A review by reddhead16
Fateless by Julie Kagawa

adventurous challenging funny tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I think this was an absolutely fantastic set up of a new world (well, a dying world due to the deathless kings sucking most of the life from it for power) made up mostly of sandy deserts and a few cities hanging on. You have cool creatures like giant beetles, scary ants that eat anything, and several races of people like fate chasers, long lived assassins, and of course the deathless kings (who sadly do end up making an appearance instead of staying in the past!). The main character, Sparrow is an awesome thief and in this book turns out to be even more. I found the idea of how fates worked in this world to be fascinating and I am all for Sparrow being the Fateless and mixing things up. While this is a nicely original world, complete with two suns (the whole demon hour thing would be totally awful, especially when the world is mostly desert), it did kind of remind me of the Mummy (the deathless king does a similar thing) as well as Assassin's Creed (especially with Sparrow and her hood), and made it even more fun to read. You also get found family, those who will stand with Sparrow in the fight to defeat the Deathless King, lots of fighting and theiving, a little time for love to maybe blossom a bit, and awful blood magic. As this is the first book, it mostly sets up the storyline but I have high hopes for more thrilling adventures and finding ways to kick the Deathless king to the curb! And more cool beetles and whatever else Halek has hidden away in his pouches. His light humor gives a nice balance to the darkness and I really hope Sparrow and Raithe can have some quiet moments together. 

A great first book with nonstop action, thievery, breaking into cursed underground cities, and finding a way to change fate before the Deathless King can finish what he started and destroy the world. I cannot wait for the next book!