Fates (Fates)

by Lanie Bross

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Honestly, I didn't expect to love Fates, but the concept seemed interesting enough that I thought I would like it, and maybe even be surprised. I wasn't. The story starts off very slow and very boring, then it becomes very weird and very confusing. Then it ends with insta-love and a cliffhanger. I actually would have liked it more if that ending was the same, but this was a standalone. A nice tragic ending to the brief romance.

Corinthe is a Fate who has been exiled to Earth. She's been tasked with helping destiny unfold as planned for the past ten years. Now her guardian has given her her final assignment before she can return home: kill Lucas. She's never killed anyone directly, although she has been responsible for setting up fatal accidents, so she doesn't question it. I was surprised that she put in such an effort in her attempt to kill him. I expected her to fall in love immediately and decide not to do it. That's not what happened. But something does go wrong and they end up in some alternate world, and things got confusing.

Of course, there's some larger plot at work that Corinthe doesn't realize she's being used as a pawn in. I actually didn't understand what the heck was going on at all. None of it made any sense, especially since the author just threw out names (Unseen Ones, Fates, Radicals) without any explanation as to what they are exactly or how they're related. Fates also suffers from really choppy transitions which didn't make it any easier to follow. I found myself going back a few times to see if I missed something, but I hadn't. Characters just change locations a lot and suddenly.

There's also a few different plot threads happening within Fates that felt disconnected. The first, obviously, is Corinthe's assignment to kill Lucas. But somewhere along the way this turns into Corinthe helping Lucas find his sister who ended up in this alternate world with them. There is a clear explanation to why she's there, but it makes zero sense and has nothing to do with anything other than forcing them to work together. Corinthe also has this little problem of slowly becoming human. Or is she? She just knows that she's feelings things that she's not suppose to and her body isn't working how it's suppose to. What is happening to her?!

Fates was just weird. In a bad way. Nothing makes sense and frankly, it's incredibly boring. I did see some potential when we were introduced to the Blood Nymphs and the Figures/Figments. They were strange, but in a good way! Too bad they felt like something interesting to look at rather than an integral part of the story.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.