Review for Fateful by Claudia Gray

Fateful by Claudia Gray
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 29th March 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, SteamPunk, Romance
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Amazon Summary:
"A tragic tale about falling in love on the world’s most infamous ill-fated sea voyage as heroine, Tess, discovers darker secrets that lie beneath the doomed crossing… and a hidden brotherhood that threaten to tear her lover from her forever.

The RMS Titanic is the most luxurious ship ever built, but for eighteen-year-old Tess Davies it’s a prison. Travelling as a maid for the family she has served for years, Tess is trapped in their employ amid painful memories and family secrets.

When she meets Alec, a handsome upper class passenger, Tess falls helplessly in love. But Alec has secrets of his own… and soon Tess is entangled in a dangerous game. A sinister brotherhood that will do anything to induct Alec into their mystical order has followed him onboard. And Tess is now their most powerful pawn.

Tess and Alec fight the dark forces threatening to tear them apart, never realising that they will have to face an even greater peril before the journey is over…"

Review
When I first heard the synopsis for Fateful I thought a book about the Titanic with werewolves was going to go either way. It would either be absolutely fantastic or just plain ridiculous. So I was surprised to find after reading this book that I fell straight down the middle and had mixed feelings about it.

The main thing that I found with Fateful is that it read like two completely different stories. There’s the historical fiction side, which I loved, that gives an in-depth look at a young servant girl named Tess’s time on board the Titanic, making plans to escape the ghastly family she works for to start a new life once the ship docks in America. One thing Tess isn’t banking on is falling for the rich and respected heir to a fortune Alec Marlowe. And just as I was enjoying this gorgeous blossoming romance between opposing society members that you just know is going to end in tragedy one way or another BAM the werewolves would come along and jolt me out of that story line and vice versa. I did however enjoy both aspects of the story, but the problem? I just didn’t feel like they worked well together. So much so that at times it felt like I was reading two separate books at once. The werewolves and the Titanic just didn’t complement each other at all and I found that some scenes with the wolves were in bad taste and overall gave the book a fun and entertaining feel which just didn’t sit well with the sense of foreboding and impending doom of the tragedy that was the Titanic.

That being said I did like this book it’s fun, enjoyable and exciting- things I never thought I’d say about a book about the Titanic but there you go! I did feel like the fun of having werewolves on board the ship did take away from the seriousness of the situation. I went into Fateful expecting an epic weepy romance but really didn’t get that from it at all. In short I would have preferred if Claudia wrote this as two separate books, a historical romance on the Titanic, and a historical- or even modern- paranormal featuring the werewolves.

One thing that I did love about this book was the characters. I thought Tess made a fantastic and courageous heroine and I loved reading about her growing relationship with Alec. I loved Alec’s complete disregard for the rules of society and how he treated everybody equally and with respect. I also loved a lot of the secondary characters like Irene, Myriam, George and Ned who make up Tess’s friends and are all so warm and hugely likeable. Each character has a different place in society and I loved reading about each of their journeys and experiences on the Titanic.

Overall I found Fateful to be a bit of an odd combination but enjoyable all the same. If anything it has the fact that it’s like nothing else out there going for it. If you like your steampunk and don’t take it too seriously then you may very well enjoy this book.