Fates by Lanie Bross Review

Fates by Lanie Bross
(Fates #1)
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press; 336 pages

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 tingle 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?

I often wonder about fate.  I am a strong believer that everyone has a destination in life that they are destined to achieve someday, but you choose how you get there.  I know that that may sound confusing, and predestination is a very touchy subject for some.  But everyone has their own beliefs.  And in the book Fates, it gives a look into a world where life and death are determined by fate.

I must say that the first chapter of this book really pulled me in.  I really liked the direction the book started in.  We are introduced to a character and within minutes they are killed.  But unfortunately the rest of the book just wasn't as intriguing for me as the first chapter was.  I felt like my enjoyment zigzagged.  There were moments in which I was reading that I really enjoyed.  And at other times the book just dragged for me.  I found myself imagining the book told differently.  And how I would have loved to see certain scenes written from a different point of view.  Because I definitely enjoyed Luc a lot more than Corinthe.

Corinthe just seemed so dry to me.  She was a very hard character to like.  But Luc on the other hand held my sympathy.  And it's probably because his back story was explained in better detail than Corinthe's was.  If the book was told entirely from Luc's point of view, I think it would have flowed a lot better.

I also wasn't buying their love story.  Love at first sight is something that is very hard for me to be sold on.  It has to be written a way that draws me in.  The initial attraction should be detailed.  I felt that just wasn't there.  Corinthe being an exiled fate, who has spent the past 10 years of her life trying to find her way back home.  Luc a boy who comes from a broken home, and tries to do whatever he can to save his sister from herself.  They just didn't click for me.  However, the sibling bond between Luc and Jas was written well.  As a reader you could see that Luc would do anything to save his sister.  He raised her, and was more of a father to her than their own was.

I had hoped the climax would help pick the story up.  But the climax dragged, and the ending ended up being predictable.  So unfortunately I don't think I will be continuing with this series.