Michael Shum

Library Journal (Starred Review): It’s rare to encounter high seriousness and humor under one cover, but the author’s layered grasp of gambling and its contingencies, its potential to dominate players emotionally, charges the narrative with thrills and danger. Perhaps the real triumph, though, is an unflinching (yet humane) glimpse into the lives of several characters in desperate relationships with chance, addiction, and lethal levels of debt. (William Grabowski)
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IndiePicks: The reader will feel the rhythms of a casino floor and even learn a little about rules of the games played at the
Royal, and while the author does not shy away from showing the desperation of the hardened gambler, there is an undeniable thrill in his descriptions of a winning streak. This debut exhibits a lovely command of language and an astute eye for human frailty, while exploring the intersection of chance and fate. (Megan McArdle)
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Yakima Herald: I’m totally unfamiliar (beyond a brief perusal of the Wikipedia entry) with the eponymous Pushkin tale that it’s based on. I’m not much of a gambler, and I don’t know the first thing about the card games that serious gamblers win and lose fortunes playing. But somehow, despite all of this, I moved past the cover and was instantly sucked into the darkly magical world of the beautiful novel. (Emily Ring)
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