For the first time in a long time, Darius learns to love himself no matter what external forces attempt to squash his confidence. Sohrab teaches Darius what friendship is really about: loyalty, honesty, and someone who has your back in a football (soccer) match. But all that changes when Darius meets Sohrab, a Bahá’í boy, in Yazd. When he arrives in Iran, learning to play the Persian card game Rook, socializing, and celebrating Nowruz with a family he had never properly met before is all overwhelming and leaves Darius wondering if he’ll ever truly belong anywhere.

He’s mocked for his name and nerdy interests at Chapel Hill High School in Portland, Oregon, and doesn’t speak enough Farsi to communicate with his Iranian relatives either. Iranian on his mother’s side and white American on his father’s side, Darius never quite fits in. When Darius’ grandfather becomes terminally ill, Darius, along with his parents and younger sister, travels to Iran for the first time in his life.

This series opener, the auspicious teen debut of a seasoned author of adult fantasy and World Fantasy Award finalist, features a gripping, original plot vivid, complicated characters and layered, convincingly detailed worldbuilding.Ī compelling look at racial and social identity wrapped in a page-turning adventure.ĭarius Kellner suffers from depression, bullying by high school jocks, and a father who seems to always be disappointed in him. Far more than a game, its meaning remains unclear, its history lost or forgotten. During this grueling ordeal, Jes begins to realize the power Efean heritage holds and to sense that it’s somehow interwoven with the game of Fives. When she learns the fate of her mother and sisters, she enlists his help in rescuing them. Separated from her family to live and train at the stables of his uncle, Lord Gargaron, Jes quickly bonds with Kalliarkos. No one is fooled when, in order to avoid unmasking, she lets a competitor, Lord Kalliarkos, win.

Jes finds an outlet from suffocating social strictures by secretly training for the Fives, a complex, mysterious competition popular with both castes. Their Commoner mother submitted gracefully but at the price of openly affirming her Efean heritage. Jes’ father, born into the Patron class, insisted she and her three sisters adhere to strict Patron protocols. After the death of the highly placed aristocrat whose patronage ensured their safety, Jessamy’s mixed-race family is targeted by political enemies spared thanks to her skill at the game of Fives, she must find a way to save them.

Court of fives book