Immortal Game

by Allison Saft

From the instant New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic and the current sensation Wings of Starlight.

Every 100 years, a small group of chess players are invited to enter the glittering world of Faerie to compete for the honour of playing the King of the Otherworld himself. Whoever defeats him is granted one wish.

Nineteen-year-old Shea Fury intends to be the first to win - it's the only way to win back her sister, who was taken by the king years before. But standing in her way is her longtime rival and faerie princess, Ciara.

As the tournament progresses and players start to drop dead at their boards, the two are forced together in an unlikely alliance, if they are to outwit the forces of fae magic and survive until the very last move...

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, Young Adult, LGBT, Queer, Romance, Fiction

400 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication August 4, 2026

About the author

Allison Saft is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic and Down Comes the Night. After receiving her MA in English Literature from Tulane University, she moved from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast, where she spends her time rolling on eight wheels and practicing aerial silks. She lives with her partner and an Italian greyhound named Marzipan.

Reviews

[Lala BooksandLala]

what a cover!

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

what if our chess rivalry was secretly a way for us to connect with each other while rediscovering a love for the game that had been tainted by a quest for revenge against a powerful fae king ? what then?

“Tell me I am delusional, or give me what I want”

more fae being little freaks who make deadly bargains and chase revenge for thousands of years please!!

thank you to edelweiss and the publisher for providing me an advance review copy. full review to come

Bookstagram | Blog

[Noi (in & out)]

*GRABBY HANDS*

[Chaela]

i am a simple gal. i see a new allison saft book announced, i add it to my tbr.

this sounds really good!


update 10/14 - COVER REVEAL!!!!!! SHES GORG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fariha]

Are you kidding me I need this

[h ☾]

allison saft feeding us sapphic excellence again in 2026. we have never been so back.

[Isabel]

if you ever wonder how much I adore Allison Saft, I am learning how to play chess for this book.

[amara ☾]

this is suuuch a unique concept

[larissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

like 3.5 (added 0.5 for all the chess references) this was actually so fun 😭 maybe i would feel more indifferent about hadn’t it been for the chess but you can see allison saft KNOWS chess lore and it was so satisfying coming across these mentions here and there from a niche topic i obsess over and know a lot about

[brontësaurus]

WHAT IS THIS BEAUTY THAT I SEE BEFORE ME

[Gretal · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I love you sapphic faerie chess book!!

[kaleigh]

OH MY GOD!!! ALLISON WHAT IS THIS????!!!!😍😍😍

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this and potential is great but ultimately just didn't land with me.

[rachel x]

chess gays & fae!

[Annie Deo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Screaming at the perfection of the ending.

I won't lie, I wasn't entirely feeling this book at the start - the heroine annoyed me with her arrogance and bratty behavior and I couldn't stand how she let her mother walk all over her (Shea had all the power here, why did she continue to enable her mother's lifestyle when the woman treated her like shit?) and I didn't really care about the other characters. Daniil was an elitist asshole and while Ciara was charming enough, I didn't feel enough for her.

But my god, the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. And even better - the way some dynamics remained the same even if the characters grew to understand each other and work together (Daniil remains a jerk of the highest proportion and yet it becomes kinda endearing wtf).

The thing I admire the most is how the love interest and side characters are given such amazingly crafted character arcs, they have their own hero's journey, like Ciara and Daniil could genuinely be the protagonist of their own books because they have such rich backstories. They aren't just here to prop up Shea's narrative, they've got their own hopes and dreams, baggage and trauma, and I was just as invested in the outcome for their sake.

The villain...I struggle to call Midir a villain, he's more an antagonist because he's not a monster, his goal is just the opposite of Ciara's and in any other book, he'd be the romantic lead. Really enjoyably written and I kinda want more backstory on this guy because he's so interesting (this is BIZARRE for me, I normally never care about immortal dudes, but his devotion to Aideen has me feeling things). There's another antagonist in the shadows as well and again, brilliantly complex with understandable motives that you sympathize with even while the whole time you're like 'omg, stop it, that's messed up'.

I find the 'heroine risks everything to save her sibling' storylines so boring and overdone, but this one works so well for me??? Because Shea blames herself for what happened to her sister and even though it's clearly not her fault, you can understand a child being traumatized by that experience and having their life defined by it. Often the sibling ends up being nothing more than a goal, a prize to be won, but even though Aideen is hardly present in this book, I loved the nuance that the author gave to her character, in particular that she told Shea it was her choice to leave and she GENUINELY MEANT IT, that wasn't her nobly sacrificing herself. And it makes sense that she could never confess that - at the time, Shea was a kid who wouldn't understand and years later, how could she confess when it meant admitting she made a selfish choice to put herself first? It's only when she realizes that She thought she'd failed her that Aideen finally admitted the truth. I love this so much because the sibling who is taken is so often portrayed as infallibly perfect and beyond reproach, but Aideen is so human and relatable, she just wants a better life and it's not a bad thing she put herself first, but it's not what you expect from that kind of character.

Shea & Ciara's relationship...I love that we still get the joy of watching their romance's tentative beginnings even though they've got years of history, it makes it so much richer how they know so much about each other and yet nothing at all and it's in this book that we see them gain new context for the other's behavior and appreciate more about the struggles they've endured.

I also LOVE that as much as they come to care for each other, Ciara still throws down the most unfair gauntlet that feels like a betrayal, but is SO true to her character and makes sense because she desperately wants her freedom even if it's at Shea's expense, and how could she not do whatever it takes to secure it? The thing that annoys me constantly is how there's all these books where a heroine has to decide between her loved ones/principles or ambitions/kingdom and a boy she's known for 2 days, like how is that a genuine quandry? I've never once seen it make sense, it's just the girl falling into insta-lust and making the stupidest decisions. But here Shea is forced into the position of being directly responsible for Ciara's death, of COURSE that would force her hand. Truly a record screech moment, the stakes kept building and I was so tense trying to work out what kind of happy resolution was possible, if at all!

The ending is nothing short of a masterpiece, just in awe of how the author made all the loose ends tie up so well and feel so earned. God, I'm reeling in the aftermath of finishing this, what a bloody brilliant and thrilling journey. #INCREDIBLE #IMMACULATE #ICONIC

[Maven_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immortal Game by Allison Saft

Immortal Game follows Shea Fury, a fierce chess grandmaster whose sister was stolen by the High King of the Otherworld, a perilous realm of fae, years ago. When Shea receives a once‑in‑a‑lifetime invitation to a deadly chess tournament in that Otherworld, she sees her chance to win a wish from the High King and finally save her sister. Dark magic and ruthless competitors push Shea to her limits, and to survive and advance she must form an uneasy alliance with Ciara of Bri Leith, a sharp‑minded fae princess and longtime rival. In this richly imagined fantasy infused with Irish folklore, every match becomes more than a game, with love, loyalty, and life itself on the line as their connection deepens.

I was captivated by how Saft makes strategy and emotion mirror each other, and Shea’s determination to rescue her sister made her drive feel vividly personal rather than just plot‑driven. Ciara’s fierce wit and complexity brought warmth to their growing alliance, and their sapphic connection gave real stakes to every gambit on and off the board.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Because it melds high‑stakes fantasy and heartfelt romance into a cleverly emotional tale.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is based on an advance copy.

It turns out the fae LOVE chess.

There has always been something different about chess prodigy Shea Fury's sister. When the fae king comes to claim her when Shea is only 13, she challenges him to a chess match in order to keep her sister even though in his thousands of years of life, he has never been defeated. Her plan fails and she throws herself into chess in order to rise high enough in the rankings to get invited to the once in 100 years tournament held by the fae king.

This was a fun book with interesting characters, and it was centered around chess! I would have liked a little more world building in respect to the different powers the fae can have and the differentiation between sorcery and magic, but overall this was a solid read and I enjoyed it.

[ISA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC I received through a Goodreads giveaway. I love the cover.

This is the first book I've read from Allison Saft, even though many of hers are on my TBR, and I hope to read more of her work because I really enjoyed this one. This book is about a chess tournament that mortals can compete in alongside the fae, and even though I know nothing about chess, the way that Saft described it made me want to learn about it. I also liked the characters and their personalities because they had their differences, but they were also very similar.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A chess savant gets called into a game of chess with the gods. There's some LGBTQ stuff, but for the most part, this could actually have been written in 1964.

The more things chage, the more they stay the same.

[Morgan Burnham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one! The Irish based fantasy world was super interesting, and the focus on chess was very unique. I know nothing about chess, but everything was explained really well so I had no problem keeping up. Definitely recommend if you're looking for a more niche, unique fantasy read!

[ren]

this sounds so good and it has sapphics and it's gonna revive my once-every-2-years chess obsession ohhhh my god

[shixx :))]

chess fantasy book? yes please

[Ashley (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)]

trust i will be reading 🤞

[⭑𓂃 mia [semi-hiatus]]

AM I SEEING THIS RIGHT?? sapphic faerie princess x chess player written by miss allison saft OH I AM SO SAT