Middlegame by Seanan McGuire is an adult fantasy novel about alchemy, language, math, and family. The story follows Roger and Dodger who were created by Reed to embody the Doctrine of Ethos which would allow someone to control how the world works. Adopted by different families Roger is all languages and works while Dodger is math and logic. When they connect as children talking to each other in their minds they know something is different about them and that it could be dangerous.

The story takes the reader brought different points of Roger and Dodgers life as they try to figure out why and how they are connected and how they can change plans made for them.

If you are interested in reading Middlegame I would recommend being familiar the fantasy genre as this does turn some fantasy tropes on its head. Also their is some dark material in this book primarily related to attempted suicide and the aftermath.

Middlegame is not an easy book or story to explain but it’s beautifully written and one of Seanan McGuire’s bests works. It’s one of my favorite book that I’ve read this year and I read it at the exact right time.