Fateful by Claudia Gray: Review

Fateful by Claudia Gray

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 on board. 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…

When I heard that this story was about werewolves on the Titanic, I thought that people were kind of running out of idea of stories to write and that this would be a very random book. Oh how I was wrong! This book surprised me so much and I fell in love with it within the first few pages!

The cover: I wasn't sure of the cover at first, but the more I looked at it the more I loved it. Its simple, gives the readers the perfect sense on what this story is like and actually has meaning to what happens within the pages!

The characters: The main character, Tess, was very likeable to me. She's loyal to the ones she loves, she's intelligent and knows when to step back from dangerous situations (though sometimes these situations find her) and she's also a really strong character. One of the other things I love about the characters is their back stories, we get to find out more about not only Tess but also the people she knows and meets along the way, which adds a lot more depth to each character. And of course there is Alec. You can't complain about Alec.

The setting: The story takes place on the Titanic, which in itself is amazing! But we get to see the main character go to and from first class to third class, so the readers get to see both sides of the Titanic. We get to see the rich side of it from the family that Tess works for, with luxurious rooms and a grand deck. Then we get to see the poorer side of it through Tess and the friends she makes, with tiny rooms and crowded corridors. The way Claudia Gray writes about the differences in each classes experiences makes it a lot more realistic, and a lot more heartbreaking.

The overall story: Although the premise of this story may seem completely random, Claudia Gray manages to make werewolves on the Titanic seem understandable and you start to think to yourself 'It makes sense for them all to be on the ship'. Every character has a legitimate reason to be on the Titanic and the way she intertwines each characters lives together is brilliant! The story is so fast paced as well, that I didn't find myself getting bored in places. Also, one of the main reasons I loved this book is, I became so wrapped up in Tess' life that I forgot what happened to the Titanic in real life, so when it happened in the book I felt a lot more heartbroken! This pretty much was what I was thinking near the ending of the book 'MOVE! Awww thats sweet! NO WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! OMG WHAT?! Noooooooo. AHHHH OMG YES!!' so all in all, I loved this book.

Claudia Gray creates a story of love, betrayals, friendship, guilt and heartbreak. I was probably the most surprised with this book out of my whole bookcase! Everything about this book was amazing, from the detailed characters and their stories, to the detailed surroundings of the Titanic. So I award this book with 5 out of 5 stars, because I fell in love with it when I was only a couple of pages into the story.

Brodi!