The Favorites by Layne Fargo Summary, Characters and Themes

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is a gripping, psychological drama set in the cutthroat world of elite figure skating. 

The story follows Katarina Shaw, a talented yet tortured young skater, whose ambitions and drive for perfection lead her into a destructive rivalry with the Lin twins, children of the legendary skater Sheila Lin. As Katarina and her partner Heath Rocha push toward Olympic glory, they face not only physical injuries but the emotional toll of manipulation, betrayal, and obsession. The novel explores the dark side of fame, competition, and the cost of ambition, ultimately forcing Katarina to reckon with the price of becoming the favorite.

Summary

The book opens with Katarina Shaw, a determined and ambitious teenage figure skater, facing a difficult home life where abuse at the hands of her older brother, Lee, shapes her survival instincts. Her life revolves around skating, which is her only escape.

Alongside her partner Heath Rocha, a foster child with his own troubled past, Katarina dreams of making it to the top of the figure skating world. In the early chapters, Katarina and Heath are on the cusp of breaking into the national scene.

They steal Lee’s truck to drive to the nationals, fueled by hope and desperation. There, they encounter the Lin twins, Isabella and Garrett, who represent a formidable challenge for Katarina.

Their mother, Sheila Lin, is a legendary figure skater, and Katarina idolizes her, believing that to succeed, she must mirror Sheila’s strength and ruthlessness. As Katarina and Heath continue to improve, their bond deepens.

However, Katarina’s obsession with winning grows, fueled by the pressure of legacy and the intense rivalry with Isabella. Despite a hidden hip injury that threatens her career, Katarina becomes fixated on success.

She endures the pain in order to push forward, increasingly isolating herself from Heath, who is left to watch helplessly as Katarina spirals. In the middle chapters, the duo’s rise is accelerated when Sheila unexpectedly offers to coach them at the elite Lockwood Performance Center.

While their skills improve under Sheila’s guidance, the psychological toll of the environment becomes apparent. Sheila plays mind games, pitting the skaters against one another, manipulating the media to create a narrative around Katarina’s image, and encouraging a fierce, competitive atmosphere.

Katarina begins to lose touch with her humanity as she focuses solely on her goals, pushing her body to dangerous limits. The media frenzy escalates, particularly after a scandalous kiss with Heath, which they use to their advantage, though it strains their personal relationship.

As the Olympic qualifiers draw closer, Katarina’s hip injury worsens, yet she refuses to acknowledge it, driven by her desire to be the best. Meanwhile, Heath begins to feel sidelined, struggling with the growing distance between them.

The pressure reaches its peak when Katarina makes a devastating choice: she considers leaving Heath behind to skate solo after being offered a chance for a solo career in Europe. The betrayal cuts deep, and Heath, unable to reconcile the person Katarina has become, walks away.

This marks the beginning of her complete transformation into the very thing she once idolized—ruthless, calculating, and singularly focused on victory at all costs. By the time the Olympic qualifiers arrive, Katarina is alone, having pushed away everyone who was once important to her.

Sheila abandons the Lin twins in favor of focusing all her energy on Katarina. The world watches as she competes, her body and mind battered, a hollow shell of the person she once was.

Though she earns a silver medal, the triumph feels empty. The media, once enamored with her, now vilify her, labeling her a villain.

The final chapters bring a reckoning. In a heartbreaking twist, Isabella exposes Sheila’s years of abuse, leading to the disgracing of the Lin family. Meanwhile, Heath returns—not to reconcile, but to offer Katarina closure, allowing her to face the wreckage of her journey.

Katarina’s Olympic performance is raw, flawed, and emotionally charged, but in the end, she walks away from skating, permanently injured. The story closes with Katarina reclaiming her narrative. She starts writing her memoir, finally taking control of her story and asserting that her legacy will not be defined by gold medals or public opinion but by her own terms.

The novel ends on a note of quiet self-acceptance, as Katarina acknowledges that while she didn’t win everything, she ultimately found herself.

The Favorites is a stark, thrilling exploration of the cost of ambition, the dangers of idolization, and the psychological toll of competition, offering a poignant meditation on what it means to truly win.

Characters

Katarina Shaw

Katarina Shaw is the protagonist whose journey from a talented, ambitious young skater to a ruthless competitor forms the crux of the narrative. She begins as a figure skater with raw talent, driven by a desire for survival and success.

Her passion for skating is not just about competition but about finding a way out of her broken, abusive home life. Over time, her single-minded pursuit of success transforms her into a cold, calculating individual.

This transformation is both a personal and psychological evolution—her obsession with greatness becomes so all-consuming that she sacrifices her health, relationships, and ultimately, her humanity. The relationship with Heath, once a deep emotional bond, deteriorates as her ambition grows, revealing her willingness to use people as stepping stones in her quest for legacy.

Her internal conflict and evolution from underdog to villain provide a compelling examination of ambition’s corrupting power. The culmination of her journey is marked by her choosing to reclaim her narrative, regardless of the cost, and stepping away from the sport, injured but free from the manipulations of others.

Heath Rocha

Heath serves as both a supportive partner and emotional anchor to Katarina, but his role in the story is overshadowed by her rising ambition. Initially a foster child with a turbulent past, Heath shares a profound bond with Katarina, one forged out of shared trauma and the pursuit of a common dream.

However, as Katarina becomes increasingly fixated on winning, Heath starts to feel marginalized and sidelined in both their professional and personal lives. His character arc is one of growing disillusionment—he watches as Katarina’s obsession with glory drives a wedge between them, and his emotional needs are overlooked.

The physical and emotional abuse he endures from Katarina’s brother Lee further deepens his vulnerability, but his relationship with Katarina provides him with a sense of purpose, despite the growing imbalance. Eventually, Heath reaches his breaking point, and in a moment of painful self-realization, he walks away from the relationship and the sport.

His departure signifies the end of an era for Katarina and marks the final breaking of her emotional ties to her past.

Isabella Lin

Isabella Lin represents both a rival and a mirror to Katarina. She is the daughter of Sheila Lin, the legendary skater, and has been groomed for success in much the same way as Katarina.

Initially, Isabella’s rivalry with Katarina is professional, but as the narrative unfolds, Isabella’s jealousy and personal vendetta become more pronounced. Her descent into aggression and sabotage exemplifies the dark side of competition.

Isabella’s interactions with Katarina go beyond rivalry; they become a personal battle, with Isabella’s emotional instability fueling her aggression. The tension between them escalates, reaching a boiling point when Isabella’s sabotage nearly costs Katarina her career.

Isabella’s eventual breakdown and public denouncement of her mother’s manipulation serve as a poignant counterpoint to Katarina’s own journey—where Katarina chooses power and legacy, Isabella chooses to rebel against the very system that sought to control her.

Sheila Lin

Sheila Lin is the formidable matriarch of the Lin family, a former skating champion who now exerts her control over her children and Katarina. A complex figure, Sheila is both a mentor and manipulator.

Her deep understanding of the psychological warfare involved in elite sports becomes a tool she uses to manipulate her charges. Sheila’s relationship with Katarina is initially one of admiration, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear that Sheila views Katarina not as a person, but as a potential asset for her own legacy.

Sheila pits her skaters against each other, playing on their insecurities and pushing them beyond their limits to achieve excellence at any cost. Sheila’s past, which involves ruthless tactics to maintain control and success, eventually catches up with her.

The revelation of her manipulations, especially concerning her own children, paints her as a tragic figure—someone whose own ambition led to the destruction of those closest to her.

Garrett Lin

Garrett Lin, Isabella’s twin brother, provides a more silent but essential presence in the narrative. He is often caught between the machinations of his mother and the unraveling of his sister’s sanity.

Garrett is not as directly involved in the rivalry between Katarina and Isabella, but his character serves as a counterpoint to his mother’s cruelty. His quiet resistance to the pressures of the skating world, coupled with his growing awareness of Sheila’s manipulations, makes him a reluctant witness to the toxic environment they all inhabit.

Garrett’s eventual attempts to expose Sheila’s past manipulations and the emotional toll it took on him provide a tragic glimpse into the hidden costs of fame and family control in the world of competitive sports.

Themes

The Corrosive Nature of Ambition and Perfection

At the heart of The Favorites is the theme of ambition, explored through the character of Katarina Shaw. Ambition in the novel is presented as both a driving force and a destructive element.

Katarina’s unrelenting drive for success in figure skating stems from a traumatic past. Her desire to outshine her idols and rewrite her own narrative transforms into an obsession.

She doesn’t just want to win; she wants to surpass everyone who has ever wronged her, including her idol Sheila Lin. Her ambition pushes her to the brink of personal and physical ruin, as she sacrifices her health, her relationships, and her humanity in pursuit of glory.

This theme of ambition is juxtaposed with the painful cost of excellence, showing that the pursuit of perfection can be far more damaging than the rewards it might bring.

Psychological Manipulation and Power Dynamics in Competitive Spaces

A particularly disturbing theme is the psychological manipulation that runs through the relationships in the story, particularly within the competitive world of figure skating. Sheila Lin, once a champion, becomes a manipulative force in Katarina’s life, guiding her not just as a coach but as a psychological strategist.

Sheila pits Katarina against Isabella Lin, her own daughter, to foster a sense of rivalry that ultimately serves Sheila’s interests. This manipulation is not limited to just the professional realm but extends into personal lives, where Katarina’s relationships with Heath and others are eroded by the internalized pressure to succeed.

In this cutthroat environment, the skaters are molded not just by their physical skills but by their ability to navigate the power structures within their teams and the media. This theme suggests that the higher you rise in the competitive world, the more you must manipulate your narrative and the people around you to stay at the top.

The Fragility of Identity and the Search for Self-Worth

Throughout The Favorites, characters struggle with their sense of self-worth, and their identities are continuously shaped and reshaped by external forces. Katarina’s identity is intricately tied to her performance, and the more she succeeds, the more her sense of self becomes entangled with her public persona.

She constantly grapples with the labels imposed upon her by the media, whether as a victim, a villain, or a hero. As her journey unfolds, Katarina is forced to confront the terrifying question of who she is outside of skating, and whether she can reclaim her sense of self after having spent so much of her life defining herself through the expectations of others.

Her story is a painful exploration of the dangers of building one’s identity solely through external validation, be it from her skating success, her idolization of Sheila, or the media’s treatment of her.

Sacrifice and the Cost of Legacy

Legacy, and the price one pays for it, is another central theme that runs throughout the novel. Katarina’s pursuit of greatness is not just for herself, but to carve out a place in history that can replace the abusive past she endured.

This desire to leave a legacy is intensified by her relationship with her idol, Sheila Lin, and her obsession with replicating Sheila’s success. However, the cost of building such a legacy is steep. Katarina sacrifices her health, her relationships, and her moral compass in the process.

Her relationship with Heath deteriorates as she becomes more focused on the goal of winning, and ultimately, she must reckon with the hollow nature of her victory when she achieves it. The story ultimately highlights that the pursuit of legacy, especially one built on ruthless ambition, is fraught with sacrifice, and the legacy one leaves behind may not be the one they envisioned.

The Dehumanization of the Athlete and the Industry’s Exploitation

Another dark theme in The Favorites is the dehumanizing nature of elite athletics and the industry’s exploitation of young athletes. Throughout the book, Katarina and Heath are not treated as individuals but as mere commodities in the sport of figure skating.

Their worth is measured solely by their performance, and they are constantly pushed beyond their physical and emotional limits by the industry’s demands. The book paints a chilling picture of how these young athletes are preyed upon by coaches, sponsors, and the media, who use them as tools to generate profit and spectacle.

This theme also highlights the toll that such an environment takes on the mental and emotional well-being of the athletes, many of whom, like Katarina, lose their sense of self in the process. The industry’s exploitation is mirrored by the manipulation of the media, which often distorts their image to fit a particular narrative, adding another layer of dehumanization.

Rejection and Redemption

In the final chapters of The Favorites, a critical theme emerges: redemption through self-realization. Katarina’s journey is not one of simple triumph but of profound internal reckoning.

After all the sacrifices, manipulations, and betrayals, she reaches a point where she must confront the toll it has taken on her life. This theme becomes central in her post-Olympic reflections, as she realizes that victory, fame, and accolades cannot provide the peace she longed for.

Instead, Katarina begins to reclaim her voice and her story, free from the influences of her past idols, the media, and the demands of the sport. The novel’s conclusion, with Katarina walking away from skating and starting to write her memoir, signals her ability to finally define herself on her own terms, untethered from the cycle of competition and external validation.