A review by holtfan
Player's Ruse by Hilari Bell

4.0

I am so torn between giving this book three or four stars. I truly did "really lik it" and though calling it amazing might be a bit ambiguous, the plot was really good. I love Michael and Fisks's characters in so many ways, and bringing in certain characters (like Rosamund) was clever and fun. The characters are static, with plenty of issues, though at times Michael's 'honor' as a 'knight errant' and Fisk's 'criminal past' are played on a bit to heavily.
But overall, I really liked the book!
And that is the problem. Because for every scene/funny line/buddy-experience...everything I liked....there was a questionable scene to make me pause. Fisk has always used language more than I liked, while not entirley obnoxious, it can be distracting. The problem with this book is they like to use a word, the crude term for an illegitimate child, frequently. Of the 3 Knight and Rouge books, Player's Ruse has proved to be the most uncouth. Things like Michael chasing after a "villan" while riding bareback on a horse without any pants on...or one of the players sneeking off to see her lover tend to make awkward scenes kind of uneeded.
While I look forward to more Knight and Rogue novels, I will be much more hesitant to reccomend them.