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Fateless by Julie KagawaFateless #1
Published by HarperCollins on July 15, 2025
Age Group & Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Deep in the forgotten city of the Deathless Kings, an ancient relic of untold power waits—for one bold enough to steal it.
When seventeen-year-old Sparrow joined the Thieves Guild she made a vow of binding loyalty to their cause. So when a mission comes along from The Circle, a group of mysterious, dangerous beings who control the Thieves Guild from the shadows, Sparrow is determined to cement her place in the guild.
What ensues is a death-defying adventure that has Sparrow and her band of thieves venturing into the heart of the forgotten city of the Deathless King. The fate of Sparrow, her companions, and Raithe, the enigmatic yet alluring assassin Sparrow is forced to join forces with during their quest, all hang in the balance as they find themselves battling ancient forces within the tombs and facing the unwavering hold of fate.
Perfect for fans of Alexandra Bracken and Sabaa Tahir, this new fantasy trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Julie Kagawa will sweep readers into a bold and exciting new world, where a twisted game of destiny has far-reaching consequences.
A copy of the book was provided for review purposes - thank you! Receiving a copy does not guarantee a positive review and therefore does not affect the opinion or content of the review.
Trigger & Content Warnings: death, murder, violence, war, abandonment, blood, loss of autonomy (possession)
Fateless is clearly a love letter to video games, and I love this for Julie Kagawa. However, I think this would be better in video game form (probably a narrative game).
It’s the first in a new series and follows Sparrow, a member of the Thieves Guild in the city of Kovass. She finally gets noticed by The Circle, who overlook her guild, and they send her on a top-secret mission to retrieve the Tapestry of the World from the Temple of Fate — failure’s not an option, and if she fails, both her and her guild master will be punished. But things don’t turn out as expected, sending Sparrow on an adventure across the land of Arkyennah with some unlikely allies that ultimately become friends.
My overall feelings about Fateless are similar to what I felt with Soul of the Sword, the second book in her Shadow of the Fox trilogy. This is very much a journey book as Sparrow and her companions leave Kovass — Julie Kagawa puts us immediately into the action of the story and keeps a steady pace. However, while it feels like there’s a lot going on and not much going on, Fateless definitely is set up for a potentially exciting rest of the series, and I have no doubt Kagawa won’t disappoint.
The world is immersive and descriptive, and I really felt like I was getting dragged into the story with the characters. There’s a lot of information being thrown; it often felt like an info-dump. I felt like that dragged the story down quite a bit, and that was exactly how I felt with Soul of the Sword (it’s also a journey book). I think it would be fantastic in a video game, though.
It’s clear Kagawa pays a lot of attention to the details of the world, and I appreciated learning about the different cultures and creatures in Arkyennah. I especially loved the history behind the Scarab Clan and how it shows a ritual evolves over the centuries, even if the needs and purpose change.
I also appreciated how each of them have different takes on fate and destiny: like with Halek, a Fatechaster we meet very early on, is constantly going where the wind takes him. He’s the definition of carefree and flutters around like a butterfly, and he very much has an energetic puppy aura that he carries about him. And then we have Sparrow, who has always believed her fate is set in stone: once a thief, always a thief. Everyone has their place in the world, and there’s no changing it.
The characters are relatively similar to Kagawa’s other works: we have a quiet assassin (Raithe) who has a mysterious aura about him and a Fatechaser (Halek) who brought a lot of sunshine and puppy vibes to the book. I’m fully convinced Halek carried the story with his optimism and charm, because I’m not too invested in the other characters (yet), including our protagonist (except for Kysa). Sparrow honestly felt really repetitive after a certain point, and I think her constant repetitive refrain of, “I’m just a thief. I’m not a hero. I’m not a warrior” kind of overshadowed her character.
But let’s be real here: when you’re raised to be a thief under the belief that you can’t change your destiny and then suddenly find out you can, in fact, change your destiny, there’s bound to be some sort of existential crisis involved. I think Kagawa portrays this pretty well, even if it was annoying to read that every few pages. That being said, Sparrow does start questioning her identity and her place in the world, and I’m interested to see how this plays out in the sequel.
Fateless was overall a lot of fun to read. It gave me the same vibes as Kagawa’s debut, but with the maturity of a seasoned writer. It’s not my favorite book by any means, but Kagawa is definitely a comfort author for me, and this is a solid start to a new series.
Sophia started blogging in February 2012 for the hell of it and is surprisingly still around. She has a GIF for nearly everything, probably listens to too much K-Pop and is generally in an existential crisis of sorts (she's trying her best). More of her bookish reviews and K-Pop Roundups can be found at The Arts STL.
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