Deathly Fates

[cornerofmadness]

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a strong debut novel inspired by Chinese folklore. Kang Siying is a type of priestess, one capable of reanimating the dead. She is sent to Wen, part of the country that wants independence from hers to bring back a dead soldier and the pay is too high to say no. Her father is very ill and they need the money for a better doctor.

Siying finds the odd scene of slaughter and the bodies well preserved in spite of her travel time. She reanimates her target but to her shock, his spirit was so strong, it reenters his body. He is alive but won't stay that way long. As the blurb says, they need to fight evil spirits, purify their qi and he can reabsorb it. When he has enough, he'll truly be alive again.

Siying has to say yes to this realizing that a) he has a second chance at life b) he's going to pay her even more than she's earning and she needs the money and c) he's the crown prince, Ren, the spare prince who doesn't want to rule. This is both good and bad news for Siying. Purifying evil spirits is hard work. Harder still is holding her tongue. She is blunt and critical of Ren's father and brother and how the king treats his people.

Ren on the other hand is a kind, handsome young man. He is patient and concerned for others and very obviously would be a better king than his brother who desperately wants the throne. Without spoilers, it's obvious how Ren ended up dead and why (but it takes him most of the book to work it out) It's also a given these two are going to fall in love, that's not really a spoiler.

I loved Siying and Ren. Their story is an intriguing one and I was sucked into their world. The only thing that didn't fully work for me was the ending. On one hand it is dramatic and theatrical (and would look amazing on screen) but on the other hand, I'm a little tired of female rage being shown mostly as violence to the extreme. (Not saying Siying is entirely wrong, just that her sister and Ren were more right).

Definitely worth reading and I'm looking forward to more from this author.



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