A Ruinous Fate by Kaylie Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Let me choose my own fate. Or ruin myself trying…
Calla Rosewood is a young witch essentially trying to outrun her fate. Due to a dangerous curse, Calla left her coven 4-years ago and has been living a life of secrecy with her best friends, Hannah and Delphine, ever since.
It’s a complicated history, but in addition to her curse Calla has marks on her skin that display her past rolls of the Witch’s Dice. These marks indicate Calla is very close to fulfilling the legend of becoming the last Blood Warrior.
After a horrendous night where she is betrayed by her ex, Ezra, Calla finds herself one-step closer to fulfilling her fate. Then she meets someone who offers her the chance to erase her previous rolls for good.
Of course she’s suspicious. She thought she was the only one with rolls this bad, but according to this guy, he has the same rolls. He’s heard of a spell that can be performed by the notorious Witch Eater that can erase their marks and clear the slate.
Gideon, the man with the enticing offer, needs Calla’s help gathering the ingredients needed to perform the spell.
He asks her to enter the deadly Neverending Forest with him on the mission. This is where the Witch Eater lives and unfortunately the only way they can complete their task.
We’ve got ourselves a quest, one of my all-time favorite Fantasy tropes. All aboard!!
Joining strong and sexy, Gideon and Calla, on their quest will be Calla’s charming ex-Ezra, as well as Hannah and Delphine. They can’t let Calla risk her life alone. They really are good friends.
The group enters the Neverending Forest and quickly realize this is not to be a simple journey. Nothing in the forest is as it appears, with the forest constantly changing and rearranging.
Luckily, Delphine, a siren, has magic that allows her to see past some of the forest’s trickery, but will it be enough to get them through to the end of their mission successfully?
I’m probably doing a horrendous job summarizing this complicated plot, but hopefully you get the general idea. For me, this story got progressively stronger as it went along.
Initially, you are thrown into this world and I was definitely floundering. There’s not a lot of explanation as far as the world goes. You’re just sort of dropped into it in a way that, honestly, felt jarring.
Eventually though, it does settle down and I ended up becoming extremely invested in these characters, their journey and the ultimate outcome.
I loved the darkly-magical forest atmosphere. It was the perfect backdrop for our protagonist’s quest. It gave a certain Alice in Wonderland feel with danger at every turn.
I liked learning about Calla and her friends, although I’m still not sure I grasp all of the nuance behind the magic system. There was a lot that I am hoping will be explored further in the second book; including the difference between the kinds of witches.
There is romance, including a tense love triangle. I liked the triangle, but I’m that way. I know a lot of people aren’t into it, so I will toss the caution flag here. In my opinion, this one had great drama. It was scandalous and I was here for it.
Additionally, there was a ton of action and as it got closer to the conclusion, I was definitely at the edge of my seat. I cannot believe how this left off. There were some events I didn’t see coming.
How long until the next book?
Overall, even though the beginning felt a bit chaotic, and I still have some questions about the world and magic system as a whole, I did truly enjoy this.
Seriously, the ending, oh my word, how am I going to wait!? So much went down and it was simultaneously badass, intense and heartbreaking.
I cannot wait to return to this world and group of characters. Yikes, there is so much story left to tell. This was well done by Kaylie Smith. I’m sold.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney-Hyperion, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I ended up having a ton of fun with this and definitely recommend it to fans of angst-filled YA Fantasy.