Review: A Thread of Fate by J.A. Good
From the publisher:
She will turn his power into his downfall no matter the cost.
Irina Petrov is the next in a long line of healers to the king. Their only job is to serve him. When a rebellion leaves her life in ruins she finds herself bound to a king who she hates.
In an attempt to avoid fulfilling her duty as healer, Irina soon finds that the gods demand service. Bound to a man she hates, she will do whatever it takes to see him fall to his enemies. As she learns more about her world and the people in it she finds that even through grief and loss there is still hope for a better day.
I am on J.A. Good’s ARC team and when she announced this story, we were all intrigued by the cover. I enjoyed her Forged in Fire series, but this one…
The world building is fairly straight forward, there are five regions of Anadyr, and from each region’s heir, a king is chosen by the Gods. Each king has a healer who is magically bound to them. The king has incredible power that he can use at will (we are only shown a few examples, but basically if he can think it, he an do it), and besides healing him from injury or illness, the healer’s power replenishes his magic. The bond between them is similar to a mating bond in that they can sense where the other is and feel strong emotions through it, but it is ultimately a platonic bond. Irina’s mother serves the king and upon her death, Irina will become the new healer.
“We are made of those we love, and they exist long after we are gone in the way we love others.”
When the kingdom is attacked and both the king and Irina’s mother are killed, she becomes bound against her will to the usurper and forced by the Gods to heal him of all injuries, including the stab wound she gave him for destroying her world. But as she spends more time with the usurper, she realizes the things she thought knew about her kingdom might not be correct and the things she thought about him might not be either. But would not hating him betray those she loved that he murdered?
This is an enemies to lovers fantasy with a intriguing characters and a unique world. Irina is very much a strong FMC who literally starts a rebellion in a day while grieving her losses, navigating her duty, dealing with the chaos of her emotions and the fact the people she loved most might not be who she thought they were. There are huge themes of loss and grief in this book. A good chunk of it is focused on loss and how to move though it and the emotional turmoil that surrounds every day life and being bound to the person responsible for your pain.
My rating: 4.5/5 stars. This one does have some spice and violence and it is really great to see a FMC who is not ashamed of her sexuality.
A Thread of Fate by J.A. Good will be released May 1, 2023 and will be available on Kindle Unlimited.