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A review by karac15
Fated by S.G. Browne
4.0
You have been officially warned that I have very strong opinions about this book. Please, please, please, understand that I have an issue with it because I love it.
I absolutely adored this book up until the last 20 pages. It's clever without being too stuck up. It's very human despite being about a narrator that is (for the most part) not. Overall, I think Browne did a fantastic job of making me love the sarcastic, conflicted Fabio. That being said, it should have continued differently from the homeless shelter onward. He should have continued to try and help others being a human being. This book made me feel a lot and I loved almost every second of it but as soon as Fabio went to meet Sara behind the Met I wanted to punch him. His decision to go back to her despite his growth as a human shows that he did not grow at all. After every effort he made to try and help his people even when he was no longer truly Fate, he still acted completely selfishly to try and win her back. ARGH!
Don't get me wrong, I did not expect nor want everything to be tied up in a little bow. I did not think Destiny would turn herself in or anything like that in a last effort to save Fate. She is selfish and acts as such. I did however expect more from Fabio based on his characterization. Is he impulsive and at times selfish, showing that he is not completely dissimilar from destiny? Yes. However, he finally is able to empathize with his now fellow humans and still acts like he somehow deserves to "get the girl". I would have been more content if he just jumped off the bridge after realizing the futility of living if he is unable to truly help others. I would not have been ecstatic about it. That ending would have at least saved my pure frustration.
All the "nice" tie ins with Fabio being reborn as the next messiah were not needed and detracted completely from the weight of the story. I understand that this was likely an attempt to make the reader look back at the event as being so cleverly foreshadowed, however it felt like the cheap ending of a sitcom. This book had an opportunity to be so much more had that one ending plot point solidified in the last chapter not existed. I am not at all exaggerating when I say that the last 5 PAGES ruined it completely. I (am pretty sure that I) get what Browne is going for. He would truly make an impact, okay. It would be so much more though if he was just a human and still tried to make a positive impact. If he tried to make a large scale change but was happily making the small scale ones that impact an individual rather than a population. This character and book could have been so much more.
Don't get me wrong, Fated is absolutely worth a read. It was so so close to being one of my favorites. When I reread it though, I think I'll skip the last 5 or 20 pages. To me, they feel like it was trying too much to wrap up loose ends that were better left for interpretation.
I absolutely adored this book up until the last 20 pages. It's clever without being too stuck up. It's very human despite being about a narrator that is (for the most part) not. Overall, I think Browne did a fantastic job of making me love the sarcastic, conflicted Fabio. That being said, it should have continued differently from the homeless shelter onward. He should have continued to try and help others being a human being. This book made me feel a lot and I loved almost every second of it but as soon as Fabio went to meet Sara behind the Met I wanted to punch him. His decision to go back to her despite his growth as a human shows that he did not grow at all. After every effort he made to try and help his people even when he was no longer truly Fate, he still acted completely selfishly to try and win her back. ARGH!
Don't get me wrong, I did not expect nor want everything to be tied up in a little bow. I did not think Destiny would turn herself in or anything like that in a last effort to save Fate. She is selfish and acts as such. I did however expect more from Fabio based on his characterization. Is he impulsive and at times selfish, showing that he is not completely dissimilar from destiny? Yes. However, he finally is able to empathize with his now fellow humans and still acts like he somehow deserves to "get the girl". I would have been more content if he just jumped off the bridge after realizing the futility of living if he is unable to truly help others. I would not have been ecstatic about it. That ending would have at least saved my pure frustration.
All the "nice" tie ins with Fabio being reborn as the next messiah were not needed and detracted completely from the weight of the story. I understand that this was likely an attempt to make the reader look back at the event as being so cleverly foreshadowed, however it felt like the cheap ending of a sitcom. This book had an opportunity to be so much more had that one ending plot point solidified in the last chapter not existed. I am not at all exaggerating when I say that the last 5 PAGES ruined it completely. I (am pretty sure that I) get what Browne is going for. He would truly make an impact, okay. It would be so much more though if he was just a human and still tried to make a positive impact. If he tried to make a large scale change but was happily making the small scale ones that impact an individual rather than a population. This character and book could have been so much more.
Don't get me wrong, Fated is absolutely worth a read. It was so so close to being one of my favorites. When I reread it though, I think I'll skip the last 5 or 20 pages. To me, they feel like it was trying too much to wrap up loose ends that were better left for interpretation.