of you played chess in the park.”

The book’s opening lines establish an immediate link to the previous book in the series, The Inheritance Games, and dive into the action with Jameson’s reference to Toby’s secret life as “Harry.” Readers who have read the first book are given a memory “refresh,” while those who haven’t are encouraged to read on to find out who “the two of you” refers to.

“[Jameson] started looking at me like I was a mystery again, a puzzle that he, and only he, could solve.”

Avery worries that the Hawthorne brothers view her as a passive object, a clue in one of their grandfather’s games. By the book’s end, Avery will have completed her coming-of-age journey and no longer harbor these fears—and Jameson will acknowledge her personal agency as an adult.

“If I win […] then you have to forget that we ever kissed—and never try to charm me into kissing you again.”

These words help to give valuable backstory, reminding the reader of the fact that Jameson and Avery have a romantic past. They also set the romantic subplot up for a narrative flip: Here, Avery doesn’t want to kiss Jameson ever again, but the book will end with a scene of the two characters kissing.