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Kismet's Gate: The Scarred and the Chosen
Some gates are meant to be opened. Others were sealed for a reason.
Kismet’s Gate is a sweeping fantasy of buried truths, impossible choices, and a medallion that reveals its secrets only through joy. Perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, Quicksilver, and The Priory of the Orange Tree, it blends emotional depth with vivid, emotionally honest characters and dialogue, and a world that feels utterly real.
Whispers of Kismarr, the lost city of the Kismets, are stirring once more. Some call it paradise. Others believe it never existed. But the key to finding the path lies in Anara’s blood. No one alive has ever seen Kismarr, but the Kismets remain. Rare and fiercely loyal, they bond for life and pull the strings of fate. They heal, they protect, and in some cases, they kill.
Hunted and hiding behind a false name, Anara wanted only to survive. But in the forge of grief and anger, she became a weapon. When fate tangles her with Jarek, a scarred blacksmith, and Lysara, a centuries-old monk whose gaze cuts deeper than the blades Anara wields so easily, the lines between loyalty, desire, and destiny begin to blur. Jarek stirs a wanting in her. Lysara pulls at something deeper, older, and impossible to name.
Anara may have to choose between them, or risk losing them both.
The medallion calls. The gate awaits. Will she walk through?
Kismet’s Gate is a sweeping fantasy of buried truths, impossible choices, and a medallion that reveals its secrets only through joy. Perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, Quicksilver, and The Priory of the Orange Tree, it blends emotional depth with vivid, emotionally honest characters and dialogue, and a world that feels utterly real.
Whispers of Kismarr, the lost city of the Kismets, are stirring once more. Some call it paradise. Others believe it never existed. But the key to finding the path lies in Anara’s blood. No one alive has ever seen Kismarr, but the Kismets remain. Rare and fiercely loyal, they bond for life and pull the strings of fate. They heal, they protect, and in some cases, they kill.
Hunted and hiding behind a false name, Anara wanted only to survive. But in the forge of grief and anger, she became a weapon. When fate tangles her with Jarek, a scarred blacksmith, and Lysara, a centuries-old monk whose gaze cuts deeper than the blades Anara wields so easily, the lines between loyalty, desire, and destiny begin to blur. Jarek stirs a wanting in her. Lysara pulls at something deeper, older, and impossible to name.
Anara may have to choose between them, or risk losing them both.
The medallion calls. The gate awaits. Will she walk through?
644 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 17, 2025
47 people are currently reading
17055 people want to read
About the author
S.X. Cummings
3 books61 followers
Kismet's Gate
🔥🦊🫦🍑✨🍒💦😢⚔️⏳ has been chosen by BookClubs.com as a
Great Indie Read
for October 2025!
S.X. Cummings once tried to be normal but got bored halfway through and wandered off to write. He now lives somewhere between caffeine high and existential dread, occasionally surfacing to argue with his fictional characters or the neighborhood trash pandas.
When not weaving worlds out of thin air and sheer stubbornness, he can be found accidentally murdering houseplants, getting emotionally attached to side characters, and Googling things that almost certainly will land him on an FBI watchlist.
He writes because therapy is expensive, and fictional characters don’t charge by the hour. And working for “the man” would mean going back on his meds, becoming “stable” again, and kissing all of his creativity goodbye. At that point, he’ll vanish into the woods, scribble novels on tree bark, and mutter plot twists to squirrels.
It’d still be better than sitting in most meetings.
S.X. Cummings once tried to be normal but got bored halfway through and wandered off to write. He now lives somewhere between caffeine high and existential dread, occasionally surfacing to argue with his fictional characters or the neighborhood trash pandas.
When not weaving worlds out of thin air and sheer stubbornness, he can be found accidentally murdering houseplants, getting emotionally attached to side characters, and Googling things that almost certainly will land him on an FBI watchlist.
He writes because therapy is expensive, and fictional characters don’t charge by the hour. And working for “the man” would mean going back on his meds, becoming “stable” again, and kissing all of his creativity goodbye. At that point, he’ll vanish into the woods, scribble novels on tree bark, and mutter plot twists to squirrels.
It’d still be better than sitting in most meetings.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 30, 2025
The most concise way I can say it: Kismet’s Gate: The Scarred and the Chosen, by S.X. Cummings, is a fabulously fun read that I enjoyed immensely. Fantasy novels, to me, are a journey, an experience that transports and immerses the reader in the unfamiliar, in the best cases with wildly unusual characters that stimulate our minds and senses. I want a fantasy novel to take me away. Kismet’s Gate did exactly that, and the experience of reading this book (what turning the pages felt like), reminded me of some of the best journeys I’ve been on with the fantasy genre: Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea, A Song Of Ice And Fire Series (Game of Thrones), by George R. R. Martin, obviously Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, (and I’ll admit, Charles de Lint’s Someplace to be Flying, once upon a time in my youth), just to scratch the surface. And this is not to mention the countless sci-fi/fantasy crossovers like Dune and Dhalgren (Samuel Delaney) that have won my (and everyone else’s) heart. I looked forward to diving back into Kismet’s Gate at the end of each day, and I missed it (and the characters) once I had finished it.
That said, diving a little deeper, the world Cummings created is both believable and extraordinary, a strange and wonderful dialectical dance between the familiar and the entirely new. The characters similarly felt like friends I might have, as well as people I have never met. The complexity of the characters’ psychological drives (as people who are young adults to 300 years old) navigating developmental stages was unique for the genre, adding a coming-of-age quality to this “Fantasy Romantacy” novel.
Not to give anything away here, but the sexual and emotional development of the young characters was particularly fascinating and appealing, both completely natural to phases of human life, and beyond anything I could imagine, as sexuality ties into the greater plot. The author does this dance throughout the book, blending the known and unknown, in a skillful way.
I also appreciated the straightforward plot with advancing but neatly tied-in sub themes: What is the medallion, and what does it do? Why is it so valuable? Where is it from? Where is that place? And, Are there others? How do we get there? The diversity of the characters and innovations within this new world with all its creatures, talismans, psychological features wrapped around the simplicity of the plot made this book difficult to put down, even at 638 pages. Cummings introduced concepts that break past more typical fantasy tropes, and I commend this author for their bold handling of eroticism, sexual development, and gender.
The female protagonist Anara is a real draw—enigmatic and real. Upon introduction of her invisible-to-the-eye-but-sensed and heard kismet Whisp, I fell in love with the book’s leitmotif of animal-like companions somehow bonded to human characters (I won’t give away how that happens) to assist and protect them. Kind of like a super-ego used for good, instead of one that berates the least of our acts, as in real life.
The author threaded the storyline and characters through the plot with such a natural hand that I rarely had to go back and reread past passages before moving forward with the story. I find it difficult to believe Kismet’s Gate is a first novel, but apparently it is. I look forward to much more from this writer, and hopefully the Kismet’s Gate book becomes at least a trilogy—given how it ends, there is definitely room to expand into the future. Kismet’s Gate surely lends itself visually, as well as through character and plot, to an incredibly fun series on Apple, Netflix, or anyone smart enough to option it. We can hope!
That said, diving a little deeper, the world Cummings created is both believable and extraordinary, a strange and wonderful dialectical dance between the familiar and the entirely new. The characters similarly felt like friends I might have, as well as people I have never met. The complexity of the characters’ psychological drives (as people who are young adults to 300 years old) navigating developmental stages was unique for the genre, adding a coming-of-age quality to this “Fantasy Romantacy” novel.
Not to give anything away here, but the sexual and emotional development of the young characters was particularly fascinating and appealing, both completely natural to phases of human life, and beyond anything I could imagine, as sexuality ties into the greater plot. The author does this dance throughout the book, blending the known and unknown, in a skillful way.
I also appreciated the straightforward plot with advancing but neatly tied-in sub themes: What is the medallion, and what does it do? Why is it so valuable? Where is it from? Where is that place? And, Are there others? How do we get there? The diversity of the characters and innovations within this new world with all its creatures, talismans, psychological features wrapped around the simplicity of the plot made this book difficult to put down, even at 638 pages. Cummings introduced concepts that break past more typical fantasy tropes, and I commend this author for their bold handling of eroticism, sexual development, and gender.
The female protagonist Anara is a real draw—enigmatic and real. Upon introduction of her invisible-to-the-eye-but-sensed and heard kismet Whisp, I fell in love with the book’s leitmotif of animal-like companions somehow bonded to human characters (I won’t give away how that happens) to assist and protect them. Kind of like a super-ego used for good, instead of one that berates the least of our acts, as in real life.
The author threaded the storyline and characters through the plot with such a natural hand that I rarely had to go back and reread past passages before moving forward with the story. I find it difficult to believe Kismet’s Gate is a first novel, but apparently it is. I look forward to much more from this writer, and hopefully the Kismet’s Gate book becomes at least a trilogy—given how it ends, there is definitely room to expand into the future. Kismet’s Gate surely lends itself visually, as well as through character and plot, to an incredibly fun series on Apple, Netflix, or anyone smart enough to option it. We can hope!
July 14, 2025
I'm not usually a romantasy fan, but this was a fun, engaging read with characters you'll love. It's also such a unique twist on classic plots that it didn't feel stale or like another predictable romantasy. Anara and Jarek are adorable, and I love how he helps her stay grounded and centered while she helps him step out of his comfort zone. They're a good match, and watching them grow together was a great storyline by itself. Whisp deserves a long, relaxing vacation for all he's done and because he's Whisp. He deserves the world and I love him. To be honest, I didn't love Anara at the beginning, but she grows on you as she show grows and teaches others, too. Watching her learn to open up to others felt like watching the underdog stand tall and show the world what it means to conquer and win despite all the obstacles and challenges. At the halfway mark, I was cheering for her and hated it had taken her so long to find happiness but so thrilled she had learned to not just let go of the past but to learn to embrace herself, her choices, and her future.
nsfw:
Sex, masturbation, language, violence
nsfw:
Sex, masturbation, language, violence
September 19, 2025
I really wanted to like this book, based on the description, but I just couldn't plow through the poor copy editing. Actually, I don't think there was any. It's a shame - the author seemed to be putting together a decent story, so why not take that last step of having someone else (with grammar/punctuation knowledge and a good eye) give it a read-through? This, on top of the somewhat immature sections - at almost 650 pages, I just couldn't, so I abandoned it. Hopefully, the author will correct the text and it will be reissued. I will take another run at it if that happens. How have there been so many glowing reviews?
July 2, 2025
Loved lovedddd this book! The entire story is amazing the ups the downs (that made me cry which is rare). I’m beyond happy with this and honestly hope there is a second book! I would loveee to see what’s next for them! If you love fantasy but not shoved down your throat type this is the book for you!!
October 15, 2025
I really enjoyed this great book. A real page turner. I quickly connected with the characters, who felt both authentic and engaging. The worldbuilding is immersive, with settings, creatures, and cultures that are not only vivid and creative but also emotionally resonant. I found myself completely absorbed in this unique blend of magic, mystery, and emotional depth. Highly recommend.
September 12, 2025
Goodreads win.
Really wanted to like this. Had to fight to read it and just never got into the characters. Maybe the author was a bit too descriptive?
Really wanted to like this. Had to fight to read it and just never got into the characters. Maybe the author was a bit too descriptive?
August 18, 2025
Thank you for the copy through Goodreads giveaways, I really enjoyed this book! Hooked from the beginning and intrigued throughout. The bond between Anara and her kismet Whisp was adorable. She went from being an orphan at 10 and learning to survive to becoming a happy woman. Eventually she gets to explore the relationships with the people she met along the way.
August 4, 2025
Excited to have won a copy of this book - I am really looking forward to this one, I've heard positive reviews from others that have finished it - Im early in but so far so good and will follow-up with a full review after I finish!
September 26, 2025
Think Fourth Wing with fewer dragons, more emotional depth, and characters who feel like they’ve lived a thousand lifetimes. The romance is real, and when it ignites, it scorches!
August 12, 2025
Good read enjoyed the well written characters.
Not a huge fan of romantic fantasy novels.
This was an exception it’s focus was on the story line,
And character development. The story itself was developed well.
Great storytelling from a great storyteller
Not a huge fan of romantic fantasy novels.
This was an exception it’s focus was on the story line,
And character development. The story itself was developed well.
Great storytelling from a great storyteller
August 19, 2025
This was a fun storyline set within an interesting fantasy world. It felt a little bit Throne of Glass, a little Golden Compass, but definitely unique. There are a decent amount of typos and punctuation errors that could use attention before additional prints are done. But overall very enjoyable!
September 30, 2025
I had to stop reading it in chapter 5. A man writing about a 13 year old girl masturbating for the first time gave me the ick. The writing is also not the best. Story had potential but I just could not get past that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2025
I am OBSESSED. Kismet’s Gate completely stole my heart from the very first page, and I honestly haven't stopped thinking about it since I finished. The story is this perfect blend of swoony romance, addictive worldbuilding, and just the right amount of danger and magic to keep you hooked. I kept telling myself “just one more chapter” and then… suddenly it was 3AM and I had no regrets. 😂
The main characters had such great chemistry. It felt natural, intense, and emotional in all the best ways. You know that feeling when two characters just click? Yeah. That. The romantic tension was so good, I was basically screaming into my pillow at times. And the way the author built the world was just chef’s kiss. It felt lush and mysterious, and I loved slowly uncovering the secrets of the gates alongside the characters.
BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT WHISP FOR A SECOND??? This little Kismet absolutely stole the show for me. They were adorable, clever, and had this sassy, magical charm that made every scene they were in sparkle. I genuinely smiled every time they appeared. Whisp is 100% the kind of creature I wish I could pull out of a portal and have as my study buddy or emotional support sprite. 🥹✨
The main characters had such great chemistry. It felt natural, intense, and emotional in all the best ways. You know that feeling when two characters just click? Yeah. That. The romantic tension was so good, I was basically screaming into my pillow at times. And the way the author built the world was just chef’s kiss. It felt lush and mysterious, and I loved slowly uncovering the secrets of the gates alongside the characters.
BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT WHISP FOR A SECOND??? This little Kismet absolutely stole the show for me. They were adorable, clever, and had this sassy, magical charm that made every scene they were in sparkle. I genuinely smiled every time they appeared. Whisp is 100% the kind of creature I wish I could pull out of a portal and have as my study buddy or emotional support sprite. 🥹✨
September 16, 2025
Debated stars on this and went with a generous 3 stars for the story, but it's more like a 2 star. I want to start by saying I really, REALLY wanted to love this book. It was a Goodreads giveaway that I won, and I was so excited to start reading it. I've read several debut novels and a few ARCs, and all of them were at least in a final stage of editing. This book was not. There are grammatical errors, spelling errors, phrasing errors, run-on sentences much like this one, juvenile words like "butt" intermixed with an Fbomb. I was so distracted while reading the first quarter of this book that I just can't do it anymore. I am marking it as read/DNF/abandoned due to how un-readable it is. I can't get past the errors to get into the story, and though I want to know how it ends, I don't want to put myself through 450+ more pages of this. I'm so sorry to the author, and I may pick it back up again if newer editions are better edited.
December 12, 2025
I as SO excited to win this book in a give away.
It turns out, the book was exactly the kind of romantasy escape I didn’t realize I needed. Between work, family schedules, and the daily chaos of real life, slipping into Cummings’ vivid, intriguing world felt like a gift. The blend of romance, magic, and adventure was perfectly balanced, giving me that wonderful sense of being transported somewhere entirely different that was a place full of possibility and wonder.
This is the kind of book that reminded me why I fell in love with reading in the first place.
And a real joy for me was then"Kismet" named Wisp. There’s something so endearing, mysterious, and unexpectedly grounding about Wisp’s presence in the story, and I found myself looking forward to every scene it appeared in.
Kismet’s Gate delivered everything I want from a romantasy escape and actually a world I didn’t want to leave. It was pure fun and exactly what this busy mom needed.
It turns out, the book was exactly the kind of romantasy escape I didn’t realize I needed. Between work, family schedules, and the daily chaos of real life, slipping into Cummings’ vivid, intriguing world felt like a gift. The blend of romance, magic, and adventure was perfectly balanced, giving me that wonderful sense of being transported somewhere entirely different that was a place full of possibility and wonder.
This is the kind of book that reminded me why I fell in love with reading in the first place.
And a real joy for me was then"Kismet" named Wisp. There’s something so endearing, mysterious, and unexpectedly grounding about Wisp’s presence in the story, and I found myself looking forward to every scene it appeared in.
Kismet’s Gate delivered everything I want from a romantasy escape and actually a world I didn’t want to leave. It was pure fun and exactly what this busy mom needed.
September 7, 2025
The emotional depth of the characters amazed me. There are moments filled with rich, layered meaning.
There’s something mesmerizing about how the story unfolds; it’s like peeling back silk, slow and deliberate, yet always revealing something deeper.
I’m only halfway through, but I wanted to pause and share that this book is having an impact on me. The world feels immersive, the characters seem alive, and the themes of destiny, healing, and potential touch on something both ancient and personal. Like quiet music, it carries you along. I can’t wait to see where it goes next. Great summer read!
I’m only halfway through, but I wanted to pause and share that this book is having an impact on me. The world feels immersive, the characters seem alive, and the themes of destiny, healing, and potential touch on something both ancient and personal. Like quiet music, it carries you along. I can’t wait to see where it goes next. Great summer read!
Read
September 29, 2025Oof
The bones of this story were decent but this was clearly not edited at all. I couldn’t concentrate on the story because it felt like a first draft - tense changes, so many sentence fragments, etc. Dialogue was particularly hard, due to missing question marks and dialogue tags.
This edition was after publication and wasn’t noted as an arc, so I don’t know what happened. I won this as a Goodreads giveaway but I’m just going to leave the star rating blank because there are so few ratings right now and I don’t want to skew the total rating all to hell. But seriously, tread carefully if you’re purchasing this - I’m so disappointed.
The bones of this story were decent but this was clearly not edited at all. I couldn’t concentrate on the story because it felt like a first draft - tense changes, so many sentence fragments, etc. Dialogue was particularly hard, due to missing question marks and dialogue tags.
This edition was after publication and wasn’t noted as an arc, so I don’t know what happened. I won this as a Goodreads giveaway but I’m just going to leave the star rating blank because there are so few ratings right now and I don’t want to skew the total rating all to hell. But seriously, tread carefully if you’re purchasing this - I’m so disappointed.
October 31, 2025
So close to DNfing this, but decided to just sit down and finish the rest. Despite this having promise of being a unique world with fleshed out items like religion and culture, I felt the writing just wasn't immersive. I never could feel myself sink in to this story and rather felt like I was reading an account of what happened, why people feel the way they do, and why it's important to the plot. The plot didn't feel terribly strong to me and finding Kismarr was incredibly anticlimactic. I can't say I would recommend this book, but every reader is different, so maybe this is someone else's cup of tea. I just found the writing too flat and unconvincing to feel impacted by the story.
October 13, 2025
I really wanted to like this, but it was very underwhelming. It started strong with a character you cared about, someone you wanted to see a happy ending for. Then it just kind of shifts. The main character shifts to Brother Lysara, and Anara becomes a background character. I found this book over-descriptive and ended up just jumping through sections to get it over with.
December 5, 2025
This was a a giveaway from Goodreads. I thought the story had some potential but needed a good editor.
The idea if ghe Kismits was interesting. But could have been expanded while the amount of baking taken down by about 50%
There was too much juvenile writing, especially the explicit scenes.
The ending was very anticlimactic except for the number of climaxes.
The idea if ghe Kismits was interesting. But could have been expanded while the amount of baking taken down by about 50%
There was too much juvenile writing, especially the explicit scenes.
The ending was very anticlimactic except for the number of climaxes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2025
The story had potential and some lines were really good but unfortunately I could not finish it (stopped at 45%). Spelling mistakes, grammar, punctuation. The cucumber thing for me was a little much and didn’t need to be there.
October 27, 2025
This was a really fun fantasy cook that I really enjoyed. Spice level was a 1 and a little cheesy for me but overall it was a great story and I enjoyed the ride.
November 25, 2025
amazing story and world. Sexy and engaging. Really enjoyed this book!
October 10, 2025
Thank you to Goodreads for providing a copy of Kismet’s Gate. I really liked the premise and was excited to dive in, but ultimately this one wasn’t quite the right fit for me. I had a hard time connecting with the writing style, and some of the more explicit content wasn’t to my taste.
August 2, 2025
I had so much fun reading this book! From the very first chapter, Kismet's Gate: The Scarred and The Chosen pulled me in with a captivating story that kept building momentum, drawing me deeper into its richly imagined world with every turn of the page.
I quickly connected with the characters, who felt both authentic and engaging. The worldbuilding is immersive, with settings, creatures, and cultures that are not only vivid and creative but also emotionally resonant. I found myself completely absorbed in this unique blend of magic, mystery, and emotional depth.
One standout element for me was the character of Whisp, the playful and endearing Kismet. Whisp is not your typical magical companion—more plausible and certainly more personable than a dragon, this creature adds a layer of charm and philosophical intrigue. At times, Whisp even felt like a manifestation of one’s subconscious—witty, whimsical, and wiser than expected.
Although I don’t typically gravitate toward fantasy or romance, this book was a delightful exception. I was thoroughly surprised by how much it enraptured me. The emotional arcs, romantic tension, and sense of wonder all worked in harmony to deliver a story that was both fun and surprisingly thought-provoking.
If you’re even remotely curious about trying a romantasy, S.X. Cummings has written a fantastic gateway (pun intended). And if you are a fan of the genre, I am sure you'll be a fan of this book. Highly recommended.
I quickly connected with the characters, who felt both authentic and engaging. The worldbuilding is immersive, with settings, creatures, and cultures that are not only vivid and creative but also emotionally resonant. I found myself completely absorbed in this unique blend of magic, mystery, and emotional depth.
One standout element for me was the character of Whisp, the playful and endearing Kismet. Whisp is not your typical magical companion—more plausible and certainly more personable than a dragon, this creature adds a layer of charm and philosophical intrigue. At times, Whisp even felt like a manifestation of one’s subconscious—witty, whimsical, and wiser than expected.
Although I don’t typically gravitate toward fantasy or romance, this book was a delightful exception. I was thoroughly surprised by how much it enraptured me. The emotional arcs, romantic tension, and sense of wonder all worked in harmony to deliver a story that was both fun and surprisingly thought-provoking.
If you’re even remotely curious about trying a romantasy, S.X. Cummings has written a fantastic gateway (pun intended). And if you are a fan of the genre, I am sure you'll be a fan of this book. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews