Daughter of Fate

While I was entertained by the book, I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan of the 7th Sea role-playing game setting. While the novel takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of some of the nations of the fictional continent of the setting, it does so at the expense of really getting to know the main character. For most of the story she is merely reactive, not really showing that she's growing in maturity or the ability to make her own way in the world. Perhaps the title of the novel was a too accurate description.

There were other moments in the novel that really strained my ability to suspend disbelief. For example, in one part of the story we're expected to believe that two people can carry a casket sized crate of gold coins through a deadly maze, up a steep flight of slippery stairs, through a jungle, and up onto the deck of a ship all while carrying their unconscious crewmate. Have you ever done the math to calculate what a crate of gold coins would weigh? I suspect the author did not.

The author likes to employ the gimmick of providing a scene where the characters are in dire straights and then setting the following scene a significant amount of time prior to the first scene. This can be effective if sparingly used, but I felt it was overused in this novel. Add that to a very abrupt ending, and I walked away unsatisfied. An interesting if overly convoluted plot marred by incredulous feats, character development that mostly happens “off camera”, and gimmicky storytelling.