My Five Word TL:DR Review: Entertaining, fast paced YA adventure

Fateless is an entertaining adventure story set in the heart of a desert city made all the more fascinating by its history and the fact that the ruins of an ancient city lie below.

As the story begins we meet Sparrow.  Sparrow is an orphan who has grown up in the Thieves Guild (raised by the Master, Vahn), at the age of 17 she has a certain talent and a knack for being ‘lucky’.  This knack brings her to the attention of the Circle – powerful people who run the city, they can’t be denied and if they give you a mission and you fail you won’t live to tell the tale.  Unfortunately for Sparrow she’s about to be given an impossible task – to retrieve an item from the ruins of the Deathless King.  Failure isn’t an option because the only person who she cares about (Vahn) also has his neck on the line.

I enjoyed Fateless, it’s easy to read, entertaining and I particularly liked the world building.  I did have some issues which probably relate to this feeling quite YA – which, yes, I’m not the target audience and so I rarely request YA as I sometimes struggle with the lack of depth, but, I have read Kagawa’s Shadow of the Fox series which I really enjoyed so wanted to give this a shot too.  In fairness, as I said, this is without doubt entertaining and I would like to continue with the series.

What I really liked.  The writing is solid and the descriptions and setting easy to get on board with.  I had no problems with the pacing, there’s plenty going on to keep you entertained, I particularly enjoyed the adventures that took place beneath the city and could happily have spent more time checking out those ruins.  I like the desert setting and the little details like the dual suns that make it impossible to be caught outside when both rise to their highest point.  The sand sea and the means of getting about and the dusty and winding streets.  I can see the Assassins Creed likeness although personally speaking this put me more in mind of The Mummy (and possibly a little bit even of Indiana Jones).

In terms of the characters apart from Sparrow we have Raithe and Halek.  Halek is a Fatechaster – I’m not going to really get into explanations about either the culture here or the Fateless and what it actually means because that veers into the land of spoilers.  In this case Halek comes across as an eager little puppy out for adventure – and it seems his fate is going to be linked to Sparrow.  Raithe is an assassin, I’m not entirely sure what exactly he is – immortal or otherwise – but he does seem to be very long lived.  He’s also the romantic interest of the story – more about that shortly.  To be fair, I didn’t dislike any of the characters but by the same token I wouldn’t say that I’ve fallen hard for any of them – at this point at least.

I think the story is engaging, there’s plenty going on and a few twists and betrayals and the characters eventually travel further afield – although they’re being relentlessly pursued.

Now, I did have some issues with this.  Firstly, I didn’t really think the romance elements worked.  I just don’t feel any chemistry between Sparrow and Raithe and it feels like an unnecessary road to go down.  Secondly, I have issues with the motivations of the ‘baddies’ – if you will (I’m trying not to be spoilery) – I just don’t understand why.  I can’t really say any more but what were they actually thinking?  I also had this feeling every now and again of being ‘told’, so Sparrow is this amazing thief – but is she really?  Her exploits didn’t really give me that impression.  I mean, she takes risks and she clearly has some good luck – but it didn’t come across as though she’s really skilled or talented or even really give her assignments any really thought.  I don’t know, perhaps I was expecting too much.  To me, she came across on the page as really young, a little naive (for all her bluster) and too easy to trust in others.  I can’t dislike her for any of those things because she is young and naive and too open – but, at the same time, she’s had a tough upbringing and I expected that to give her some sharp edges.

Anyway.  In spite of a few little quibbles here and there this was an entertaining and easy to read story and I would be keen to see how the story progresses – I’m particularly interested in seeing where Raithe is from and meeting his Queen.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars