Jessamy wants to participate to the Fives, a popular game but the return of her father complicates her wish. 
 This YA was billed to be a mix of Little Women and Games of Thrones. I am not sure I see a lot of GoT but I see a little of Little Women like the four sisters, the mostly absent father, and the richer male friend but a bit weak. Too much weak in this story since Kalliarkos is manipulated by Jessamy. 
 I found the story follows too much a formula and doesn't really explains enough. Like if it's incredibly risky for Jessamy to compete, not only for her but for her whole family, why does she do it ? I just understand she is a selfish and completely irresponsible girl. The evil guy is just evil and also does weird things, I don't have a clue why [spoiler]he recruits Jessamy in his team and why he decides to incur the wrath of divinities by paying priest to do something forbidden instead of just paying some people to kill. That sounds overkill especially for people he didn't know before. I would have understood if he wanted a revenge or something.[/spoiler] 
 I quite like the family relationships if we remove the father. They made a lively family with all their wishes, their bitterness. There were dramatic developments even if the motives of the villain don't make sense. The book was easy to read even it lacks multi-layering.