A Fate Unwoven

Gr 9 Up–The first in a dark fantasy duology for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s “Shadow and Bone” books. Prince Dimas doesn’t have a bonded Fateweaver—a girl with visions of past, present, and future and the ability to manipulate reality—but every heir to the throne is supposed to have one. Without a Fateweaver, his place as the heir of the Wyrecia isn’t secure. However, Dimas has had a vision of his Fateweaver, but she wasn’t in a temple like she’s supposed to be—she was hunting in the forest, either unaware of her powers or hiding from the empire. Neither option bodes well for him. Lena was raised on heresy: stories of fate and monsters that would see her imprisoned, if not executed, by imperial soldiers. When a betrayal forces Lena to submit to the empire, she is offered help from the spirit of the first Fateweaver to sever the bond between her and Prince Dimas if she can uncover a ritual hidden in the palace. As Lena discovers more about the twisted history of Wyrecia, she finds more at stake than the throne. Edwards has created a world rife with myths and monsters, cultists and corruption, and uses storytelling in-world as a mechanism for exposition, mostly successfully. Told in alternating points of view by Lena and Dimas, the book has a large cast that leads to some stalled character development, but the queer romantic subplot will have many readers glued to the page. Main characters are white.