This book alternately irked and entertained me. There were interesting stories about the evolution of some regional "dialects" of the game, and I enjoyed the recounting of some folk lore in the game was a vehicle for romance and seduction.

The times in which the author droned on about role of the actual living, breathing queen, though, bored me almost to tears. In fact, it seems at times that there is more information about queens and powerful ladies in this book than there is about the game.

But then again, and I didn't know this before starting to read, but this is by the author of A History Of The Wife and A History Of The Breast, so a bit of feminism is to be expected after all.