The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

The Game of Love and Death

by Martha Brockenbrough

Flora and Henry were born a few blocks from each other, innocent
of the forces that might keep a white boy and an African American
girl apart; years later they meet again and their mutual love of
music sparks an even more powerful connection. But what Flora and
Henry don't know is that they are pawns in a game played by the
eternal adversaries Love and Death, here brilliantly reimagined
as two extremely sympathetic and fascinating characters. Can their
hearts and their wills overcome not only their earthly circumstances,
but forces that have battled throughout history?

Reviewed by Angie on

2 of 5 stars

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I absolutely loved all of the ideas that made up The Game of Love and Death, but sadly, I found the story too slow for my liking. And the ending was just...annoying. Love and Death have been playing this game for millenia. They each choose a player, then roll dice to determine the end date of their challenge. Before that time their two players must fall in love and complete the terms of the game, otherwise one of them dies. It's Flora and Henry's turns now, but of course, this is the match that changes the game forever.

The Game of Love and Death has a wonderful set up and cast of characters, so I'm so sad that I didn't connect with it in the way that I wanted to. I love forbidden romance and interracial romance and historical romance! It has all of these things, but everything just moves so freaking slowly! I really don't think fast paced would work for this story at all, so it's just a matter of it not being my thing. But I do wish there had been something that really drew me into the plot.

What I really loved was how Love and Death are not just cliche embodiments of these ideas. Love is not all goodness and light. Obviously he always wants the lovers to end up together, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to win. He does some underhanded stuff that you'd not expect from the representation of love. As for Death, she's not all gloom, doom, and bloodthirsty. She wants to win, too, but she's not all bad. Just like Love does bad things, she does some good things. I thought this was so great! At least until that ending. I really could have done without that, because it felt like the author was pulling back instead of just going for it!

The Game of Love and Death is also much more diverse than I was anticipating. Aside from the obvious, there's also a M/M romance happening here! I felt badly for one of the guys, because of reasons, but I did like that this was included. Henry's friend Ethan is also dyslexic and relies a lot on Henry to get through school and work, making their friendship that much closer. I just really appreciated these things being here. They didn't feel forced or gimmicky, just a real part of these characters' lives.

In the end, The Game of Love and Death didn't really work out for me. It has a lot of great things going for it, but I'm not a fan of these slower paced, subtler novels. I wanted to be hooked and have my emotions thrown in a blender! That didn't happen though.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 July, 2015: Finished reading
  • 7 July, 2015: Reviewed