Kendare Blake knocked it out of the park with this one. I love watching the society of hero makers grow and realize their mistakes. Reed can do absolutely no wrong in my opinion. I can't wait to read the next book and im excited to see how some things play out.

Wow, wow, wow. Kendare Blake has done it again with an excellent new story. Everything about this book gave me life. The writing, the plot, the story, the characters. I'm happy to finally revisit this world and absolutely cannot wait for book two!

I didn't love the standalone horror novel from Kendare Blake, but I was a big fan of the Three Dark Crowns series, and this was much more similar to that than to All these Bodies. The book starts with Reed, a young girl who seems to be an outcast in her village, but before we can even find out why, everyone in the village other than Reed is brutally massacred. The invaders take Reed with them, planning to use her as a human sacrifice, but she is rescued by Aster and Veridian, members of an order of mythical female warriors called the Aristene. She is taken in by the order and raised/trained to be a member. Ten years after her rescue, she is ready for her first mission. The Aristene are extremely skilled warriors, imbued with magic and basically immortal. But rather than building their own legendary status, their main purpose is to be hero makers. Each Aristene is assigned/fated to a warrior who has the potential to be a hero. I really liked the premise of this, and I thought the world-building was strong. I liked Reed as a main character (though she's kind of a dummy sometimes, which was frustrating, but she's basically a teenager so it tracks) and I'll definitely read the second book in the duology. I hope some issues with the Aristene order are dealt with a bit more in that one, but either way, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Reed and company.

Kendare Blake is a fantastic and imaginative author, accessible for younger readers and enjoyable for older readers. Champion of Fate is a new direction for this author, with the promise of more books to come -- ideal for readers who enjoy sprawling narratives and creative worlds. I recommend this book as its own visit, as well as a continuation read for long-time fans of this author.

This is my first contact with the work of this author and it made me a fan. Has a good balance between action, and fast-paced quests and I found the concept of them being hero makers awesome has a lot of biking vibes too. It feels like a game (as an RPG gamer, keeps me turning the page). It has a great progression from how she joined the order to her first mission. I don't like fantasy focused only on romance, this one has the right amount and good characters. Lots of action,f even war. Awesome.
Also, I like a book where both genres are portrayed equally as strong and efficient instead of making the women look very strong just by making the male characters horribly detestable and weak. Not the case here. I enjoy all characters and am looking forward to reading/collecting the next volume of this duology.

If you were one of those people who had that urge to find a sword and fight with a sisterhood after watching Wonderwoman it's time to find that now because this book gives all the vibes of the Amazons and Valkarie with a dash of immortal horses.

There's lots of action, a touch of romance and some incredibly visual worldbuilding. The banter too! Perfect.

From the start, the story of Reed and her fate among the Aristene captured my attention. Reed is a strong, though flawed, young adult female who is assigned her first “hero” after training eight years for it. The ending was not quite a cliffhanger but had me wanting to know more about Reed’s fate. Highly recommended!

This book gave me goosebumps! So great! I could not put it down, the subtle hints to Three Dark Crowns were fantastic. I love the character development, the face-paced storyline and the complex situations the protagonist had to overcome. 100% recommend to Fantasy fans!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book, provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh. My. Gosh. This book! Kendare Blake is a pro at creating and writing strong female characters. She's also got a knack for world building - it's in a way that keeps you engaged, yet doesn't dump everything on you at once. The pacing is good, and I love Reed's backstory. It really gives us insight into the character.

The fight scenes were great, the banter is good... I just wish I felt a little more chemistry between Reed and Hestion. Maybe it'll pick up in the coming books - which I can't wait to read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of this book! It starts fast and that pacing never really stops. This book deserves to be at the top of everyone's TBR list and I am only sad I have to wait so long for the next one to come out.

This is a really solid 4 star YA fantasy. If you like the writing style of mythology retellings, the idea of an order of mythical female warriors and immortal horses ~ I would say this is definitely a book for you. I personally really enjoyed it overall. I would have loved to see more depth to some of the characters, and I wasn't in love with the chemistry and progression of the romance between Reed and our hero, but the world and the story itself was unique enough to be memorable.

I've always had a thing for Valkyrie and Amazonian inspired story, so I immediately jump on Champion of Fate when I read the summary.

Let me just say, I can not express how blow away I was by this tale, and it's just the first book!

And I'm so grateful there'll be more, or I would boycott! Because I simply could not accept the deviation and grief the journey created...

My thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Champion of Fate” by Kendare Blake is the gripping tale of a young child orphaned in a raid, who after watching her family killed in front of her is about to be sacrificed to the raiders’ god. Instead, passing Aristene free her and induct her into their order, where she trains to become a warrior who will guide great heroes to glory.

This book was absolutely fabulous. Right from the get-go I fell in love with Reed’s mother - the way she fought for her daughter was so beautiful in what little page time she has, and I loved how Reed later learned to fight for others in the same way. The themes of motherhood and sisterhood were so strong and so gorgeous throughout the novel. The Aristene are like the warriors of Themyscira from Wonder Woman combines with the Valkyrie from Norse mythology, but the young initiates are trained at Camp Half-Blood before they can ascend to the city of Atropa (Mount Olympus + Valhalla). The mishmash of different mythological influences was very fun. I also loved how Blake threw in a Fennbirn queen as one of the immortal Aristene - it was such a fun way to tie it to her other series (if you haven’t read Three Dark Crowns you definitely should, although I actually like this new book even more). I also loved the intrigue and mystery of what the Aristene elders were up to, it really added another great layer to an already complex plot.

My only real gripe is that I never truly bought Reed and Hestion’s chemistry, which kind of undercut the central conflict that Reed faces: choose a life as a full member of the Aristene, or a life with Hestion. This didn’t bother me too much though because ultimately this really is Reed’s story. She’s deeply imperfect, best evidenced by her unwillingness to trust Sar simply because he is from the same culture as the raiders who killed her family, even though that had nothing to do with him. Watching her learn and grow over the course of the book felt so rewarding that the ending, even if it wasn’t the hardest to predict, felt very earned. That’s not to say the whole book is predictable - there were two huge twists that I never saw coming. I wholeheartedly recommend this fantastic read and I will be very eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series!

Love, love, love this book.

Many of my students have already delved into the writing of Kendare Blake and this book is going to keep their love of her writing intact.

The characters are spot on, the story is creative, and the world-building is beautiful. The twists are all classic Blake -- unexpected, unpredictable, and perfectly disruptive.

I loved this book! It’s well written, unique, and intriguing—so much so that I wasn’t sure if I should hurry up and find out what happens, or savor it for longer. The world building is fantastic and done in an organic way, so it’s not too overwhelming. I love Kendare Blake’s other books and this one is just as good!

Okay first of all I need the sequel like yesterday. The book was longer than I expected, but the pacing was well done where the story didn't drag and I didn't feel overwhelmed. I loved how well done the found family trope was and it made me feel connected to the characters. The characters are strong but also complex enough to the point where you don't want to put the book down so you can see how they develop.

I am still reeling from the Three Dark Crowns series, so when I was contacted to review Kendare Blake’s first book in her latest series, I jumped at the chance! Overall, Champion of Fate is a solid start to a highly anticipated and action-packed series. Kendare excels in creating strong and complex female characters with equally strong and complex relationships. Reed is a headstrong young woman with a very solid vision of her life in her head. While her story starts in horror, she eventually creates a found family for herself in her fellow initiates and the Aristene. She has a solid foundation and knows what she thinks she wants, but she is easily thrown when new people and new desires threaten to change all she planned. Her sometimes hotheaded decisions and actions have far reaching consequences and I enjoyed the fact that her journey is not cut and dry and neither are the things and people she thought she understood.

Another strength Kendare has is her world building. This new world is steeped in history and magic and we are just getting started in understanding all the systems and organizations involved. The Aristene are intriguing in their desire to bring their goddess glory yet staying as politically neutral as possible, or so it seems. The world of men and their politics seem to be separate and many are not even aware of the Aristene, but there are major hints of a growing faction that seem to want to take their power.

All these threads are setting up for a solid fantasy series. The battle scenes were excellent and well executed, which gives me hope for the rest of the series as we follow the threads left at the end of this book towards the bigger story. My only qualm of the book is pacing. I love an emotional roller coaster full of pining and angst, but some consistency with plot would help too.

Kendare Blake has again crafted a believable, magical world full of action, a little romance, and strong friendships. There are some flaws in character development - none of the characters is particularly deep or thoroughly drawn out, backstories are mostly hinted at but not explained - but since this seems to be part of a series, perhaps the author will spend a little more time on the characters in the next book. Overall, an enjoyable, quick-paced novel.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake is the first book in a new and upcoming duology. Blake has written a number of other good series so I was excited to see this on NetGalley. This story focuses on Reed, who is an initiate in a secret and mystical society who train to protect and help heroes. Reed’s life has some hardship but she is found at her darkest point and starts her path to this society.

Like I said I had high hopes for this book but it fell a bit flat for me. The main character Reed acts pretty stupidly for most of the book. She has training but makes immature decisions. Her mentor was a good character but otherwise the people around Reed were pretty annoying. Other characters lacked motivation and were just moving through the story. Some details and events in the book come out of nowhere which was confusing; like it thought we had some other knowledge but it was never provided to us readers.

Knowing me I like to see books come to a conclusion so I would read the second in the series whenever it comes out just to see what happens. This was not one of my highest rated books though. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

In this Young Adult Fantasy written by the amazing Kendare Blake. This is the second book that I have read by her and it did not disappoint. This is the first in the Heromaker series.