It's possible I got old between the other Twelve Houses books and this. I remember the Twelve Houses as charming old-school fantasy novels with great character growth and setting development. Fortune and Fate feels like a fanfic of that: Wen is a character who has been totally present all along, don't you remember she was Justin's BFF? And the Queen loves her so much she won't replace her even though she went missing? So, since she's totally a central character we know and love, here's her story, with ample name-dropping of the (actual) main characters and a side plot about the actual main characters that's completely unrelated. So, yeah, as a Gillengaria novel this fails -- and there are more loose threads than I could handle on that end: "there's so much more crime in the Southern lands than there has been, let's investigate." That ended up being completely dropped. "What if people aren't still loyal to the queen?" Oh well, everyone loves Cammon, so should be fine.

On the other hand, Wen's story was sweet, if predictable. There's room in my life for a cozy old-school fantasy about female warriors. ( )

I really enjoyed the down-to-earth and undramatic love story here - although I am disappointed that there was not a queer romance or character in sight in any of these books, or, to my memory, a single non-white character.

The A-plot was equally undramatic - a found family story rather than a grand battle. The action is less the point here than Wen's recovery and her making a place for herself, which is very satisfying. Wen's arc here reminds me a bit of the first part of Dorrin's story from Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion series (although in fact, this book came out before Dorrin got a major POV in the last four books of that series, so maybe Moon was inspired by Shinn). ( )

I've had an interesting relationship with the Twelve Houses books. I loved the first one and then it plummeted in quality from there. I decided to pick up Fortune and Fate on a whim, hoping that it would be good enough to live up to the first. It wasn't but that doesn't mean it was bad. It was interesting, but really a bit underwwhelming.

Wen is a good character and I did like her a lot, but I felt that her "romance" was really a throw away component and did nothing for me. If anything, it upset me because it felt so ridiculously unnecessary. Other than that, I would recommend it, if you wouldn't mind that. ( )

I enjoyed this 5th installment of the "Twelve Houses" series, though it took a bit of adjustment to accept someone other than one of the main 6 characters (or one of those characters' love interest) as a main narrator for the book. Once I got used to having Wen as a narrator, though, I got sucked back into the world Shinn has created and enjoyed the story she told. Very nicely done.

(And though Wen was the focus of the story, there was enough told from the POV of one of the 6 to keep me happily updated in their lives as well.) ( )

Book 5 was one of my favourites despite the rather weak basis (Wen suffers severely from her perceived disgrace of not defending her king) so she disappears from the Rider's community. The Riders have been developed as a tight, supportive elite which she abandons. However, the subsequent story is brilliant and her eventual reunion with the other characters is naturally accomplished. Amalie seems easier to admire and accept as an articulate leader, Cammon is plausible as her Consort and the ruling families appear to be satisfactory. The dénouement is not sappy and too honeyed of a 'happily ever after'. In the overall series, there was a lack of detail regarding Tayse and Senneth's lives in an ever-after sense. ( )