Fate's Bane
By C.L. Clark
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Book: 47Favorite Quote: Are these the questions that matter as you wend your way through these woods?
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for allowing me to read Fate's Bane by C. L. Clark.

Fate's Bane is a quick read but is also quite dense with information. C. L. Clark begins in what feels like the middle of the story. Two warring clans, a forfeit child, and love ignited. This book was a bit difficult for me to grasp what was going on at all times, to be honest. It felt like reading old folklore. The story of Agnir and Hadhnri is a heartbreaking one. I feel like it follows a sort of Romeo and Juliet formula but with a taste of Scottish clans and the children of chieftains.

I've had the Magic of the Lost series books on my TBR for longer than I care to admit. After reading this, I want to finally get to them more than ever! I finished Fate's Bane in two sittings, although you could easily finish it in one. By nature of being a novella, many years are stuffed into this short read - I could have easily read more, especially since I'm a big fantasy reader and I would've loved more of the world and the relationships. That said, what we do get is satisfying enough. I loved the way magic was imbued in the story (and the type), as well as the lore. It really felt like a tale being told you around a fire or in one of the roundhouses mentioned throughout the narrative. The setting itself is not something I've read too often and I found myself looking at the cover more than once. It's so gorgeous and really evocative of all the greenery they're constantly surrounded by!

This was a one-sitting read for me. I was completely drawn in from the start. I loved the richly woven world of the fens, with its tense clan politics, powerful magic, and quiet emotional undercurrents. C. L. Clark does an incredible job slowly unfolding both the world and the characters, so by the time the magic fully reveals itself, you’re deeply invested in what’s at stake. The relationship between Agnir and the chieftain’s daughter adds real heart to the story, layered with longing, loyalty, and the threat of everything unraveling. The concept of Makings, magic worked into leather, was beautifully unique, and I really appreciated how the story explored the cost of power alongside the pull of fate. It’s intense, romantic, and quietly tragic in all the right ways.

This is my first book from CL Clark but I really enjoyed and plan to read her other series soon. This book had so many of my favorite fantasy elements and also had a very sweet sapphic romance with tons of yearning and a semi tragic end (depending which one you believe).

This was a really fun and quick queer fantasy read. It was easy to follow and I was immediately hooked. Very atmospheric and great characters!

I love the emergence of queer books in fantasy. I am obsessed with this book and so thankful for the ARC copy. It was just so good.

I did not know that "sad swamp lesbians" were buzzwords for me until this week. I really like this tragic Romeo and Juliet but make it gay novella.

Imgur link goes to Instagram graphic scheduled for Sept 30th
Blog post goes live September 30th
Youtube Review will be in Friday Reads on June 6th
Amazon and Barnes & Noble reviews will go up when available


**TL;DR**: Haunting and beautiful, this one will linger with you.
**Source**: NetGalley , Thank you so much to the publisher!

**Plot**: A simple story of two girls from opposite clans falling in love, with consequences.
**Characters**: The characters were lovely, nothing ground breaking but well done.
**Setting:** A swampy, ancient vibe that really carried the story well.
**Fantasy/Romance:** I was actually shocked how much I liked the romance and the fantasy was a very light touch.

**Thoughts:**

Fate’s Bane is a simple story of two girls, from opposite clans who fall in love. One girl is the ward, held in a forced peace, the other the daughter of the clan leader who holds her. They meet while young and slowly grow together. Not only that but the discover a magic spring that could deeply impact their lives.

This story is very simple, I can’t think of one big twist or change in this that blew my mind. But it has haunted and lingered in my brain for awhile now. I loved the tone and the voice on it. It felt swampy, and dense, but the reading experience flowed so well and so quickly. The girls were believable and were well drawn. Everything in it, though it was simple in it’s construction was so well done I can’t complain about anything.

The only thing I can say is I wish I had more. I clearly needed to dive into C.L. Clark’s backlist but I hope, hope, hope she does more with this world and setting. It could stand on it’s own, but truly this was so beautiful I’d love to have many more like it.

Fate's Bane is an excellent example of a novella being the perfect length. There's a lot going on in a little over 150 pages, and that's what makes this novel so phenomenal. C.L. Clark's prose has a dark, fairytale-esque quality to it that made it impossible to put down. I'm also a terrible sucker for sad sapphics and Agnir and Hadhnri pretty much ruined my life (in the best way).

I think that this would have been a flawless book for me if the ending wasn't so... open-ended? Or rather, if the ending hadn't taken such a different path than what I was expecting. It was beautiful and circular, in a way that many myths or folklore stories tend to be, but I wish that Clark concluded it in a different way.

I can definitely feel Clark's passion for this world and these characters though. If you love an angsty, star-crossed romance and interesting politics, you need to add this one to your TBR.

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own! :)

Fate's Bane is a tragic Sapphic love story between warring clans. A queer love story that will appeal to fans of This Is How You Lose The Time War.

Enjoyed this novella and liked getting to know the characters. Liked that this was sweet with very low to no spice. I was hoping the endings would have turned out different.

Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for allowing me to read this early.

Beautifully written, with lush world building and lyrical prose, FATE'S BANE is a story of sapphic love and tragedy that will stick with you long after you've finished reading.

I received a free copy from Tordotcom via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date September 30th.

I was excited to see a new standalone novella by CL Clark! In Fate's Bane, Agnir has been held hostage by an enemy clan since she was a child. Growing up among the enemy, Agnir becomes close to the chief's daughter Hadhnri--but blood ties pull her elsewhere, and peace sits uneasy on the fens...

This was a short and intense novella with a plot that suited the length (I say, as someone who frequently complains that novellas should have been a short story, or a full novel.) Clark does an excellent job depicting the war-torn Fens, which felt bit adjacent to Beowulf. This impression was strengthened by the prose, which tended towards the sort of rhythm--"filth-crusted and fear-stinking", "gentle as a feather-kiss"--which echoes some of the better verse translations. There was also a surprising amount of detail about early leatherwork.

This is also a story that's strongly centered around the sapphic romance. Hadhnri's father doesn't trust an enemy hostage, even one raised by his clan from a child, and Agnir's father is set on war. With the diverging ties of family, Hadhnri's and Agnir's loyalties are inevitably and tragically set at odds. And ultimately, this is a story about history fading into myth. We get glimpses of the contradictory fragments of the clan origin myth interspersed throughout the text. And like their ancestor, Agnir and Hadhnri's fate is left teasingly ambiguous.

An intense and powerful novella. Recommended for sapphic fantasy fans.

Fate’s Bane was my first book by C. L. Clark, but it won’t be my last. Clark’s writing is beautiful. It’s lyrical. It’s different from anything I’ve ever read. I felt like I was in the middle of a painting while reading this. I really enjoyed this world, which I was sucked into from page one. It’s atmospheric and interesting and she did so much world building in such a short amount of time. I loved these characters and this star crossed lovers story and the idea that love is magic. And a bit tragic. 10/10 emotional sapphic love story.

“I loved you the moment I saw you in the dark, with the slaves—before I even knew what love was. And when I learned, I loved you all the more.”

This is the first book I’ve read by C. L. Clark, and I liked this. This is a short yet powerful novella. I really enjoyed the characters, sweet yet well-rounded, the plot, and most of all, the worldbuilding. I loved the depiction of the tribes, the power imbalances, the star-crossed sapphic lovers. I even liked the ambiguous, open-ended conclusion. The magic system was ok.

This could’ve been a perfect read for me because I love stories that have an ancient, mythological feel. Unfortunately, the writing style was too much. It wasn’t poetic or flowery, it was too heavy-handed. It dragged the storytelling down and took me out of the story so many times that I wanted to DNF the book. But the story didn’t deserve that and I’m glad I pushed through. Still, it was tough.

I wanted to read Clark’s other books, but if this is her usual style, I won’t be able to finish them.

Thank you to Tor, Netgalley and the author for gifting me this arc in exchange for this review.
3.5 stars rounded up.

A very short but impactful novella. This has so much detail and building for so few pages. You really feel for each character and their two different tribes despite only knowing them for few pages. Such a tragic love story!
My only complaint is the slightly ambiguous ending but it's very clearly part of the storytelling and exactly how the novella should end so I wouldn't change a thing!

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame kind of has the same vibes in my opinion. Slightly less tragic but the same sapphic vibes and yearning!

OH. MY. GOD. Do not be fooled by the page count of this book. It may be little, but it is mighty!!! I think I read this books in about 2-3 hours and that is because I cold NOT put it down. C.L. Clark was able to write such groundbreaking characters in such a small amount of time that I am simply astounded. I have read a good amount of sapphic books as of late and I have to say that this is one of my favorites by far. The way that the relationship between Agnir and Hadhnri was written and built throughout the story was absolutely beautiful.

This was a beautiful and tragic little novella with allll the Romeo and Juliet vibes. I'm obsessed with the world the CL Clark created here. The fens feel magical and mysterious. My one quibble is that some of the magic is just glossed over so quickly that I still found myself a bit confused by it. However, I think that may actually appeal to some, and may be what Clark was going for.

A truly gorgeous little story.

Sapphic yearning is here and it’s here to stay. This was just delightful. I heard tragic sapphic adventure in the description of this book and said I need to read this book immediately. This felt like a lovely fairytale of two girls from different clans who grew up together and have fallen in love but are destined to not be with another woman.

The writing in here was exquisite and it really reminded me of the River has Roots that I also just finished recently. This was a novella a little under 200 pages and it felt like the perfect length to me. I know some people might have a problem with that. I would highly recommend this if you love sapphic stories.

I love these sad swamp lesbians! This was a beautiful novella that felt just about the perfect length, though I also wouldn't have said no to a full length novel of this haha.