As a girl who was obsessed with Naruto throughout most of middle school (and some of elementary school), this book spoke to my soul. I think that anyone whose enjoyed Naruto (obviously), The Last Airbender, or likes the magic systems in Sanderson’s works will really enjoy
To start with, I really enjoyed reading from each of the three narrator’s perspectives. Something I dislike a lot in a lot of novels that use multiple perspectives is that the pacing of the story often takes a hit because the alternating perspectives are used to retread upon prior events in the story without adding much of anything of value to justify their presence or that the different perspectives, who have had very distinct upbringings and non-similar personalities, will have the identical character voices. This was never the case in this novel, as all the main character’s had their own unique voice, and seeing the world from all three of their perspectives added so much depth and variety to the world. The pacing was also perfect—I was never bored, even in the downtime of the story as I feel that it gave opportunity to learn more about the character’s and explore their relationships with each other.
I thought the characters were all very complex and well-written. Of the POV characters, my favorite was Aranel. Although he could be arrogant and self-righteous, he developed complex relationships with other characters and experiencing different parts of the world causes him to question his beliefs, and I found this to be an interesting journey.. The other characters were also also very compelling—Aina and her relationship with her mother was a highlight, and I liked Meizan’s loyalty and secretly soft heart.
Another thing I really liked was the magic system and world. You rarely ever see YA fantasy novels with such complexity or depth in their magic systems, so I found this novel to be a pleasant surprise. The training arcs were fun, I really enjoyed all of the fights, and the unique magical creatures.
I do think that a lot of the themes were obvious and maybe somewhat heavy-handed, but it never really bothered me because I thought they were handled well and with a decent amount of complexity. Some of the plot points and twists were also fairly obvious, but I also felt that this wasn’t really an issue for me as I found the plot to be enjoyable and well executed.
This was a phenomenal opening to the series, and I really look forward to the sequel or anything else that A.A. Vora writes in the future.

Thank you PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group and Netgalley for the ARC. I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the concept of the different realms, and the way your soul spins if you're able to ascend, or not. The plot was very different from other fantasies out there in an amazing way which is probably why I got sucked into the story quickly. I loved this book and I can't wait for the next!

This slapped. Fascinating world, compelling characters, so much growth. I'm super excited for the next book, since I can totally see all three of the main characters having great corruption or growth arcs. Aina was the least interesting of the three, despite her backstory. Aranel reminds me of Lester/Apollo from the Trials of Apollo. Very similar vibes, just a little more grown up (but still whiny). His sections reminded me of 2014-6 era YA the most. Meizan is a classic YA book antihero. Broody tragic past and utterly devoted to what he cares about. I'm a little worried he'll be caught in the middle of a love triangle eventually though. I'm so ready for book 2.

This is a slightly different fantasy book. The world building is interestingly structured, the world consists of four different dimensions that only have contact via different portals. However, one is limited in getting between them depending on which direction and how fast one's soul spins. In the top dimension are those whose souls are the best and brightest, in the bottom those who have the darkest souls. Depending on how you live, you can change speed and direction of your soul and thus get higher up or fall further down.

We get to follow three different perspectives, there are three young people with completely different circumstances and living conditions. They all end up in Malin, which is the second lowest dimension. There they have to fight for their survival and are challenged in their thoughts about what is right and wrong, what is fair or unfair. It is not entirely clear who or what is the enemy and whether good is always good. The characters change and develop throughout the book.

I really enjoyed this book, especially that we got to follow different characters and the idea of building the world on four separate dimensions with such different living conditions. Looking forward to reading the next installment in this series!

I really enjoyed this fantasy novel about a world with different realms. People live in the realm based off of their souls. The realm of Malin is one of despy and violence. One of the main characters Aina, was born in Malin and later ascends. She also ends up as part of a a rebel group called the Balancers. This was such an interesting book I couldn't put it down and I definitely can't wait to see where the next book goes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

The story line and plitbwere really good, but I had a really hard time reading this one. There was to much technical gorgon that I did not understand, and it made it hard to follow the story.

After a while, I found myself skipping entire paragraphs to get by all the needless nonsense.

The characters, plot, and story were good, but 1/4 of the technical gargon could be cut.

Three stars

this was a very intriguing and fast read for me. the protagonist navigates a world of corporate espionage and political machinations, they must unravel a series of mysteries to uncover the truth behind a sinister conspiracy. I noticed sections of the novel dragging while others rushed by too quickly and because of this, at some points in the book., the plot can feel overly convoluted, however at its core, the work explores themes of deception, betrayal, and intrigue

DNF at 22%
I wanted to like this so bad. I originally requested this arc because another reviewer raved about its worldbuilding, and because it’s being marketed as being like Avatar the Last Airbender. Unfortunately, I found my eyes dragging over the pages, barely reading it. I wasn’t hooked. I wasn’t invested. From what I did read, I think the world and magic system is exceptional. You can tell the author put a lot of time and thought into it. Unfortunately, at least to me, the characters dragged this story down. If this was my story, I would’ve maybe sat on this idea a little longer, let it cook a little more. Cause I want this book to exist. I just think the characters didn’t help carry the story as well as they could’ve. They needed more time to develop. More time to develop that particular writing muscle. And I’m saying this not to be mean, but as someone who is trying to workout those muscles too and understand how hard it is. I also struggle with my characters but have an easier time with world building. If you’re looking for more details as to why I ended up DNFing, it was because it felt a little middle grade (not to talk down on middle grades, I love them), but in the sense that the characters’ personalities and motivations and the theme were told to us and in a matter that was kind of heavy handed. Yet, even though they were telling us the reasons we should care about them, I didn’t. It sort of lacked that elusive spark that tethers me to them.
If you look at the other reviews, you’ll see I’m the minority on this. So I recommend you read and form your own opinion, cause I think many others are obviously going to really enjoy it. For me, I wanted to like it, but the book needs to at least hook me enough to want to keep reading instead of reading any of the many, many other books on my TBR or doing anything else in my life.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read the eARC for Spin of Fate. Unfortunately the kindle file has spacing issues, making it difficult for me to read with dyslexia. I still look forward to reading it when it comes out as it's one of my most look forward to new releases this year. I'm pre-rating four star because I anticipate really enjoying it once in a format I can process.

"Spin of Fate" was an interesting start to a high fantasy series.
The book started out pretty slow, both in terms of plot and character development. Both pick up considerably halfway through.
The magic system is an interesting take on karma or good/evil, and I appreciate that at one point, a character notes that it is more like a science (and is explained as such) even if people like to interpret it as religion. However, there are several places where the plot/history is simply explained by one character to another to help the reader get more context on what's happening, and while in some places I get that it can pass as a "the character wasn't educated, so they have to have things explained to them" situation, it was a little on the nose, and in some places, it was either repetitive (because multiple characters were in the dark, but were separated) or just didn't make sense (because that information is something that involved characters should definitely know and wouldn't just say out loud, but the person who is spying isn't privy to that information).
I loved how complex the protagonists' motivations were, and how the different POVs give you different perspectives on any given situation; it really highlights the overall theme of how things can't just be black and white like the division of good and evil suggests. Even when the characters made really dumb decisions, you can see where they're coming from, especially when keeping in mind that the protagonists are young. On the other hand, supporting characters were extremely flat, especially given how extreme many of them were, and attempts to give them depth were, like the magic system, more telling than showing. Like, almost literally monologues.
I love the glimmerings of a possible love triangle, especially in a threesome that are all close as opposed to a threesome where two of the people are at odds.
The cover of the book was a little misleading to me; for all their talk of the four great beasts, there was actually very little involvement of any of them. I know that's likely to change in future books, but I think in general, I'm not a fan of books that leave the reader hanging in such a big way. I'm not saying that books shouldn't have cliffhangers, but I think there's a difference between cutting off a story and wrapping up a book, even if you know it's gonna be part of a series.
I appreciate the difficulties of starting out a high fantasy series, so I'm sure the following books will only get better. This series shows a lot of promise; this first book just didn't hit the right notes for me.

Though I enjoyed aspects of the world and the characters the execution left much to be desired. Especially when it came to the world building. There was a lot of exposition through dialogue. Motives we're not always clear until later but not because it was necessary for a big reveal. They just weren't explained and it left me confused. Another thing that was confusing was time. There were many instances where I couldn't tell how much time had passed. Cohesion wasn't always there. The ending felt rushed which made some of the characters decision seem rushed. There were a lot of interesting ideas, but in the end it could have been presented better.

I really wanted to like this one, but it just wasn't for me. It was a bit slower than I like and just couldn't hold my interest.

The kindle version formatting was broken, so I was not able to read. Disappointed, as I’ve heard really good things about the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

This book was not what I expected it to be. I absolutely love Avatar so that was what originally drew me in. But… I didn’t really get that from the book at all. It felt disjointed and the magic system was a bit convoluted to understand.

It's always a bummer when a book you were looking forward to reading doesn't live up to the hype.

I went into this book with very high expectations. And I wish I hadn't. The themes of this book were very heavy-handed, which makes sense for the target demographic. Kids are less likely to notice nuance. This book also read closer to middle grade than YA in my opinion.

I didn't care for any of the characters. It might have to do with the heavy-handed themes. This is the issue I have with three protagonist books that are set up this way. They are often placed in the archetype roles, and there's not much to expand on: the mouthy one, the rule follower, the angry one.

The setting was the part of this book that I was most interested in, but that can only keep me interested for so long. Neither the plot nor the characters held my interest long enough for this book to become a new favorite. This book deserved better marketing, that's for sure. I think this book does have an audience, it's just not me.

Overall, this was a really fun time. I'd say my rating honest skews more towards a 3.5 than a 3 star, but I still did enjoy what I read. I think the Naruto influence and vibes were a fun addition (honestly, this is one of the first books I've read that that was the case, which was pretty wild). Aina, Aranel, and Meizan have some heavy Team 7 vibes, which I greatly enjoyed. Though I do wish that there was a bit more time spent with them as a trio making budding friendships and building trust. Mostly because there were some moments that happened later where I felt like they would've had a bit more impact had there been more time spent with them that way.

The world-building was very creative and it was obvious the author had a lot of fun creating this world and how things interact with one another. I especially loved the 4 great beasts/gods that inspired(?) the Toranic law. Like, peacock-snake with basilisk-level glare that makes you feel mind-numbing levels of dread/terror instead of turning you to stone??? That's awesome!

As for the characters, I feel like Aranel seemed to have the most of an arc. He's not exactly finished yet, but the start of that growth of him learning to think more outside his own bubble and question what he was taught was very interesting. Meizan had slightly less of an arc, in my opinion, in that he did start to grow a bit, but I felt like there was possibly something missing in between the start of his journey and how he ended in book 1. Unfortunately for Aina, I feel like she kind of got the short end of the stick in that her journey was the least interesting to me and also didn't feel like she had as much to do. There's a chance this will change in the other book(s?), but I feel like book 1 Aina missed the mark for me.

One other thing I felt could have used a bit more work was that the pacing was a bit too fast in places. Particularly in the area of character development and interaction. I realize that there was a lot in book 1 (in fact, in was slightly info-dumpy in places) because the world needed to be established as well as setting up both stakes and the 2nd book. However, I still kind of wish there had been a bit more time spent with the 3 protagonists as a unit, just to get maximum feelings and the potential for angst out there.

Overall, though, I do think this is a fun, inventive, and interesting debut with a lot of potential for the next book. I'm curious to see how things pan out.

I absolutely adored Spin of Fate. This is what YA (High) Fantasy can be! It's intelligently written, from the world building to the themes, and unique and complex without being overwhelming. Appropriate for many ages, and will be particularly enjoyed by those who have or still are deconstructing religious backgrounds. The plot moves quickly and there's great attention to detail, I can't wait to read more of the series. I would like to see a little more character development, but I think that will come in later books.

I'm not entirely sure the comps are accurate, so don't rely on those when choosing to read this. But do read it!

4 stars. Spin of Fate was recommended to me by a Goodreads friend who suggested that I would like the magic system - and while I did, it was actually the characters that really made this book shine for me. The world and magic system of Spin of Fate is fascinating and imaginative - it's marketed as inspired by Naruto and Avatar: The Last Airbender, and while I haven't seen or read the former, I could definitely see the influence of the latter (as well as, apparently, Pokemon, which I honestly think more authors should do - just draw their inspiration from random childhood obsessions). Yet, as unique and colorful as it was, I'm not quite sure if I'd call the worldbuilding "Sanderson-esque," as the blurb does - for all of its beauty, it is not nearly as complex or well-fleshed out as I find Brandon Sanderson's worlds to be - but quite honestly, few fantasy worlds are.

The greatest strength of Spin of Fate, in my opinion, is its three protagonists - Aina, Aranel, and Meizan - who, despite their vastly different backgrounds, are each just trying to find meaning and understand their place in their world. Found family will always be one of my favorite tropes, and nothing says found family quite like three misguided teenagers learning to overcome their distrust and understand one another despite their literal worlds being against them. I loved reading their dynamic and seeing each of their characters grow over the course of the plot - and I'm looking forward to reading even more in the sequels.

Some of the dialogue and pacing was choppy and certain elements of the worldbuilding could have used more elaboration (or maybe that's just the Sanderson reader in me talking), but overall, Spin of Fate was an impressive debut and I'm looking forward to reading more both from this world and from this author.

This book was full of really interesting world building, but I had really trouble engaging with the characters. The plot was fast paced though and I would be interested to see what happens in the sequel!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review

An excellently written book overall! Hard to believe this is a debut and this author is a talent to watch!

The depth of the character's was just wonderful and I appreciate that the author is taking some time to develop their character arcs! I find YA fantasy often rushes development to the detriment of the character but here I appreciated that 2 of the 3 main characters ended their arcs on a "low" note rather than high, since it leaves something to look forward to in later books. Aranel in particular was interesting to me and I see him as being very polarizing! I come from a country where religious extremism is rampant so I felt his character captured that element of a brainwashed teen trying to make sense of their world very well.

The worldbuilding was top class and the magic was unique and complex. It did take a while to fully make sense which is why this may be less accessible than other YA fantasy. But I see it appealing to lovers of epic fantasy and advanced readers.

Pacing wise it started strong but the pace slowed down in the 2nd part where we had an extended training arc. I didn't feel bored but I also didn't feel the need to flip pages rapidly, since some of it was just characters training and hanging out. But after reading the 4th part I understood why those decisions were made to have those extended scenes. There were a lot of hints and character development that were given in the 2nd part which at the time seemed unnecessary or extraneous. But after finishing the book I realized why the author chose to do it because without much of that the 4th part reveals and fights may have felt unearned and sudden. And there were so many hints sprinkled in that part which only jumped at me after the reveals and I wish I had picked up on them.

Overall this is an excellent debut and I am astounded by the author's deliberate writing style and attention to detail. The prose was lovely as well and I appreciated that the characters all had very distinct voices. I will read anything by this author in the future and cannot wait for more of her books!