BOOK REVIEW: Beyond Fate

In another stunning instalment of the Fate series, we get one more reason to fall helplessly in love with this unique world that Ms Lyons has so skilfully woven for us, and this time he get to hear Jonah’s voice. This is not a continuation of the story, this novella only covers the events from the first book in the series, but it gives us a deeper insight into all the characters as we watch Jonah and Chloe meet in real life all over again.

Jonah has been dreaming of Chloe since he was a young boy, the two of them having grown up in each other’s dreams, fallen in love for the first time, while neither of them ever suspected that the other could be real. Once Jonah learns of her existence, he is determined to find her and willing to use anything in his power to do so. As his search progresses and the closer he gets to her, the more he realises that he has been in love with her for a very long time. That love drives him forward, everything in his life slowly changing once he embraces the strength and irrevocability of those feelings.

“My girl. The girl I’ve been in love with my whole life. CHLOE IS REAL, CHLOE IS REAL, OH MY GOOD GODS, CHLOE IS REAL.”

But as we already know, things don’t go as planned once they lay eyes on each other, Chloe’s shock from realising that the boy she had dreamt all her life was real and not knowing he had those dreams too keeping them apart long enough for the other Whitecomb twin to take notice of her. And fall for her.

We watch the rift between the twins slowly take shape and intensify as Kellan and Chloe’s relationship moves along. We feel all the emotions that run through Jonah while he watches the love of his life fall for his brother, we can taste his anguish, confusion, jealousy, anger, and eventually his downward spiral towards bottomless depression.

This insight into Jonah’s mind gives us a much deeper understanding of this complex young man who maintains a calm and collected façade for the whole world to see, but who silently struggles every day with feelings on inadequacy, the burden of imposed responsibilities and the desire to have at least the most important person in his life as just his own. So many gaps are filled this way, one of the crucial ones being the source of the dysfunctional relationship between the twins and their father. It makes us understand them better and love them even more for the persons they have become, despite their loveless upbringing.

This is a story of love, heartbreak, sacrifice and, ultimately, choices. Once more, Ms Lyons’ superb prose is hard not to take note of, every word expertly placed, every puzzle piece further completing a truly magnificent product of this author’s endless imagination. I love this series, I love returning to it instalment after instalment, and I am forever hungry for more.

Beyond Fate is not to be read without first reading A Matter of Fate as many events that drive the overall storyline are skipped in this companion novella or just referred to in passing.

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Fate - Recommended Reading Order