Royal Gambit
core novel 2025 The Checquy Files
Record
| First published | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.32 (2,539 ratings, collected 2026-08-19) |
| Page count | 416 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780316568104 |
| Internal chronology | 4 |
Synopsis
Royal Gambit follows Alix, a Checquy operative whose bone-shattering powers manifested when she was six years old, after which she was recruited and placed as a childhood friend to Princess Louise so that she could one day serve as her protector. When Louise's older brother, the Prince of Wales, dies suddenly under circumstances that point to a supernatural assassination, Alix is activated for a dual role: acting as Louise's lady-in-waiting and bodyguard while secretly investigating the prince's death, all without Louise's knowledge of who Alix really is or that the Checquy exists at all. With few solid leads, Alix must balance royal court life, competing loyalties, and the search for a dangerous unknown adversary while protecting the new heir to the throne.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Checquy Files
- Series: The Checquy Files core; position 4 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Daniel O'Malley
Notes
- From the series record (The Checquy Files): A paranormal secret-agency series (a British government body that polices supernatural threats), in the same urban/secret-history fantasy mode this canon already admits for Rivers of London and Ninth House. Four books published 2012-2025; no announced conclusion, treated as in_progress.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Checquy Files: position 4 of 4: previous Blitz (2020)
Sources
- Rating-platform listing: The Checquy Files series
- Wikipedia: Stiletto (novel)
- Review: Royal Gambit (The Cosmic Circus)
- https://www.rookfiles.com/writing/royal-gambit/
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