This was such a unique book with a good magic system, but I felt like there wasn’t as much character depth as I would have wanted. After a while I was reading it more for the setting and overall ideas than the actual story, but I’m not dismissing the fact that it was still really good.

DNF @32%

The ideas were interesting and the world was really cool, but there was sooo much explanation, so many places, and so many characters, that it was taking me forever to read. I wish the story had flowed better. I think overall I would have given this 3 stars and wouldn't have continued with the series, so it isn't worth it to me to finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Spin of Fate is a fast paced tale in an alternate world where the people live in either a horrible world or a good world according to their perceived worthiness. Throughout the book, I was a little skeptical of the judging criteria, because horrible people lived in the "good" world and nice people lived in the so-called "bad" world. The main character manages to ascend from the lower world to the higher, but not without trouble. She wants to return to her mother in the lower levels, she fights monsters, makes friends, finds love and enemies.

Spin of Fate is easy to get into, the characters are well rounded, and the story is interesting. I would recommend it for upper grades.

4 stars.

This is a very thought-provoking and imaginative YA novel. It tackles themes such as are people born evil? How can one support a society that is structured around the innate goodness or badness of people from the moment they are born? It takes the familiar trope of rising against the empire, but in this case the empire is the very foundation of society as a whole. It has a fun almost chi-based magic system, and a breakneck pace. The one thing that held this one back slightly for me is I never really connected with any of the characters, they remained just fine through out for me.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This review is LATE and I'm on my knees begging for forgiveness because this is one of the best YA fantasy books I've ever read.

The depth of the worldbuilding and the situation these young characters are involved with isn't something I expect from the genre anymore. I just expect "vibes," but A.A. Vora went all out. She put THOUGHT into this and built a story that's 100% worth your time if you love fantasy, period. No matter if you're a teen or an adult in your 30s.

In case it wasn't clear, I loved everything about this. I liked the characters, loved the worldbuilding and "magic" (it's not really magic, please read it because I wouldn't do it justice with an explanation), loved the conflict and the way characters reacted to it. Some of it is predictable and I don't love a cliffhanger ending, but that doesn't take away from how much I enjoyed this book.

The fact that this has such a low number of ratings and reviews is CRIMINAL. I blame marketing.

Pick this up if you like:

- GOOD fantasy. Like, actually good fantasy with a system that feels unique.
- Political and religious intrigue.
- Young characters who actually act like people their age and have depth to them.
- Complicated relationships of all kinds.
- Action-packed, emotionally-charged situations.
- Reluctant found family.
- A little sprinkle of slow-burn romance between two male characters. I'm so invested in that, I can't wait for the next book.

"Spin of Fate" by A.A. Vora is a captivating blend of fantasy and adventure, featuring a richly imagined world and a protagonist with a powerful destiny. Vora’s intricate plotting and vivid storytelling create an engrossing and magical journey that keeps readers eagerly turning the pages.

I think that Spin of Fate is an excellent blueprint for authors who want to develop an extensive, complex, and fascinating magic system with rules and twists. Vora's engagement with real-world concepts and a critical analysis of the world she built through her characters is admirable, and I think that these kinds of themes are important for YA/middle grade. At the end of the day, though, I couldn't love this book like I wanted to. After the characters get to the Balancer camp, the pacing of the story collapsed. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and don't feel like I got to know them deeply. I think Aina in particular wasn't fleshed out. The twists of the story and the acknowledgement that corruption and greed motivated characters from different realms made sense and answered the questions that had been set up, but again, the pacing of the book made it feel like so much plot and character development happened at the very end rather than having been built up. All in all, I was not engaged with this story even though I had been really excited to read it, especially based on the reviews of some BookTubers whose opinions I generally agree with.

What I did like about this one was the maps that were included at the beginning – it’s hard not to appreciate a good map, so three of them is even better.

This story is told from three POVs. Unfortunately, none of the characters had any meaningful character development, which made it difficult to be interested in any of the POVs. It also meant that there was little to no explanation for the motivations of the characters’ actions when they did something that seemed to make no sense. And the one time it seemed there was going to be a little character growth, the character instantly reverted into doing what they were before. The dialogue was also quite modern and that felt out of place. And of course, since the characters weren’t well written, the romance was even worse.

Another dislike of mine was that this work delved quite heavily into religion, a religion that often mirrored Christianity. Even the realms essentially mirrored heaven, limbo, and hell. I wouldn’t have minded if it had gone beyond a surface-level feel, but there was no real theological exploration or depth to the religious aspect and instead it just sort of felt like a thin skin applied to the story.

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this one at all. There are several ratings higher than mine though, so if the premise catches your attention then you may want to check out those reviews instead. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Fantastical, magical, and adventurous, I highly recommend this book for genre fans of any and all ages. I need a physical copy for my library because I love it.

I’m disappointed that I didn’t love this because some Booktubers I follow really loved it! Overall, I think the concepts were good but it just didn’t work for me because I have a hard time when I don’t like the POV characters. That’s more of a personal preference than anything though, so I know many readers will love this and I’ll definitely recommend it to the right readers!

Fantastic debut series, loved all the culture, and the world building was so impressive. Drawn in by the complex story , and the characters. I excited to see what comes next.

4.5 stars

This was so good, I loved getting to read this!! I loved all the culture that was in this book, the world building was so impressive. Some of it got confusing at times, but it was also so complex that it made sense. But my favorite part of the story was the characters. I loved how they were all their own person and had their own way to look at their world. They really didn't like each other at the beginning and I loved getting to see them develop they own relationships with each other. The ending was so insane and it has me so excited for the next book! But I am also scared cause I have no idea what is going to happen to these characters.

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was drawn in by the author’s Naruto comp, and honestly I’m glad I picked this up because it was very fun and well crafted. The world building was very thought out and, in combination with the characters and philosophical tensions, made for an extremely compelling read. I will admit that it did require more brain power than I had been expecting, but that’s fine. Vora has written a wonderfully complex story and it was a delight to read. I do think I could’ve gone for more information on the magical beasts, but I’ll just hope that that aspect of the world gets developed in the next book. Regardless, I’m eager to continue the series and I definitely think I’ll have a blast rereading this one.

Incredible world building and a truly unique YA fantasy! I bounced off a little at first, but once I hit my reading stride I was really impressed with the complexity of the characters and the questions the story poses. A real standout in the current tropey YA scene.

Equal parts ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and the world building of a Sanderson novel, the alchemical mix known as ‘Spin the Fate’ was a knockout success in my books.

A must read for those who enjoy chunky, hard magic fantasies. The world building was seriously great and conceptually quite fascinating. I do think once upon a time I would've enjoyed this far more than I did reading this now, but this I think this might be a subgenre that I've fallen out of love for.

The concept of a word divided inspired by Hinduism with the magic of Avatar the Last Airbender made for quite an interesting world. I enjoyed the layers of spiritual paths, philosophical discussions, and all the magical creatures.

I do think this would've done a lot better if written and marketed for an adult audience instead of made to be read by young adults. At the end of it all, I felt just a little detached by the characters and the way they interacted with each other. Mixed with the hard fantasy elements, it was just an ok read for me.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group in exchange for an honest review.

Intricate world building, a unique magic system, characters that both frustrate you and make you root for them - this book has it all. The first book in what is sure to be an epic fantasy series. I cannot wait for the next one. Also, a peacock snake is such a fantastic created creature - I am hoping another of the mythical creatures graces the cover of the second book.

It did take me awhile to understand the chitronic system, the realms, and all the different groups of people. It's A LOT which is why this was 4 stars for me, but I have high hopes that the rest will be 5 stars reads now that I "get" this fantasy world.

This is absolutely the best book of 2024 for me. Not only because the exceptional well done world building, but also the characters that stand out, who come out of a page and are as real as they come. I wish for this book get a hype it deserves. Every turn in a story was a surprise for me. It was a wild ride and yet we had time to get to know main players, get to love them, get to hate them. It was exceptionally well executed. This is how you write books.

I really wanted to like this novel more. By the description, I should have plowed through it, but it just didn't hold my interest. The world-building is well done, and I liked the writing, but it's the characters I couldn't connect with and the pacing moved a little slowly for my taste. I also got a little confused with the names since nearly everything started with one of three letters. This still won't prevent me from checking out future releases by this author. Thanks for approving me to read Spin of Fate!

I liked what I understood of this book, but that being said, I thought that the writing was unnecessarily confusing.