The Fools Will Think It's Destiny

by S.M. Orges

She thinks she’s in a book. She couldn’t be more wrong.

Lael Farrow was fed on stories since infancy, by a grandfather who couldn’t face reality. Now, he’s gone. Now, she’s woken up in an alien world. She thinks she’s in a fairytale, written by some benevolent supernatural author.

She won’t figure out the truth. Not until it’s too late. She won’t figure out it’s me.

THE FOOLS WILL THINK IT’S DESTINY is not a fantasy. Beneath the castles are con artists. Behind the starships are secret organizations. A boy genius. A gangster revolutionary. A heroine who doesn’t speak the language. And a narrator you certainly should not rely on.

Genres: Fantasy

Kindle Edition

Expected publication December 4, 2026

Reviews

[jul]

i received a complimentary eARC of this book from S.M. Orges Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

think ANASTASIA (1999) meets DUNE meets NARNIA meets A LAND OF STORIES meets ARCANE (Netflix). FOOLS revolves around Lael, a 12-year-old from Earth who is kidnapped and dropped in the middle of a forest on an unknown planet where she stumbles upon other children who were similarly taken. while she struggles to understand the children and the alien world around her and somehow find a way home, she is dragged into a plot that would see a long-lost heir returned to rule a kingdom in tatters. the scope zooms in/out and the 3rd-person pov switches often to dive into the minds/worlds of side characters who enrich the world and introduce the larger conflict in which Lael becomes embroiled. the events unfold as told by a mysterious unnamed narrator who is interviewing a future Lael who has seemingly survived to tell her story. by the end only some questions get answered with the promise of more to come. themes of death/grief, loss of innocence, oppressive governments, revolution, slavery/child slavery, faith, fate. TW: on page death of major and minor characters, gore, depictions of slavery, mentions of child-marriage, thoughts and attempts of self-harm and suicide.

overall, i had a really great time reading FOOLS! i was wary of the concept of it being self published and the author's lack on online presence, but i found myself getting wrapped up in the story while i read! my favorite elements were the formation of the relationship between Lael and the boys (especially Jack!), the concept of interstellar pilots seeing the future between stars and being revered as prophets among various civilizations (SO COOL!), the rich world building and distinct cultures of the various peoples we meet, the in-depth histories of major and minor characters (which felt very GRRM to me!).

the construction of FOOLS was, at times, clumsy. i was unsure who the intended audience of FOOLS was. on netgalley it is tagged for both adults and teens&ya. while the main characters we follow are tweens and the pacing was pretty nonstop, i felt the structure and voice leaned more adult. since this is self published, i assume not enough eyes were on it to help hone the elements needed to determine this as adult OR ya. since i manage the ya catalogue at my library, i only order books that are decidedly ya. i personally loved FOOLS, and i do think it's a story teens would find both fun and thought-provoking, but i'll have to see what other readers thought of the rating before ordering.

[Erika]

I received an eARC provided by the publisher and NetGalley - thank you for the opportunity to review!

If I’m being completely forthright, I didn’t know this was a YA book, and I’m not normally a YA reader. However, the fact that it took me as long as it did to realize it speaks to the quality of the writing and story. The story starts out fairly strong, following Lael, a preteen bookworm who gets abducted and abandoned on an alien world - she seems to think she’s been isekai-d into a story and needs to follow a “save the princess” plot to get home. She meets some other abandoned kids from other worlds and spends literal months trying to figure out each other and a plan. I felt like this part of the book had good pacing and character development. Then we hit part three (of five!) and this is unfortunately where it lost me. The plot doesn’t just thicken, it expands exponentially into an interplanetary generations-long war with tons of new characters and POVs that just feels like too much, too soon and loses its intimacy. There’s a lot of interesting worlds and lore to build out, but I’m not sure if using the preteen princess blundering her way through stilted dialogue as a political tool by the big bad grownups is the best way to do it. Is it Lael’s story, or Jack’s story, or the story of these planets, or..? I think this author has solid writing chops and good ideas, but I do feel like this would be better split up into multiple books, like the character novel and plot setting book, and then its politics and war sequel/s. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend though, as I feel like younger readers would enjoy it, and it can be a good intro to sci fi and political drama for that audience.

[M.E.]

This debut, self-published novel mostly follows Lael, a book-loving girl in her early teens that is abducted to a planet far away following the death of her beloved grandfather. On this new world, she meets a handful of other teenagers who have also been abducted for reasons they have yet to comprehend, including Jack, a young man with some kind of spy training.

While the beginning of the novel started out solidly, with a strong premise and a clean, clear writing style, by the halfway point I began to get lost. A number of other POVs and expansive plot points were introduced quite quickly, and Lael and Jack seemed to get lost in the chaos, though the story is meant to be primarily about them, their quest, and their friendship as it develops. I think this novel would have benefitted from being split in half – it feels significantly overlong – and from a thorough edit, bearing genre definition in mind.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.