Fate and Furies by Helen Scheurer

3/5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD

Man this series is really throwing me for a loop. I can’t figure out if I enjoy it or not. Same as the last book, I was into it for the first good bit, but then I started to lose steam only for it to get insane again right at the end.

I loved that we picked up a full year later into Thea, Kipp, and Cal’s hunt for Wilder. I don’t think we needed to hear every detail about their hunt, so being able to pick up down the road when they’re catching up was a smart move in my opinion.

I’m still a fan of the same things I’ve been a fan of the whole time; Thea, the magic system, the fate stone, Malik and Dax, Kipp and Cal being the greatest friends on the planet and also the biggest idiots ever… I just don’t know how I feel about Wilder at the current moment. I loved that he was tough and broody and let Thea fight her own battles (literally) in the first book, but I feel like over the last two he’s gotten a little too whiny for me… I might be in a camp of my own here, but I just don’t feel the relationship between Thea and Wilder. It’s all so surface level, like how much does Thea even know about Wilder? Do we even know how old he is?

That being said, his whole journey to put together all of the other Warsword’s memories of their Rites into that gift was so romantic I actually almost scrapped every moment I’d been annoyed with him. I was a little confused about why he waited so long for this journey and why he was sending these monsters after them, but when Thea learned that it was because he promised to train her, so he did everything he could to do that from a distance, it immediately made so much sense and was also an incredibly romantic gesture. But then… does it make up for all the lying and gaslighting and then flipping around and being mad at her for her not trusting him enough to just ignore how hardcore he betrayed her? Like why does she end up apologizing for not “trusting in his love of her enough”? I don’t know…

I love this new plot line about the shadow-touched people and the whole rebellion that Anya has been leading, it definitely helped to push the book along. And then the revelation that Talemir was the Prince of Darkness at the end had me gagged. Like obviously I knew he was coming back at some point, but for it to actually be him was fun. I can’t wait to see how he and Thea break Wilder out of the Scarlet Tower. And how they destroy Artos, that sleazy bastard can fuck right off. I also know that I’m going to love Darts, I’m a sucker for a cocky character with an over inflated ego I can’t help myself.

Now I think they lost me a bit when Thea and Wilder started fucking again and it somehow magically made her powers come back. It was just the most predictable, stupid way for that to all go down and it made it seem like Thea needs to rely on Wilder to be powerful, which is seriously not true.

Thea’s Great Rite was a bit overwhelming to me to be honest. It’s all so built up that honestly I don’t know what would have made it as intense as I had expected. It just felt like some challenges of mental strength and physical strength but not worthy of the most harrowing and haunting and impossible challenge she would ever face. I was absolutely SHOOK when she literally chopper her own fucking hand off though. That was batshit crazy and I loved her for it.

Obviously I’m going to finish the series because there’s only one left, I just hope that it’s less focused on Wilder and Thea getting it on the whole time, OR turns the focus on them actually trying to learn about each other instead of just acting like horny little teenagers while a war is waging around them. I’d also love a little bit of Torj and Wren action and some more Kipp and Cal.