Day’s YA: DEATHLY FATES

DEATHLY FATES by Tesia Tsai
9781250378927
4/14/2026
Wednesday Books
Ages 13-18

E-galley available on Edelweiss and NetGalley

Kang Siying is a ganshi priestess, someone who guides the deceased home to their families so that they can receive proper burials. When her father–who taught her how to reanimate and guide these bodies home–falls gravely ill, she finds herself in desperate need of money to get him the medical help he needs. So when she is offered a dangerous job to retrieve and return a fallen soldier (one that comes with a generous reward), she accepts the deal and sets off on her journey. 

But when she finds the corpse she has been asked to bring back and tries to reanimate him to lead him home, she faces an unexpected situation. Not only does the corpse come fully back to life when she tries to reanimate him, rather than just becoming obedient to her, but she also discovers that he’s not just any soldier. His name is Renshu, and he is a missing prince. Renshu still isn’t completely alive, though—he will die again unless he finds and absorbs enough qi, the life force that can keep his soul from leaving his body. The prince offers to pay Kang double what she was promised before if she helps him to stay and remain alive, and so the two set off on a journey together, both to bring him home and to gather the qi he needs along the way. The journey is never smooth, though, and along the way they encounter everything from ghosts to enemy spies, to dark secrets about the prince’s death that could threaten her father and their entire kingdom.

Tesia Tsai has delivered a beautifully written, powerful debut novel inspired by the Chinese folk practice of necromancy. The worldbuilding in this story creates an alluring atmosphere that feels magical and mesmerizing, and the high stakes make it unbelievably fast-paced and gripping. Siying is a strong, independent, and sympathetic main character, who puts her family and those important to her first, always. She is dedicated to her work as a priestess; getting to read about her doing her job and raising the dead was fascinating, and unlike anything else I’ve read. As she and Ren continued on through their journey and encountered spirits with different backgrounds and lives along the way, the story began to piece together and developed seamlessly, delivering that spooky, eerie edge that blended with moments of heartbreak. 

While this was first and foremost a fantasy, the romance must be mentioned, as it was my perfect combination of tropes: slowburn, with a grumpy-sunshine dynamic layered on top. If you enjoy C-dramas, the author herself says that “Siying and Ren’s relationship is straight out of a C-drama, with all the yearning, grumpy-sunshine, black-cat girlfriend and golden-retriever boyfriend swoons readers can ask for.” Sounds perfect, right? Well, it is. Ren is the perfect partner for Siying—where she is reserved, strong-willed, and determined, he is loyal, kindhearted, and hilarious. Their banter and budding relationship balanced out the tense, high stakes environment, and watching them slowly grow together during their journey was beautiful. 

All in all, DEATHLY FATES is a beautiful story that places themes like family, grief, and fighting for those that you love front and center. It marries the lush, romantic fantasy of A MAGIC STEEPED IN POISON with the allure of gothic, horror-leaning fantasy like THE BONE WITCH, and fans of DESCENDENT OF THE CRANE and THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER will also find much to love here. 

Happy reading!
<3 Margo

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