The Volume of Possible Endings: A Tale of Fontania

Dorrity lives with her three older brothers in a small village named Owl Town where magic is outlawed. When her brothers leave on a “business trip,” Dorrity discovers The Volume of Possible Endings, a magical book forbidden to little girls. Within, she finds five endings, most of which are sad. When the predictions begin to come true, Dorrity must navigate the waters of fate if she wants to emerge alive.

This book has a surreal aura. I enjoyed the novel ploy of telling the reader the ending(s), and then letting the reader predict the path that gets there. The story is particularly clever in the way it engineers the final ending. Although as she discovers more about her past she gains volition, Dorrity is a rather spineless heroine; half the book she was quaking with fear or bemoaning her fate. I’m sure that that is a legitimate reaction, but I like my heroines spine-in. The plot was engaging, the characters were construed decently enough, but there was an essential vitality that was missing. Overall, it merely occupied, but didn’t involve.