Can fate be infinite?
A review of 'Our Infinite Fates' by Laura Steven; Spoiler FREE
Salutations Starlings…
I am apart of my mother’s family & friends book club, this month it was my turn to pick our book.
I chose Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven,
as it was described as a cross between The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E Schwab and This is How to Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, two books that I love and enjoyed thoroughly.
I started with the audiobook narrated by Sofia Oxenham, and she did a lovely job but at the 21% mark I knew I wanted to do a review and be able to read what I was listening to, as well as the fact that this is not one of the best books to listen in terms of formatting. There are poems at the end of some of the chapter making it a bit jarring when the audio goes from “we took our final breath beneath the indifferent stars.” to “as I gazed upon the first bramble, I thought of how the world reinvents itself year after year,”. I wasn’t aware that the poems themselves would get their own page so it was confusing at first leading me to get the physical copy.
I purchased the book from Third Places Books in the Young Adult Fiction section, I was in luck because it looked liked it was the only one; it had even been tucked behind some other books (sorry if you were the person trying to hide it to purchase later).
If you haven’t heard about this book, here’s what you need to know…
They've loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They've killed each other in every one.
Evelyn remembers all her past lives. She also remembers that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul—and survival—is tethered to hers.
The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplants in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to:
1. Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life—before they find her first.
2. Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse.
3. Try not to fall in love.
If you would like to read a version with Spoilers:
The Characters
The main character and narrator is Evelyn [pronounced Eve-Lyn]
The love interest is Arden
*Note: I personally have been addressing both Evelyn and Arden with they/them pronouns to make things a bit more copasetic.
During Wales 2022, Evelyn is Branwen Blythe, older sister to Gracie Blythe who has been diagnosed with Leukemia. This is where a majority of the book is set, so we see…
Bran & Gracie’s mother appear a few times
Dylan, family friend and farm hand that has become a part of the family.
Ceri [pronounced like Carrie] a young man who is new in town and immediately suspected of being Arden.
& Nia, Bran’s coworker at the bookstore— also suspected of being Arden, before Ceri appeared.
The Timeline - Where ⭑ When
The timeline was living rent free in my head so I had to deep dive into it!!!
Greece ⭑ 986
Lundenburg ⭑ 1006
Bavaria ⭑ 102?
Northern Song ⭑ 1042
Samarqand ⭑ ????
Al-Andalus ⭑ ????
Mali Empire ⭑ 1290
Iceland ⭑ ????
Ottoman Empire ⭑ 1472
Norway ⭑ 1652
Portugal ⭑ Azores ⭑ 1???
Dutch East Indies ⭑ 1770
United States of America ⭑ 1862
Japan ⭑ Mount Fuji ⭑ 188?
India ⭑ Bombay ⭑ 188?
Austria-Hungary ⭑ 1898
France ⭑ 1915
Algeria ⭑ 1932
Nauru ⭑ 1968
Russia ⭑ 1986
El Salvador ⭑ 2004
Wales ⭑ 2022
Scotland ⭑ 2054
This includes some inference that I made about the book, If you want to read how I came to some of these conclusions, you’ll have to look at the version with spoilers.
The Review
The Good
I was drawn in and excited to read this book the moment I had heard about it’s release, I had to wait to get my hands on it so it was fresh in my mind for book club, but this book has been so captivating I decided to do a review on it.
The book really starts off with a bang and just continues from that point on, with the first major question being Who is Arden in this life time?
We get to see who Evelyn and Arden are without their curse of reincarnation, Evelyn with their love of fashion and Arden a lover of literature and a published author despite nobody knowing who that author is.
The Bad
While reading I was a bit worried about the heteronormative and lack of character diversity, which in the end I was still a bit annoyed with the diversity as it was still heavier on the Eurocentric lifetimes and heterosexual dynamics.
The Ugly
“I have to kill you, in every life. That is our true destiny. The true reason we were born within moments of each other. God-fated” p.221, This quote heartbreaking. The amount of lives they have had that all ended poorly because of the curse.
For their love to be so complicated and the hopelessness that they felt after each life time.
The Redemption
I was ecstatic by the last two chapters of the book with the reveal in the last two chapters. It really dispelled the worries I had earlier on in the book!
Final Thoughts
I would call this a win for the girls, gays and theys;
I think it is a 5/5 ⭑ read for me just for how much I spent on this book after it was over.
so…
Do you plan on reading it?
Recommendations:
If you are anything like me, and like to keep the vibe flowing in the next thing I consume, here are my recommendations…
Books:
Obviously the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, if you haven’t read it yet or feel like you need to reread it because, honestly I understand!
If you are like me, a Vampire fanatic, and liked the way time flowed in this book, you might love Lucy Undying, a Dracula retelling about Lucy Wisteria if she wasn’t killed after her vampiric rebirth.
TV/Movies:
This recommendation is more based on the human connection and having lives connected to your own and the multiple places that are featured, Sense 8 might be a show for you.
Anime:
If you are in it for the long haul and can stick it out till the end, The Seven Deadly Sins has an element of reincarnation, I won’t say much else because it comes into play in later seasons but the storyline involving it; ✨immaculate✨ in my opinion.
*Yes as an anime it has the odd but very prevalent tropes that you see in anime’s— groping, panty flashes, etc. — but the story is a good one.
Manga/Manwa/Web Comics:
Literally any one of those “The Time I was Reincarnated as…” on webtoons, they all have something different that makes them stand out.
The Tale of the Yellow Dragon, great reincarnation romance; it is explicit and it is considered a BL (Boys Love) but the romance and storytelling in this manwa was great!
Music:
If you are into music like me and not ready to give up the vibe or need a playlist to reread the book to, here you go…. I made this one myself.
*Each song corresponds to a chapter of the book from start to finish.
Until next time Starlings…