TO BE WOVEN BY THE FATES IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.
When the skies split and the veil between Earth’s realm and the Godly realms is lifted, the prophecy awakens in the form of eighteen-year-old Shivalri Grimsbane, she with the blood of all three realms. In her lifetime, Shivalri never thought magic to be more than a fairy tale. Though raised unaware of her witch-hood, she quickly learns that her lineage is full of enchantment. Through a string of destiny, her magic has come to fruition, unruly and unknown. Designed with the sole purpose of fulfilling an ancient legend, Shivalri’s duty is clear: repair the veil and keep the Gates from opening and unleashing Heaven and Hell unto Earth. At the spill of her blood, she is a divine key under the guise of a mortal. When disaster strikes and plans go awry, a window opens at the Gates of the Under Realm for Pyre Malum, Daimon of the Dead. With the blood of the new Triple Goddess at his fingertips, Pyre Malum’s chance for revenge is sweeter than ever. Cruel, ruthless, and amassed with wrath, he takes her prisoner in the Under Realm in hopes of breaking her into submission. The young witch must work to get back to Earth, at any cost, before she is forced to doom the world at the hands of her malevolent captor. As they learn to work together, one for vengeance, one for secret escape, Shivalri discovers that the world is not all as it seems. As her feelings toward the exiled God turn from resentment to a fiery mess of confusion, her virtue and damnation clash to rule her heart.
WHEN THE FATES STRING A DESTINY, THEY LEAVE NO STRING UNRAVELED. WILL HER CORDS LIGHT THE WAY?
As she discovers her witch heritage, Shivalri ends up in other realms where powerful entities already know who she is, catch her up in their conflicts, and put her and everything she loves in jeopardy. Ancient magic and conflict, of course, drive this epic’s plot, but the novel’s heart is in the touching depiction of a family in mourning, material rich and resonant enough to ground the apocalyptic events in relationships in which readers will be invested. Shivalri’s gift for “weaving” is great but raw, and A Fate of Smoke and Ash finds her endeavoring to understand and to overcome an emotional blockage rooted in trauma.
At times, Scichilone’s commitment to plumbing the hero’s pained reality slows the novel’s momentum, especially as details pile up. But the characters, mysteries, and seeming betrayals are arresting, and the magic, as “the veil between worlds” gets lifted, lives up to the word: it’s magical. Inventions like the Triple Goddess, who guards the gates to the realms, fascinate, and the scheming of the High Council and the denizens of various realms makes for twisty, tense plotting, with Shivalri dragged to Hell and mistaken—or not—for a thousand-year-old goddess. The “Under Realm,” as it’s called, offers welcome surprises as Scichilone continually anticipates, challenges, and surpasses reader expectations, all while building to an urgent cliffhanger.
Takeaway: A strong YA series starter finds a young woman discovering her witch heritage—and realms beyond our own.
Great for fans of: Nnedi Okorafor’s Nsibidi Scripts series, Sasha Laurens’s A Wicked Magic.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A
