Karen Cohn's Reviews > The Spindle of Fate

The Spindle of Fate is a fantasy novel based on Chinese mythology - specifically, how Chinese mythology relates to the afterlife. Evie Mei Huang is the daughter of a well-known tailor and clothing designer who goes mysteriously missing and is presumed dead - that is, until a mysterious talking monkey-like spirit appears, and tells Evie that her mother was taken mistakenly, and is the Courts of the afterlife. The monkey-spirit wants Evie to go on a quest through the Courts, to bring her mother's spirit back to rejoin her body before it's too late. The spirit tells Evie about the various Guilds populated by people with special abilities, something she never knew about, although the spirit assumed that she did - after all, her mother is the head of the Weavers' Guild.

This is a fun fantasy adventure, with a 12 year-old, female main character, and a teenage boy, Kevin, as her assistant - a member of the Warrior Guild, another Guild Evie had never heard of, and the only person who would volunteer to go with her. That this knowledge comes after Evie's mother's apparent death adds to her surprise, as do the things she learns about her mother, and herself, as the story progresses. This fast-paced novel is recommended for readers middle school through adult, especially those who enjoy fantasy, mythology, or both.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.