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wyrdwit 's review for:
Our Infinite Fates
by Laura Steven
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Across hundreds of lifetimes, two souls are intertwined—fated to fall in love, and fated to die together before their lives have ever really begun.
Different time periods, geographies, and physical forms. In each, Evelyn and Arden find one another. They inevitably remember their past lives and that—by their 18th birthday—one has always killed the other, which also results in their own death. But why are they stuck in this cycle? And why can't they survive past that threshold, that milestone marking passage into adulthood? While Evelyn remembers in bits and pieces, Arden's memory remains intact. He refuses to disclose the origins of their never-ending duel, asking that she trust he does it for her own good.
Each reincarnation of Evelyn and Arden is unique, but there are certain elements of themselves they retain regardless of the body they inhabit or the situation they are born into. The author makes every version of Evelyn and Arden feel like a new individual with their same souls intact. There's a familiarity, an essence. Being able to create characters with that many layers is a feat. The writing itself is beautiful and approachable.
One of my biggest criticisms is the pacing—it was so slow that there were points I almost considered not picking it back up. There wasn't enough hinting at the "why" behind it all. You do finally get there, but it takes forever and hits you all at once. The real letdown was reading nearly the entire book to get to the big plot twist, only for it to make very little sense. It felt misaligned with the rest of the story up until that point, and the remainder of the book felt rushed trying to tie these disparate storylines together.
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I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Different time periods, geographies, and physical forms. In each, Evelyn and Arden find one another. They inevitably remember their past lives and that—by their 18th birthday—one has always killed the other, which also results in their own death. But why are they stuck in this cycle? And why can't they survive past that threshold, that milestone marking passage into adulthood? While Evelyn remembers in bits and pieces, Arden's memory remains intact. He refuses to disclose the origins of their never-ending duel, asking that she trust he does it for her own good.
Each reincarnation of Evelyn and Arden is unique, but there are certain elements of themselves they retain regardless of the body they inhabit or the situation they are born into. The author makes every version of Evelyn and Arden feel like a new individual with their same souls intact. There's a familiarity, an essence. Being able to create characters with that many layers is a feat. The writing itself is beautiful and approachable.
One of my biggest criticisms is the pacing—it was so slow that there were points I almost considered not picking it back up. There wasn't enough hinting at the "why" behind it all. You do finally get there, but it takes forever and hits you all at once. The real letdown was reading nearly the entire book to get to the big plot twist, only for it to make very little sense. It felt misaligned with the rest of the story up until that point, and the remainder of the book felt rushed trying to tie these disparate storylines together.
---
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.