V. E. Schwab knows how to pull heartstrings. Her words, sentences, rhythm are magic. Her stories, imaginative and original. Nothing is ever too much or not enough, every single word is meant to be there. It's such a joy to read her books, each time it feels like entering a fairytale that is both wonderous and tragic. Gallant is no exception.

The audiobook is phenomenal.

There are so many things I didn't like about this book, it's hard to decide where to start. Maybe with the lack of diversity...unless I missed something.

Library of Fates centers around two timelines, a group of students, their professor, a magical library, and a magical book. One timeline takes place while they are in college taking a seminar together. The other is 20 something years down the road when some of them reunite to solve a mystery about the magical book and the library it powers.

Without spoilers, the idea of the magic book/crux of the whole story falls short to me. It imagines a promise which the author makes it seem is assumed to be the natural choice for people. However, I found this assumption to be coming from a place of superiority and ego. It's hard to say this without spoilers but the book assumes people would make a certain choice given the ultimate power of something at the end. That people read books to see only themselvs in as the hero. Yet many do and should read books with others represented as the main to learn about different perspectives and backgrounds and stories. The concept presented in the book assumes people center themselves in everything, and yes many do, but many don't and given the choice wouldn't and shouldn't.

The romance is not believable and superficial at best. It's also a little messed up. I didn't know before going in, but the male main character is a "player". That alone would have made me put the book down. The language used in this book, the terms used, the adjectives, the way the characters speak to each other is reminicent of 90s-2000s rom com american hollywood-speak, bland, crass, unimaginative, and infused with misogyny. Such quotes like "you look sexy when you use the power"...NO THANK YOU.

There's one comment about American tourists in this book that reeks of a French superiority complex. Not that American tourists aren't known to have a certain reputation but it added to the already pretentious francophilia of the book.

I wouldn't recommend this at all.

Perhaps the only part I enjoyed was that it brought back memories of living in Boston and being around the areas mentioned in the book.

An exquisite collection of short stories written in Amal’s poetic prose that might leave you shedding a few tears or staring at the wall after reading, contemplating life, love, and the many joys and horrors of our world.

If everyone loved women the way this author so dearly loves women, the world would be a more beautiful and safe place for all. The way my heart ached for the women in these stories, for all the evils the world of men has put upon them, for the way they were healed by fellow women, sisters, mothers, friends...the way they were accepted for who they were, not for who others (men) wanted them to shaped like...

My auto-buy author list has one more addition!

A standout story in this collection was the title track, Seasons of Glass and Iron. This was a story of women discovering new possibilities through their relationship with each other after being conditioned by men/systems into harmful beliefs. It was beautiful, and I cried.

Another poignant tale is John Hollowback and the Witch. This perfectly encapsulates the horrible habit men have of seeing something beautiful, wanting to cage it and shape it to their liking, thinking they are doing a wonderful service, demanding to be the hero, the main character in everyone’s story, and completely blind to the reality where they smother someone’s soul so much it shrinks to barely a whisper and it isn’t until this crushed and bruised soul breaks free that the full scope of such a harm is realized...and everyone hates the men for it but they don’t even know because they cannot see themselves in a poor light, it must be everyone else’s fault.

While these two might be the ones I point out in this review, it by no means diminishes the rest. Each piece in this work is as precious as any other. You’ll find stories, perspectives, and representations of queer, Palestinian, and immigrant characters. There are also West Asian supernatural entities such as the Peri and Djinn. In every piece, there is magic.

This book is for everyone; everyone should read this book! Highly recommend!!

Thank you to Tor for the eARC copy via NetGalley for review consideration. All my opinions are my own.

Solid Sci-Fi novella! I listened to the audiobook which was probably why I was able to finish it. I like Becky Chamber's stories but the writing for me is too slow-paced in the beginnings and therefore at times, difficult to continue through to the end.