Crow Rapp assumes he’ll spend his life growing corn in rural Illinois, like the grandparents who raised him. But during a visit to a traveling carnival, he encounters a handsome stranger named Simeon Bell—and receives a prophecy of a horrifying future. When that future materializes soon afterward, Crow flees…only to find that no matter how far he goes, fate pursues him.

Simeon re-enters his life a decade later and causes Crow to consider whether actively fighting his fate might be better than constant attempts at escape. In a world tinged by magic, where myths are as real as the sky above them, the men try to determine Crow’s true identity. Along the way, they test the powers of friendship and love and explore the boundaries of free will—ultimately discovering whether the force of destiny can be overcome.

Rating: 5 out of 5!

Carnival of Mysteries: Crow’s Fate, by Kim Fielding

A few years ago (though possibly even before that) shared-world series became A Thing in the m/m romance genre. I get it – it’s basically a writing prompt, something to create a jumping-off point for a story. In this case, it’s the Carnival of Mysteries: “Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special.” Unfortunately, the execution of some of these shared-world books can be extremely uneven, and so I have generally shied away. Kim Fielding has written some of the my favorite books so I figured I’d at least give this one a shot, though.

I loved this book so much! Crow and Simeon are marvelous characters. The story is told from Crow’s point of view, and we get a full view of his concerns, his insecurities, and his hopes…or lack thereof. His life is extremely difficult, as death and destruction pursues him. He can’t afford to get to close to anyone, and so lives a lonely, desperate life. When Simeon enters his life Crow starts to question who he is and why he is pursued by monsters. Most importantly, Simeon makes Crow have hope for his future…their future.

In the hands of another writer this could have been a bit of a tedious book, but Fielding does a fantastic job of keeping the pace moving. The story turns into a bit of a travelogue as Crow and Simeon travel the country searching for answers. The surprises that they find along the way suggest very strange things are afoot. When things take a turn for the fantastical in the third act, though, the groundwork has been laid well enough that it doesn’t break the suspension of disbelief. What I loved the most about this book, though, is that from a simple story of a man pursued by his demons, we also get contemplation of fate, free will, nature versus nurture, and even some Walt Whitman and Greek tragedies thrown in as well. These all gave a depth to the story that I really appreciated.

I listened to the audio version of Crow’s Fate, performed by Joel Leslie. As always, Leslie’s delivery was excellent, with good separation between the characters, believable accents, and even female character voices that didn’t sound like “a man trying to sound like a woman”, if that makes sense. If audiobooks are your thing, this one is definitely worth picking up.

Will I continue reading the Carnival of Mysteries books? We’ll see. But this one is a great start!