Let Me Choose My Fate

Published:  February 11th, 2014

Fates (Fates #1)

By: Lanie Bross

Delacorte Press

ISBN-13:  9780385742825

One moment.  One foolish desire.  One mistake.  And Corinthe lost everything.

She fell from her tranquil life in Pyralis Terra and found herself exiled to the human world.  Her punishment?  To make sure people's fates unfold according to plan.  Now, years later, Corinthe has one last assignment: kill Lucas Kaller.  His death will be her ticket home.

But for the first time, Corinthe feels a tinge of doubt.  It begins as a lump in her throat, then grows toward her heart, and suddenly she feels like she is falling all over again -- this time for a boy she knows she can never have.  Because it is written: one of them must live, and one of them must die.  In a universe where every moment, every second, every fate has already been decided, where does love fit in?

Review

     Why the FREAKING HECK do I do this to myself???  I took one look at this book, and knew from the start that barring a miracle, it wouldn't be higher than a three star rating for me.  But being the eternal optimist, I went ahead with it anyways.  Predictably, it was a complete and total mess of a book.  Let's see what I can unravel for you in this "review" of mine.  The book centers around Corinthe, who was one of the Fates in a place called Pyralis Terra.  She sorted the Fates of the world, until she committed a horrible mistake in the name of curiosity.  Exiled to Earth, for the last ten years Corinthe has been trying to earn her way home by carring out the will of the Universe.  Or at least that's what she's been told by her "guardian", Miranda.  In reality, Miranda has been using Corinthe for her own purposes for the last decade and is an enemy of the Fates.  She tells Corinthe that her last assignment is to kill a boy named Lucas Kaller.  It will set off a chain reaction of events, that will bring Pyralis Terra crumbling down.  Then the Radicals (Miranda's faction of beings) can take over everything.  But when things spiral out of control, and Luc ends up on a quest to save his sister alongside Corinthe, the fate of her world hangs in the balance.  Can they do the right thing and still save their hearts?

     From what I managed to gather, there are a bunch of different realms and the way in is through the crossroads.  I was completely unsurprised by any of the "major" plot twists in this book (Miranda being evil, Luc's sister being kidnapped, picking the magical flower they need equaling death, etc.).  The whole thing was entirely confusing with terms like Radicals, Unseen Ones, Fates, and Executors being used with no real explanation ever given.  I guess she was expecting the plot to explain them.  Well, it freaking DIDN'T!  More than half of the book was spent in our world with Corinthe drifting around, closing out fates (getting people killed in accidents, breaking up couples, etc.), and whining about how much she wants to go home again.  I was able to empathize a bit more with Luc, who has a home life similar to my own growing up.  Alcoholic father, out of control younger sibling, and absent mother (mine was just emotionally absent).  It puts the pressure on, to get as much done as possible, bring in money, and save everyone around you.  

     I get that Luc's intrigued by the crazy looking chick (Corinthe) when he first sees her, in the midst of a car-wreck.  But you don't go directly from curiosity, to hatred, and to dreamy, unexplainable insta-love!  The romance in this mad absolutely ZERO SENSE!  Honestly the more intriguing romance was the star-crossed one between Miranda and Rhys.  I adored the whole matching compass thing with the archer and the ballerina.  Their love kind of made me want to cry.  That said, their love story and the reasons they were apart were confusing as well, because what they were (Radicals) was never really explained.  Why do they do the things they do Lanie?  I WANNA KNOW!!!  The entire conflict with the blood nymphs, Luc's sister Jasmine being kidnapped and given to them, and the gnome who almost kidnaps Corinthe for good, felt like they belonged in a completely different book.  They were high fantasy/mythology, when the rest of this book was boring, slow-moving, contemporary insta-love.  Overall, this book was a gigantic mess.  The ending was a poorly done cliffhanger and I am definitely NOT reading the next one!  I don't recommend it unless you like being extremely confused and pissed off by badly plotted story, riddled with holes.

VERDICT:  1.5/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book was published February 11th, 2014.*