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Of Fates and Ruin

4.24 ⭐️ 1🌶
I just finished Of Fates and Ruin by Alaya Wells.  I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the author.  This book comes out 3/1/26.

Mild spoilers ahead:

Most of this book was a struggle, I didn't really really enjoy it til the last 7 to 10% of the book.  This book is long, too long, at 700 pages.  I think it could have been cut down by a couple hundred pages and it would have had better pacing and been more coherent.  There was so much exposition and so many repetitive details.  Isi is from Caldrith where magic is forbidden and if they find out you have magic abilities they kill you.  Don't worry, if you didn't catch that detail in the first couple chapters where it depicts the actual ceremony that kills a bunch of people; everytime Caldrith is mentioned again in the book that detail is repeated.  
The body of Isi' sister is delivered to Caldrith by a gigantic bird so she assumes the rival kingdom of Syllavar had killer her sister.  So she embarks on a never ending quest to avenge her dead sister.  She escapes her royal guard and makes her way into Syllavar where she learns there are going to be trails where whoever survives has the opportunity to bond to a mystical creature.  So she decides to go do that.  (The mission to avenge her sister is totally set aside for the next 1/3 of the book.)  When she gets to the shore, in Syllavar, she trips over her too large stolen clothing and accidentally stabs the guy walking in front of her.  Turns out the guy walking in front of her is the king of Syllavar, Trewyn.  (This is basically where he falls for her.)  Trials in general are not really my thing so this first 1/3 of the book really dragged for me.  The trials were done well enough, just weren't doing much for me.  This book is duel POV.  In the first 1/3 or so of the book when it switched from Trew to Isi it just rehashed the previous scene from the other's POV, this was tedious as all get out for me.  It stops doing this later in the book, thank goodness.
I didn't care for the characterization of the FMC for the majority of the book.  She was ditzy and naive yet strong and fierce, her inner monolog conflicted with her outer actions.  There was also a conflict conjured up between Isi and another character that seemed too forced to me then dragged on til the literal end of the book.  The slow burn was very very slow.  It was however more insta-infatuation for Trewyn and begrudgingly slow acceptance for Isi.  I found Isi's assumption of leadership of her team unnatural in its depiction.  It was too quick and her inner monolog exposition was simplistic.  Kind of "oh look at me, I'm leading them now.  Oh it's so much pressure, I'm terrible and awesome at the same time."  Later when Trew and Isi start to slowly succumb to their infatuation with eachother they mostly keep it secret.  Then Trew is called to the front lines to stave off an attack.  He tells Isi to stay behind where its safe and guard his kingdom for him.  So she marches into the main hall and basically declares herself Queen in front of his court who at this point have only a fleeting idea of who she even is or her relationship with Trew.  She does rally everyone to go fight at his side which turns the tide of that battle.  But getting there seemed clunky to me.  There was also an attempt on her life in about the middle of the book.  They don't find out where it came from and it's never mentioned again.  The execution of this story could have been more refined.  Was it bad?  Not by any means.  The found family aspect of the book is very well done.  The other members of her team who survive the trial become her family and they are all well portrayed with depth and their own skill sets.  They really do make a good team and working off eachother's skillset is portrayed well.  There was yearning and slow build to the spice.  When it did hit, oh mylanta, it was amazing.  Honestly some of the best I've read in a long time.  The book had a very obvious, to me, plot twist at the end and then ended on a cliffhanger.  I enjoyed the book overall and I'm invested enough that I will read the next book, when it comes out.  If you like trials, mystical creature bonding, magic training, dragon riding and an MMC who does his own gardening then this book is for you.

-Q
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