The Library Of Fates

by Aditi Khorana

[Quirky Cat]

Three and a half stars.

I was so excited for Library of Fates when it came out. The cover caught my attention at first – it’s so bright and delightfully designed. It was the description that really sold me on it though. If you’re looking for a book full of symbolism and mythology, this is the book for you.



I’ll admit I had trouble getting into this book at first. While the core concept was interesting, the writing style itself was a little bland. It led to me fluctuating between not caring and being completely filled with dread about what was going to happen next (an odd juxtaposition, to say the least). While I eventually grew attached to Amrita, I never really felt any real loss for most of the other characters introduced.
Amrita is a princess on the run – literally. Her kingdom is under siege, her father dead, and her lover captured. You’d think we’d be seeing overwhelming emotions from her. Fear, loss, anger. Mostly we got a lack of any of it. Some grief and fear. I’m going to attribute the lack of it to shock. Though honestly I felt the other characters were equally flat – Thala is an enslaved Seer on the run along with Amrita. One would expect a lot more emotions from her as well, though I’ll admit we see a lot of determination from her. While many will disagree with me here, I also felt that Varun was a flat character. His love for Amrita felt…to sudden and not enough. I get the background they were going for, I really do. It just didn’t feel real or important to me; which is such a shame, because I wanted to love them as a couple (I very nearly did, when they were on that walk together).
It was around the sixty percent mark that I found myself unable and unwilling to put the book down. For some (if not many) this is too far into a book to have to go for that purpose. Honestly though, from that point on I loved it. If the book had started at one of the later points I probably would have given it a higher rating than I did.
I really wanted to read Library of Fates to help expose myself to other beliefs and cultures. It was fascinating seeing these new mythologies and influences – though I’ll admit I would have loved more details on many different parts of it.
I think it was the writing style that kept me from enjoying this novel as much as I could have. The core idea of the plot was brilliant; it was the execution that was lacking. I do feel like the author found a good stride towards the end, which is probably why I liked the second half so much better. I’m curious to see what the author does next, and how much they’ll have improved. I hope they continue to write about mythology!


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks