Smith, Kaylie. A Ruinous Fate. HarperCollins, 2023. 978-1-368-08159-7. $18.99. 432 p. Grades 9-12.

Calliope Rosewood is a witch, and although she could be extremely powerful, she chooses instead to hide her gifts. Her powers to siphon magic from others is forbidden and dangerous, even among other witches. In order to stay alive, Calli deserts her coven and stays hidden with two of her best friends. When she meets Ezra, everything changes, and although she still keeps her powers hidden, she is forced one night to roll a witches die, taking her one step closer to fulfilling a prophecy that will turn her into a blood warrior. Desperate to change her fate, Calli accepts help from Ezra’s older brother, Gideon, and along with her friends, they journey into a dark forest on a quest to find the one named “the witch eater”. Calli and Ezra begin to rekindle the relationship they had previously after revealing startling truths about themselves, but she also feels a connection to Gideon who is trying, like her, to remove his rolls of fate. Together, with old friends and new, the group faces many challenges within the enchanted forest, and Calli has to decide who she can really trust while embracing her true identity and power. Will she be able to change her fate and save her friends, or will she inevitably fulfill the prophecy, start a war, and destroy her people and their magic forever?

THOUGHTS: This is a great recommendation for readers who love Sarah J. Maas. It contains many popular fantasy tropes readers will enjoy at a more, age appropriate level than some of Maas’s later novels. The pages are brimming with strong, female characters, friendships, magic, adventure, peril, and romance. The foreshadowing visions in A Ruinous Fate will have readers coming back to check out the sequel as soon as the last chapter has been read. There is so much more to this story yet to come.

Fantasy