Customer Reviews

Fortune's Folly

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3 star:		(1)
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"Fortune's Folly" is a charming fairytale in which a resourceful cobbler's daughter is forced to both make, and make true, a grand prophecy for a kingdom's prince. Along the way, she finds strength, wit and true love, all against an incredibly rich, fully-realized world that is Renaissance Italy, but *not* Renaissance Italy.

This debut is sweet, but not saccharine, smart without being too clever for its own good, and has a happy ending that is earned and not dictated by the author. Fagan's hand on the page is light- Fortunata's voice comes through clearly and consistently, and the story never slips into accidental anachronism.

And it's a refreshing story where our heroine is always smart and resourceful, making those sweeping moments when she needs rescuing swoonworthy instead of distressingly necessary. This is a book I intend to read with my daughter, and to share with my friends' daughters, because every girl deserves a hero like Fortunata on her bookshelves.

Fortune's Folly, by Deva Fagan, is a lovely first novel, appropriate for grades 4-8, but entertaining for parents and teachers, as well. Set in a fictional world reminiscent of Renaissance Italy, this is a place where nearly everyone believes in magic...except Fortunata, the titular heroine. When circumstances force Fortunata and her widowed father to leave their home city, matters quickly go from bad to worse, and Fortunata must become "a swindler and a charlatan" if they are to survive.

With elements from many classic fairytales, Fortune's Folly remains fresh, with a plucky and proactive heroine, despicable villains, realistically flawed protagonists, and a fast moving plot. There are issues here worthy of discussion--the line between right and wrong, the power of faith, the fact that logic cannot fully explain our lives--but they are deftly interwoven, with no heavy handed moralizing. As Fortunata struggles to find her way between two evils, she slowly comes to understand that her world is not quite what she imagined...and neither is she.

There is some violence, but nothing graphic, and no "adult situations" beyond a kiss; I would be comfortable reading this out loud to children of 8 and above (the tasteful and understated romance would probably bore very small children), and would recommend it to adults as well. The writing style is reminiscent of Patricia Wrede in her "Dragons" books, but the author has a voice all her own. I hope more books will be forthcoming.

Fortunes Folly by Deva Fagan

First I have to offer my congrats to Deva for her literary debut, having worked closely with Deva on many Prophecy projects, I had no doubts that it would be great, and I was not disappointed.

There are many things that I love about this book. The fairy tale-like quality is outstanding. The tone of the book transported me back to my youth and my first collection of Fairy Tales which I read over and over. My dad picked it up at a garage sale, and I still associate the old book smell with that collection. Everything from the world to the character archetypes reminds me of those classic stories. But even better than the overall tone was the main character Fortunata, or Nata as she is called by her friends.

I loved that Nata is an active heroine who rises to the challenges presented in her less than charmed life. Rather than pining away and waiting for other people, or magic, or fairies to solve her problems, Nata seizes control of her own destiny. What is remarkable about this is that it does not go down the self-aggrandizing path of existentialist angst like so much fiction today. Instead it is an affirmation of the power of a person to control their destiny and a reminder that there is magic in the world.

Of course, a review of this book would be lacking without an acknowledgment of the author's expert use of words. Fagan's love of words is as apparent as her wit and humor with words like kerfuffled!

Overall I would give this book five crazy-colored mismatched shoes out of five. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an uplifting and fanciful story. I have passed this book on to the English chair at the Junior High in my district and shared it with many of my students, all of whom really enjoyed it. This is an excellent debut novel, and I can't wait to read more!

If this is Deva Fagan's first book, I'm certainly amazed and found the book to be a refreshing read. This tale of a young girl who is trying to make a way for herself and her father leads her into a whirlwind of hapchances and experiences that change her life forever. I could not put this book down and relished every minute of it. Deva Fagan adds life to each character and intertwines their lives in various and twisting ways to surprise the reader. The tale has morals, values, prophecy and magic all rolled into one. I found this book to be amazing from a fresh new author making her debut. Well Done!

Fortunata and her father fall on hard times and must travel with a heartless group of performers to make a living. Fortunata is taught the art of fortune telling and makes her living thus. But, when she finally has to tell a very grand and important fortune she must make sure the fortune comes true or risk her father's life.

There were some good things about this book that I really enjoyed. The endings were far less predictable than I'd expected, and for that I was grateful (and surprised!) I did like the characters, and thought Fagan did an admirable job of making them unique from each other.

The second half of this book definitely moved faster than the first. It started (for me) slow and fairly uneventful. That said, I did feel the ending was wrapped up too quickly, and would have liked the "ta-das" each to have a bigger moment.

And, unfortunately, for much of the book I couldn't get passed the fact that our heroine was telling lies. Yes, I understand that she had to do what she could to feed herself and her father, but it just seemed odd that there wasn't *something* else she could have done. And one of her fortunes was quite dangerous for those entwined in it, making it very hard to justify (IMO). I think Fagan tried to justify Fortunata's lies, and tried to have the resolution come to a satisfactory close - and while it all *almost* did, it didn't *quite*.

Also, we don't really learn (I don't think) Fortunata's age until about half way through the book! From the cover I would have guessed her to be about 12 or 13. Turns out, she's more 16-17. Which, is fine, it just does change one's outlook a little. And, sometimes the events felt a little trite to me, which was too bad because there really was some good characterization anyway.

So, all in all an enjoyable book, but I felt it could have been better.

Deva Fagan's Fortune's Folly is a fantastic medley of prophecy, fantasy, myth, and childhood fairy tales. Possibly seeming too obvious for older readers, it is a fantastic and wonderful story. Fortunata's story is a fascinating one that takes the reader along a path of mystery, prophecy, and adventures with loving friends and family. The protagonist's dedication to her father throughout is fantastic and the end is exciting, refreshing and leaves the reader contented, believing in redeeming love, and willing to read more.

Fortunes Folly was excellent. And truly amazing when you consider it is the first book by this author. Ms. Fagan has a true gift for characterization and setting. And her story structure is complex enough to be interesting and clever, but not so much that her audience (young adult) will be confused by it. I'd recommend this book highly to both adult and young adult. A quick read for those (like myself) who are used to reading 600-1000 page tomes on a regular basis.
I'll be reading this one to my daughter for sure!

Life is difficult for a shoemaker who has lost his skills, and even more difficult for his daughter, Fortunata. When they are forced to leave their home, things get even worse. Nata is forced into telling fake fortunes for a living, and before she knows it, she's tricked into telling the fortune of a prince.

If the fortune doesn't come true, Nata's father will pay the price. Fortunata's only hope is to make sure the prince secures a magic sword, vanquishes a wicked witch to recover a lost golden shoe, and rescues the princess.

If only fulfilling the fortune were as easy as telling it.

Though often predictable, I enjoyed reading about Nata's journey in FORTUNE'S FOLLY. The characters were fun and the fairy tale-type story was engaging enough to keep me reading. It wasn't a thrilling adventure, but I'll read more of Fagan's work because I like her writing style and ability to make me empathize with her characters.

Reviewed by: Joan Stradling

The first thing that came to mind about describing this novel is that Fortune's Folly is "absolutely darling". The characters are wonderful and vibrant, and the world is the same. The prose is suitable for the age to which is it is targeted (middle-grade) but does not talk down to them and is just as interesting for an older reader like myself.

Fortune's Folly is well aware of its status as a fairy tale story and is filled with all sorts of little references that I loved spotting. Some of these are bigger than others in the scheme of things, and some of these have even been flipped on their heads to add new twists on things. Fortune's Folly is part of the new generation of fairy tales and fables, and it shows how well it can be done. What makes Fortune's Folly different (or dare I say it without being trampled on by fellow fairy tale geeks), even better than fairy tales is because of the depth of the characters and the strength of the characterization.

The world of Fortune's Folly is not a world where the princes are always handsome and kind and perfect, nor are the heroines beautiful and downtrodden and utterly pure in thought and deed. While doing so could be considered true to the classical fairy tales, it would cause Fortune's Folly to lack the charm that it does. Fortune's Folly has flawed heroines, flawed princes. It is about people who go out there and make the wish come true, rather than simply wait on their behind for the appropriate fairy godmother to cast a spell or prince to ride up on a horse and slay the dragon.

And that makes for a very wonderful, very modern (yet not!) fairy tale and good role model for younger girls. Absolutely darling.