The Favorites

by Layne Fargo

I found Layne Fargo’s The Favorites to be a lot to process, as the narrative leans into a style that feels almost epic in drama. The book shows itself well through obvious research on ice dancing, offering a technical groundedness that I really appreciated amidst the rest of the chaos. However, the Katarina Shaw character’s soap opera could be dialed back a bit, especially since the big reveal was rather cliche and felt like a predictable beat in an otherwise intense story. It’s an entertaining look at a cutthroat world, even if the melodrama occasionally slid into the theatrical. And Heath Rocha was a real whiner.