Spin of Fate by A. A. Vora
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Web ID: 1849692017 reviews
A great beginning to a series
This is a epically awesome way to start a series. I really loved how the author described the characters and scenery in the book. I loved how the book flowed and moved the story along. I liked how beautiful the cover was and had nice designs on it. I am so looking forward to the rest of the series. I really want to find out what happens next to the characters. I look forward to read many of the author books this author writes. I highly recommend this book and series.A few times I couldn't put the book down only because this book was so so extraordinarily good. The book and characters kept calling me to finish the story. There was so many good elements about this book that made it so great. I give this book a bucket full of five stars and two humongous thumbs up. I am definitely looking forward to read this wonderful epically awesome book and series again.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Not Good Fantasy
What I did like about this one was the maps that were included at the beginning – it’s hard not to appreciate a good map, so three of them is even better. This story is told from three POVs. Unfortunately, none of the characters had any meaningful character development, which made it difficult to be interested in any of the POVs. It also meant that there was little to no explanation for the motivations of the characters’ actions when they did something that seemed to make no sense. And the one time it seemed there was going to be a little character growth, the character instantly reverted into doing what they were before. The dialogue was also quite modern and that felt out of place. And of course, since the characters weren’t well written, the romance was even worse. Another dislike of mine was that this work delved quite heavily into religion, a religion that often mirrored Christianity. Even the realms essentially mirrored heaven, limbo, and hell. I wouldn’t have minded if it had gone beyond a surface-level feel, but there was no real theological exploration or depth to the religious aspect and instead it just sort of felt like a thin skin applied to the story. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this one at all. There are several ratings higher than mine though, so if the premise catches your attention then you may want to check out those reviews instead. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Fantastic worlds and magic system!
3.5 stars rounded up. This was a great start to a new YA fantasy series! I would've loved to bump this up to 4 stars, but the really long training sequence lost me. As an RPG player, I wasn't really blown away by the hard magic system. (Maybe it's a lot more impressive for casual fantasy readers and non-gamers?) But I did appreciate how much thought was put into the magic system. Unlike your typical fantasy books, the characters did have limits to their powers and they felt human (or as realistic as you can portray magic) without being overpowered to all hell. Which is definitely a thing I hate with Chosen One tropes in YA fantasy. I really liked the concept of realms/worlds, the magic/religion and the how each realm had their ideas of being a "good" person vs. "bad" person. I'm interested to see how the author plays this out. This was one of those novels where I ended up liking all three MCs. They all brought different viewpoints and personalities to their shared quest. Strangely, I didn't outright hate Aranel. And I usually dislike poor little rich kid characters. I'll be sure to keep an eye on this author's journey! Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for this arc.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
It was Fine
It was fine. It took me a while to actually get into the book. The world segregates people into upper and lower realms by something called Toranic Law. The upper realms hold people with light souls and peaceful lives. The lower realms hold people with dark souls and tormented lives. One of the main characters, Aina, ascends from the lower level, but desperately tries to go back to be with her mother. She ends up joining a rebel group that includes Meizan, a ruthless fighter trying to save his clan from extinction, and Aranel, a spoiled noble spying for the powers that be. While this is going on, there is a massive war brewing a violent king of a lower realm is bent on destroying Toranic Law; on the other, the authorities of the upper realms will do anything to stay on top. The premise was exciting, but for some reason I struggled to connect with the main characters. Aina's mother is cruel to her and in their last moments before Aina ascends, her mother tells her to leave and not come back. I couldn't understand why she would want to go back there when she constantly spoke about how her mother mistreated her. The other main characters, Meizan and Aranel were also difficult to root for. I just did not feel like their intentions and actions were well described. The book overall was fine, but not something I'd run to read again.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Fun Read!
I was excited about the peacock on the cover and wanted to learn more about whatever was going on with it. Luckily, we learn more about this terrifying creature very early in the book as our main character, Aina, has an encounter with one in an early scene. Outside of my love for peacocks, this book introduced me to new cultural mythology and societies. We have plenty of Western and European fantasies for YA readers, so looking at an eastern Asia inspired world was delightful even if I didn't understand all the intricacies of the inspiration material. And I didn't need to. My enjoyment of the story and following these characters was not hurt by my lack of background in this area; however, I suspect that people who are more familiar would find more depth in the symbolism employed by the author. The glossary at the back of the book was helpful, and I'm hoping to find time to look at the author's blog posts about her inspiration and love that it wasn't fully reliant on one culture or even one religion. (Some of the gods were even inspired by legendary Pokemon!) This is definitely a book to put on your TBR or add to your library. There are some heavier topics and horror tropes used, so make sure to look for trigger warnings in reviews before you dive in head first. Or maybe just don't read it right before bed.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
The Good Place Meets Karma
Spin of Fate by A. A. Vora is an Indian-inspired YA fantasy with three POV characters and a fascinating magic system inspired by karma. Aina is a young girl living in one of the lower realms, Malin, when her soul is found to spin fast enough for her to go up to the next highest realm. Life is easier, she is provided with what she needs, but she is trying desperately to return to Malin. When the Balancers contact her, Aina chooses to go back to Malin to reunite with her mother and destroy the Toranic system. Aranel from one of the upper realms and Meizan from Malin are also recruited by the Balancers and have their own goals regarding Toranic Law. What I really liked was how this broke down ideas of karma and predestination and how some souls are ‘born tainted’ and destined for suffering unless they improve in a world that is constantly trying to destroy them. It felt in conversation with The Good Place, where the thesis statement is that humans deserve love. While Spin of Fate doesn’t have the exact same thesis, it does draw attention to how small children who didn’t even ask to be born are sentenced to suffer when though they hadn’t committed any sins to deserve it. Aina serves as a midpoint when placed next to Aranel and Meizan, with Meizan having grown up in Mala\in like Aina had but Aranel was born and raised in the upper realm with his entire family eventually going to the highest realm. Aina knows the luxury of the upper realms but she also knows the suffering of the lower realms, rejecting her new chance at life because it’s not worth it without her mother. While Aranel is originally not compassionate to Aina, when he sees the suffering of the people of Malin, he becomes empathetic and doubts the system. Meizan is cynical due to his life in the lower realms but we see the goodness in him fairly quickly. A. A. Vora handles the more difficult subject matter respectfully and honestly. Aina’s mother is harsh and even slaps her daughter, reflecting the world they live in and how Aina has to be strong in order to survive and it can be difficult to reconcile some of that treatment with a mother who does seem to genuinely care about her child. There’s no waving off the worst implications of the worldbuilding and we get a sense of just how difficult life truly is in the lower realms very quickly, putting it into such sharp contrast to the upper realms where Aina is forgiven quickly for her actions against others as long as she is repentant. Content warning for depictions of child abuse and allusions to SA and CSA I would recommend this to fans of YA fantasy who also liked the philosophical elements of The Good Place, readers looking for a unique magic system, and those looking for Indian-inspired fantasy with multiple POV characters.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Loved It!
It took the author eight years to put this together, and I’m so happy she took her time. It is so apparent that the background and world building is beyond the majority of YA. There’s even a website dedicated to the realms and a massive glossary at the back of the book with tons of additional information. As this is a debut novel, there were plot points and dialogues that could have used additional polishing, but it still didn’t take away from the overall book. I really, really, really enjoyed this one and was so bummed when I realized it may be years and years until I can see what happens next in the story.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Great for manga fans.
I'm trying to find more books to convert manga readers into novel readers and this book is the perfect fit. Author used Naruto as a comp title. Need I say more?
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com