Book Review: Threads of Fate
A Novel by C.A. Blooming
NOTICE: The Of Fate Series is intended for audiences ages eighteen and older.
Threads of Fate by C.A. Blooming is a new adult romantasy novel that was released on June 1st, 2024. I received a free advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis
Orah lives in the modern world. After her father passes away, she moves to France and buys a chateau. There, she encounters a mysterious door in her garden. Unable to quell her curiosity, she forces it open and plows into a mysterious man named Roan. Orah learns she has thrust herself into the Land of the Gods, and that Roan is the God of Nyte. Coming to terms with her new reality, she tries to find a way back to her world with Roan's help. Along the way, Orah discovers a power within herself—both magical, emotional, and physical. She unexpectedly begins to heal from her troubled past and allows herself to open her heart to others. In the process, she opens more literal and metaphorical doors than she could have ever imagined.
Review
I have some thoughts about the book that are a mix of positive and negative comments. My intent is not to sway you from reading this book. I'm simply sharing my opinion about this book. I invite you to read this book if you want to and come to your own conclusion.
The Reading
The Land of the Gods intrigued me to keep reading. I wanted to learn more about this world alongside Orah. However, I found the reading experience boring. There's hardly any description of interest. Now don’t get me wrong, some parts made me laugh or gasp out loud, but the majority of the book’s writing felt like telling versus showing. Most things are blatantly stated to give a generic image without adding something new to spice up the imagery. (Although the description of Roan’s skin lighting up was one piece of imagery I applauded. I’ll discuss that more later.) Much of the dialogue feels forced. I often found myself skimming.
Things got especially interesting in the last two chapters. The author said there was a major plot twist, and I came up with many scenarios to try and guess what that twist might be, but I did not guess it. The ending threw me for a loop, and I appreciate C.A. Blooming's use of misdirection.
The symbolism
The symbolism of the doors is interesting and insightful–both for Orah's character and as an invitation for readers to reflect on the metaphorical doors in their lives that they refuse to open or struggle to open. I feel like this concept of the novel could be a decent project for a literary essay for students in college.
The Characters
Lahana
I loved Lahana! She is my favorite character. She’s the younger sister of the MMC, Roan. I love her so much! Usually, bubbly characters annoy me, but I fell in love with her. She wasn't the typical bundle of obnoxious joy that feels nothing but happiness and pushes everyone to feel joy with her words. Her happy personality isn't annoying to me and she encourages others to be happy with her actions of love and compassion. She also has humor, sass, and empathy. She also has nature powers, which I love!
She makes regular appearances in the book, but it didn't feel like enough page time (I'm using “page time” as an equivalent to screen time in film). But with her occasional absences, it made her reappearances more special.
She's also in a relationship with Fawn, a Goddess of Spreng. They make quite the duo and I want to know more about their love story. The couple will be further explored in an upcoming novella, and I can't wait!
Roan
Roan is caring and understanding towards Orah. His powers of starlight and night are pretty cool. The description of how his freckles glow and how he lights up from every pore created a breathtaking image. Many of Roan's powers are still unknown, so I am interested to see what else he can do if that's explored further later in the series. Same with Orah. Her abilities are interesting but also confusing because she seems to have unlimited power.
Roan is said to have this dangerous temper, but it hardly reveals itself unless he feels threatened or someone he loves is threatened. It didn't feel like anger was something he struggled with regularly even though that's how it was said to be—at least from my understanding. Or maybe the point the other characters were trying to make to Orah was that he had anger outbursts, not necessarily consistent anger. I'm not sure. But from my perspective, if it was meant to be a struggle with anger issues, Orah had a bigger temper than he did, making Roan's outbursts feel inconsistent and underdeveloped.
Orah
Orah's character bugged me. While I can relate to her hesitancy in opening up to people and being cautious with whom she associates with due to trust issues, I couldn't stand her personality and attitude. She's also a screamer about basically everything, and that got old. However, Orah does have decent character development, and I will give her character credit in that regard.
In this next comment, I mean for it to sound more comical and frustrated with Orah than angry or judgemental. Orah's flirtatious teasing towards Roan was so rude. I mean, good on Roan for having self-control and waiting for Orah’s permission whether or not he got it, but dang she’s a temptress. She has absolutely no fear when it comes to seducing Roan and then backing off before things become too intense. I felt she was being cruel by teasing him like that and backing off at the last minute. Like, make up your mind and stop torturing him. Fates! (An expression used in the novel.)
My Complaint
I didn't like how graphic the sexual content was. Because of this, I'm realizing the new adult genre tends to include more of this than the typical young adult genre. While the blurbs for some NA books intrigue me, I will be more wary from now on with what I read within the NA genre.
While I appreciated that the couples in the story confessed their love for each other before escalating their level of intimacy and that their relationships had an emotional connection instead of just being all physical, I don't understand the need to write about what their sex lives look like. I prefer those scenes to stay behind closed doors. I don't want to know what the characters are doing to each other in the bedroom.
Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed the story, the world-building, and Orah's character development. However, the way the story was written felt bland. I also felt like the author didn't trust the readers to pick up on what was going on in certain contexts, and stated or restated pieces from the story that I had already picked up on. Maybe some readers needed that extra hint (as I have needed with past books I've read), but for this one, to me as the reader, much of it felt unnecessary.
Despite my feelings about where the book succeeded and failed, I have great respect for the author and will continue to support her. C.A. Blooming's journey to become an independent author has inspired me on my own journey, and I root for and applaud her accomplishments.
Content Warnings
Extensive swearing, nudity, violence, physical and mental abuse, and graphic sexual content.