The Deadly Fates – Book Review
review by Christopher Nuttell
The Deadly Fates, book 3 of the Conjureverse, is somewhat difficult to review. There are parts that I liked immensely, and I have no hesitation in giving it my seal of approval, but there are other parts that don’t quite make sense, particularly when Dhonielle Clayton pushes the comparisons between the Conjureverse and America (civil rights and modern day era) to breaking point. In some ways, the whole series is far more complex than Harry Potter, but this doesn’t always work out its favour. The underlying plot is far more obscure than the Potter books, leaving the reader unsure of what is really going on and who is truly on what side.
At the end of the previous book, Ella and her friends Brigit and Jason discovered (one of) the dark secrets of the magical society, that Marvelling society (particularly the flying cities) is partially based on Conjurer sorcery. This has not gone down very well, to say the least, and tensions between Marvellers and Conjurers are on the verge of breaking into open war. Powerful factions on both sides are pushing matters to breaking point, while the enigmatic Gia – the villain of the previous two novels – has a plan of her own. Returning to school, Ella plunges into a quest to uncover the remaining secrets of the two societies in a desperate bid to expose the truth before it is too late.
But it may already be too late. The growing tensions between the two societies are spilling over into the school, prompting fights and discrimination and coming very close to breaking up the power trio (and in some ways may have done so), and as secrets are exposed and skirmishes begin between the two sides the truth may not end the conflict, but only make it worse.
The Deadly Fates shines in three particular areas. First, and very differently from Harry Potter, the book covers Ella and her friends as they try desperately to uncover the truth, sticking through old records and using magic to explore the past … something that might have backfired slightly, as Ella come to discover that her family may not be wholly innocent in the affair. Second, the emotional tension running through the book is very well depicted, as Ella and her friends start going through puberty as well and dealing with their relations (conjure ancestry for Jason, her mother being a villainess for Brigit), leading to a nasty fight between Ella and Brigit that is barely, if ever, resolved. Third, the book explores the impact of discrimination, bias, and other unfair treatment meted out to Ella and Brigit – and oddly Pierre, who starts out as an bullying opponent (not unlike Draco Malfoy) and then grows into a character trying to escape his father’s shadow, turning him into something of a friend for Ella. (A very Emily-like thing to do). Dhonielle Clayton pulls no punches when it comes to depicting just how it feels to be on the receiving end, how easily it can make one’s temper boil over, and just how easy it is for someone’s opponents to use violence, or the threat of violence, to discredit them. The previous two books established Ella as a character who does not deserve such treatment, and it pays off in this morning. Clayton does not have to drive her point home. Her writing does it for her.
Ella herself grows as a character as she grows up, discovering the weaknesses of her father and the secrets her relatives are trying to hide. She is hurt badly by the fights between her and her friends (although she takes the truth of some of the things shouted at her to heart; I found myself agreeing with Brigit’s accusations, even though they were said in anger), as well as discovering that she is locked out of the loop, and finds herself shocked to discover some of the darker magic of her own people. She is also empathic enough to look beneath the surface, something Harry Potter never managed, and use it to turn some potential enemies into friends. Perhaps in some later book this will turn her into a Nelson Mandela analogue, the only real hope for peace. The book also shows Brigit developing in a more worrying direction, which will hopefully pay off in the next book.
The book’s weakness, however, is twofold. First, it is difficult to see how discrimination roughly comparable to the Jim Crow era took root in this society, because Conjurers have magic of their own and that magic is clearly very powerful. They are not the losers of African wars, sold to slave traders in exchange for guns and gold, but more akin to Wakanda. The Conjurers have a police force of their own, a society of their own … a better comparison, if deeply flawed, would be Jewish or Muslim communities within Europe. Perhaps one of the big secrets is that the original founders of the company poisoned the well, pushing discrimination against Conjurers to hide their own secrets.
The second weakness is that the overarching plot has become a great deal too complex. It becomes clear, as I said earlier, that Conjurers are not wholly innocent in the growing conflict, but is far less clear just who is on what side. It also has a tendency to undermine Ella’s position as the first Conjurer to attend marvelling school. There doesn’t seem to be any neat and simple resolution on the way, although the real world is a messy place and neat solutions exist more in fiction than reality. It leaves me reflecting that the past must be acknowledged, but it must also be left in the past. One of the problems with the modern world is that it is no longer possible to move past the sins of the past, even when all the original perpetrators are dead, and this hampers the development of a mature society. Ella may believe that the truth will end the war before it starts, but it will be very difficult to convince people who have no part in the crimes of their ancestors that they should pay a price for them. Why should they? They didn’t do it.
It is worth noting that The Deadly Fates ends on a twofold cliffhanger, both shocking and likely to have utterly disastrous consequences down the line. The death of one major character, whose name I shall not mention in hopes of avoiding spoilers, is very regrettable (I liked him), although I do tend to think that the character had to die for narrative reasons.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, with some minor reservations. The character work is very good, and the overarching plot slowly coming into light, but the political metaphors are increasingly clunky and the cliffhanger leaves us wanting more (and there is no date, yet, for the next book). It is not by any definition of the word a stand-alone, but it is a worthy successor to the first two books.
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