Quick Synopsis – Kestrel has trained her whole life to compete in the Tarot Trials. Her mother won once, earning a place among the five ruling Cinque—then paid for it with her life, executed for alleged treason against the Minor Court. But fortune favors the bold.

Now it falls to Kestrel to take up her mother’s mantle as Champion of the Moon, enter the Trials, and face her fate. If she can master her new powers of shadow and illusion, navigate the poisonous game of alliances and lies, and corner the fellow Champion who dealt the killing blow to her mother years ago, she may uncover the truth she’s seeking without losing her head… or her heart. But in the Trials, betrayal is a question of when, not if. And winning the game isn’t about what she must do to win, but who she needs to survive.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Castle by Hasley

Publication Date – Oct. 20, 2026

Bookshop Link – The Tarot Trials by Katee Robert
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Content Notes – This book features multiple elimination by death competitions. There is violence, blood, vomit, and other bodily fluids. There is some psychological torture. There is one explicit romance scene.

Spicy Rating – 🌶️🌶️

Overall Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Review – I received an advanced ebook and it didn’t have a map or a description of the minor courts. I would have really liked to have a reference instead of trying to keep everything straight. It’s entirely possible that the published version will have this, I just struggle to keep everything straight. I’ve read a few of Katee Robert’s novels and I think this is my favorite. I liked the flow and the story was good, it did remind me a lot of Arcana Academy. There are some similarities where people are able to express the attributes of the major tarot suits. But the crux of the story is completely different.

Kestrel is born in the Dregs and has spent her whole life training for the Tarot Trials. It’s her one chance to become a champion and earn a seat on the voting council for their city. Once every 22 years champions from across the city come to kill or use cunning to become the champion of one of the major arcana. When a champion secures their spot, they are then imbued with some of the powers of the God/Goddess representing that Tarot card. Then the champions must fight until there are only 5 left. Kestrel has been trained to stay alive, form no alliance, and make it to the final 5. But of course, it isn’t that simple.

The thing I love about this book is the way it shows the disparity between the Dregs and the rest of the city. Kestrel had all kinds of training and even with her best efforts, it still wasn’t enough to measure up to the other champions. I liked that Kestrel wasn’t an all-powerful chosen one, even once she has magic, she still struggles. I do think there could have been more showing her training between trials. I thought that part was a little empty and filled with her worrying. Once she does have an alliance, she doesn’t really reach out to them outside of the actual trials. I felt like more could have been done to show her cunning instead of just struffling to catch up.

I will definitely read the next in the series, I’m excited to see where Kestrel ends up and how the surviving champions will deal with their new positions.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.