Well, hello there, my lovely little bi bookworms! I hope that everything is well wherever this finds you. With any luck, you’ll be snuggled under a warm blanket, maybe with a furry little friend nestled next to you on a big comfy chair, and a cup of tea nearby to complete the cozy vibes. And, of course, a pile of books to read as high as your ribcage, waiting to whisk you away on some new adventure.
Speaking of adventure, I’ve often found myself wondering, when reading about various superheroes or magical creatures, whether they really wrestle with the consequences of their powers. Does a siren feel guilty if she can sing a song and get someone to buy a drink? If someone could heal themselves with magic, would they be tempted to go looking for bar fights just for the thrill of it? And if the world were laced with this type of power, and it seems like there are larger fates at hand, would one try to fight one’s destiny or dive in headfirst?
These are some of the questions explored in Kaylie Smith’s 2023 dark romantic fantasy YA novel A Ruinous Fate. There’s plenty of wizardry, betrayal, and adventure, but my question always remains: are there bi characters in there? Let’s find out.
Before I get too deep down the enchanted black rabbit hole, I should go over a few disclaimers. First and foremost, there will be SPOILERS in this review of Smith’s first installment of the Heartless Fates series. Secondly, though this review is not part of Bi.org’s Unicorn Scale series, I’ll give it a similar treatment and state whether I recommend the book at the end of the review.
All good? Then, off we go to the enchanting continent of Illustros!
A Ruinous Fate begins by dropping us off in the middle of a rather sticky situation. The novel’s main character, a rogue witch named Calliope “Cala” Rosewood, holds a series of secrets, including the Siphon curse, which allows her to suck energy out of anyone she touches to the point of death. She finds herself one breath away from rolling a sixth six on a witch’s die, which would reveal that she is destined to become Blood Warrior in the Fates’ War between the gods and the mortals. But Calliope has discovered there may be a way to erase her rolls — though it comes at a high cost. She must join her friends (a siren named Delphine and a witch named Hannah), her ex (a witch named Ezra), and his charming older brother, Gideon, to venture into the Neverending Forest in hopes of coming across the Witch Eater, who can help her for a steep price.
There is much to praise in this Goodreads favorite. First, we have a bi, nonbinary (she/they) author writing bi, queer, and non-binary characters in a well-thought-out fantasy world. It’s deeply cool to have a bi, plus-size author create a fascinating bi, plus-size main character in Calliope without those things becoming the main function of the character. But the queerness doesn’t stop there — Gideon, we discover, is not only fighting his attraction to Cala but has a sordid past with his military companion and superior officer, an immortal named Kestrel. Bi male leads for the win! But those aren’t the only bi or queer characters at play. We also learn that Delphine, before they hit the road, was dating a non-binary villager, and if she can manage not to get ensnared in the traps of the Neverending Forest, she might finally realize that Hannah has been in love with her for years.
It’s interesting to see Calliope struggle with the magical Siphon part of her identity, trying to push it away when it clearly wants to be expressed and can be very useful. However, it becomes clear as the narrative unfolds that this struggle is a metaphor for bisexuality. By accepting all of your attractions, you also accept that you aren’t just half one thing (straight) and half another (gay) — you are something distinct (bi).
It’s also fascinating to watch all these queer characters at play and how full-ass messy they get. We’ve got Calliope at the heart of a love triangle between brothers, some power dynamics at play with Kestrel still carrying a torch for Onyx prince Gideon, and a whole mountain of obliviousness between Delphine and Hannah… If I’m being honest, my notes laying out all the relationships started to look a lot like Charlie’s Pepe Silvia conspiracy board from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (2005–).
With that said, for all the reviews online discussing the book’s rapid pacing, it took wayyy too long to get going for me. This is essentially a mission storyline over the course of 400+ pages, and it took more than 150 pages to get the damn posse to hit the road? I get that it’s fantasy and the beginning of an epic saga and that there’s a lot of lore and exposition to establish before we get going. But for a YA novel, it’s a bit unfair to ask teen readers to wait until they get to Act Two for the story to finally get moving — especially considering that a lot of backstory could have been dropped along the journey. Maybe the only fantasy book I can think of in which the main characters took longer to officially start their quest was The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) — and Tolkien had far more characters and lore to lay out.
That said, once A Ruinous Fate does get going, we’re really off to the races. I found it increasingly difficult to put the book down as each chapter ended on a cliffhanger, and I simply had to know what happened.
Another criticism, however, is that it felt like a bit of sandbagging to reveal that Calliope is bi more than two-thirds through the story (when she mentions her attraction to women at the sight of a female creature in the forest who’s very much her type). I understand sometimes downplaying queerness early on to keep things moving, but this felt almost like an afterthought, and it never really got explored past a line or two in the entire tome. The term “bi” is never used in Illustros, either, which is a bit of a shame — though queerness does seem to be very normalized as a valid expression of attraction in this realm, so I’ll give that a bit of a pass.
A Ruinous Fate has a lot going for it. Between plus-size, bi heroines and the bi men who love her, a queer gaggle of supporting characters, and an expansive world that only becomes more intriguing with the turn of each page, it’s a fun read with more queer characters than you can shake a stick at. Once its bi booty gets bopping along, it’s a real treat as an entry into the fantasy realm. And, with some genuine twists that I never saw coming to close out the tale, I cannot wait to see what happens in Smith’s sequel, A Reckless Oath — and beyond. If you’re looking for messy love, even messier magic, and an adventure that does anything but meander, this book is — wait for it — spell-bi-nding. Pepe Silvia be damned, I gotta know what happens next.