Fated [Paperback]

"Fated" is a very clever and imaginative story. It's quite different from what I usually read, and although I enjoyed this authors previous book, `Breathers', I thought "Fated" was much better in every respect.

Fate is disillusioned with his five and a half billion humans. He's fed up with watching them make mistake after mistake and waste their lives, diverting from the path he has set out for each of them.

However, one day he meets Sara, a human and falls in love. Which means his broken rule #1 - never get involved with humans.

The story takes us through his relationship with Sara, which is touching and funny. I really liked Fate, also known as Fabio when on Earth. He's endearing even when he scorns his human herd.

I thought the way the author integrated Destiny, Death, Gluttony, Sloth among others, and even God, (known as Jerry), into the story was brilliantly done. They all had personalities which went along with their name.

I loved the whole idea of how Jerry made the universe and how all the planets including Earth came to be, although it isn't an original idea, it was skilfully composed which had me smiling.

"Fated" is a satirical novel, which did occasionally turn a bit preachy. Some passages where Fate was venting his anger about the stupidity of his billions of humans went on a bit too long. I was also saddened to see that all the humans were portrayed as pretty awful.

There was one particular passage where Fate was in a church and he could see the futures of all the people that were there - he listed them: adulterers, pedophiles, school drop-outs, unhappy housewives. Not one was happy or good or kind. Humanity is bad but surely not that bad!

However, because of what happens to him, which I won't go into as I don't want to give any spoilers, Fate does eventually realise that humans aren't as bad as he first thought. He begins to understand what it is like to be human, he realises that by being immortal and able to transport at the speed of light didn't really give him the empathy he needed to understand them. It was touching to see him grow and learn and ultimately see hope.

The ending I didn't see coming for a long time, but I did eventually begin to have my suspicions. I was really hoping to be wrong, but I wasn't, the ending is slightly disconcerting and I can't say I liked it. But as I found with `Breathers', Browne doesn't write nicely wrapped up happy endings, which actually makes his novels deliciously unpredictable.

VERDICT:

"Fated" is a unique and well written novel. It's also funny, quirky, warm-hearted and hugely entertaining, which made this book hard to put down. I would definitely recommend it!

This story of Fate and his forbidden love affair with a human was an entertaining read. Fate (also known as Fabio) has to manage the fates of the 85% of humanity who can look forward to an unsatisfying future (a little pessimistic, surely?), as opposed to those on the path of Destiny. Interaction with humans is against the rules and his affair with Sara leads to a renewed interest in his (rather depressing) work, the consequences of which take him in a very unexpected direction.

As a satire on modern life, this was an ejoyable read, although there were a few issues which dropped this review from 4 stars to three. For me, a story narrated and inhabited by Immortal universal concepts such as Fate, Destiny, Death, Gluttony etc. really ought to have been a little more cosmopolitan. As a British reader there were just too many American pop culture references (ok so the author is American, but I personally found it very distracting) and all of the immortal characters lived in the US (with the somewhat obvious exception of Karma who was found in India at one point). A little more variety in setting would really have increased my enjoyment. I suppose that makes this a satire on American society, but I felt a little left out. I also found the repetition of the phrase "The thing about (insert immortal attribute's name) is that he/she is a....." a bit annoying. But maybe that's just a personal thing!

Overall, interesting ideas and a good story which lost a little in translation for me.

SG Browne is one of those authors that you're never quite sure what you'll get with their latest work. Breaking in on the Urban Fantasy Genre last year with Breathers (a zombie tale) I just couldn't wait to see what would arrive next and believe me this latest title beats the previous hands down.

Within this book is a tale that is reminiscent of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, with rounded characters that you'd love to hang around, a weird and quirky look at the universe as a whole alongside a plot that has hope for us all. It's fun and whilst at times quite dark, this is a book that has that ray of light throughout. Finally add to this a dark twisted sense of humour mixed up with great pace as well as prose and it was a superb piece of escapism that was hard to put down. Cracking.