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Farzana's Spite
Life is about as good as it gets for an anxious and depressed bastard stripped of any social benefits of her caste. Farzana has a cushy job, a wonderful best friend, and a mother and younger brother who love her to bits. Then the faerie who abandoned her mother before she was born—the father she always hoped to meet—returns, brutally murders the royal family, and seizes the crown for himself. That comfortable life? Shattered.
Slowly but inevitably, both the country and Farzana’s life are dragged into a terrifying and lethal storm of chaos. If someone doesn’t step up soon to set things right, there won’t be much left worth saving.
Farzana’s Spite is a queer dark fantasy featuring a diverse cast doing their best to stay alive during a traumatic and tumultuous period. A blend of tragedy, romance, and mystery, this story was written for anyone ever made to believe they were broken beyond repair, and needs a story to kill that thought once and for all.
Slowly but inevitably, both the country and Farzana’s life are dragged into a terrifying and lethal storm of chaos. If someone doesn’t step up soon to set things right, there won’t be much left worth saving.
Farzana’s Spite is a queer dark fantasy featuring a diverse cast doing their best to stay alive during a traumatic and tumultuous period. A blend of tragedy, romance, and mystery, this story was written for anyone ever made to believe they were broken beyond repair, and needs a story to kill that thought once and for all.
343 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2024
30 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Felix Graves
11 books8 followersFelix Graves is a queer and disabled AAPI author of dark speculative fiction. Most of his writing involves tragedy, queer romance, and faerie-inspired creatures. His debut novel, Farzana's Spite (2024) is the first story in the Faerth anthology series. Other works set in the Faerth universe include The Killing Song (2025) and Color Unknown (2024). He prides himself on writing stories with a starkly honest ownvoice commentary on mental illness, disability, and queerness. He currently lives in the beautiful PNW with his husband, their two kids, a ferociously adorable pitbull, and possibly a ghost or two.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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January 15, 2023My buddy Felix wrote a book! Sweet!
May 9, 2024
Farzana’s Spite is a queer epic romantasy buzzing with ideas and some truly memorable sequences.
The writing is good - clear and precise - and really propels you through the story. The second half, in particular, I raced through. I found myself doing the whole, ‘just a few more pages, it’s only midnight’, pep talk more than a few times. Additionally, the action sequences stood out as real strengths and were handled brilliantly.
Something that really comes through in the text, primarily through Farzana’s character, is a deep sense of empathy for all peoples regardless of differences. The story world filtered through Farzana is rendered with great care. It’s the beating heart of the book and what, I think, will really make it stand out amongst its peers.
While I found one or two aspects of the book on less sure footing - a few scenes that felt rushed, an antagonist that perhaps could do with a little more nuance - this remains an excellent novel and especially accomplished for a first novel.
Ultimately, I’ve landed on a 5 star rating as much with my heart as with my head, but Farzana’s Spite feels different and special. I couldn’t help but give it maximum stars!
The writing is good - clear and precise - and really propels you through the story. The second half, in particular, I raced through. I found myself doing the whole, ‘just a few more pages, it’s only midnight’, pep talk more than a few times. Additionally, the action sequences stood out as real strengths and were handled brilliantly.
Something that really comes through in the text, primarily through Farzana’s character, is a deep sense of empathy for all peoples regardless of differences. The story world filtered through Farzana is rendered with great care. It’s the beating heart of the book and what, I think, will really make it stand out amongst its peers.
While I found one or two aspects of the book on less sure footing - a few scenes that felt rushed, an antagonist that perhaps could do with a little more nuance - this remains an excellent novel and especially accomplished for a first novel.
Ultimately, I’ve landed on a 5 star rating as much with my heart as with my head, but Farzana’s Spite feels different and special. I couldn’t help but give it maximum stars!
May 2, 2024
I received this book as an ARC, in exchange for a fair review of the text.
Getting the question out of the way, yes, this book is good. It's a fantastic queer text that deals with anxiety, mental health, queer identity, and finding a support network when your actual family is making life impossible for you.
The book centers on Farzana, whose biological father has just staged...what can be mildly put as a political coup. The opening chapter is a fairly vicious attack, which puts Farzana's intense anxiety in the face of such violence in sharp relief.
The characters feel real and earnest. Reading this makes it clear that Felix has a very good understanding of social anxiety and how it pervades all aspects of our life. Any issues I have with the book is overshadowed by this very honest depiction of anxiety. It's the element of the book that, after completing it, sticks out to me the most. It's pervasive and never goes away, but through a support network that understands you can be managed.
You can finish this book in a couple of days. It's a fast read, made all the better by Felix's very natural writing style.
This book is an extremely enjoyable fantasy novel, set in a world that feels parallel to our own. The magical world evolves in a way that exists parallel to our own, which results in something that's very familiar. It can be a little disconcerting, I feel, reading fantasy where the mirrors serve almost as an online network connecting people, but it also makes sense. After all, if these magical attributes were in our world, that parallel would also exist.
I do have a few minor criticisms of the text. Some of the other characters don't feel as strongly realized as Farzana, for example. But again, I think these criticisms are sort of lesser concerns for me, because, at the end of the day, Felix really captures a feeling in this work -- one that the entire world is watching you, and that, only through the trust of those you value, can you overcome that. I think that lends to this book being something I'll mentally come back to for quite some time.
Getting the question out of the way, yes, this book is good. It's a fantastic queer text that deals with anxiety, mental health, queer identity, and finding a support network when your actual family is making life impossible for you.
The book centers on Farzana, whose biological father has just staged...what can be mildly put as a political coup. The opening chapter is a fairly vicious attack, which puts Farzana's intense anxiety in the face of such violence in sharp relief.
The characters feel real and earnest. Reading this makes it clear that Felix has a very good understanding of social anxiety and how it pervades all aspects of our life. Any issues I have with the book is overshadowed by this very honest depiction of anxiety. It's the element of the book that, after completing it, sticks out to me the most. It's pervasive and never goes away, but through a support network that understands you can be managed.
You can finish this book in a couple of days. It's a fast read, made all the better by Felix's very natural writing style.
This book is an extremely enjoyable fantasy novel, set in a world that feels parallel to our own. The magical world evolves in a way that exists parallel to our own, which results in something that's very familiar. It can be a little disconcerting, I feel, reading fantasy where the mirrors serve almost as an online network connecting people, but it also makes sense. After all, if these magical attributes were in our world, that parallel would also exist.
I do have a few minor criticisms of the text. Some of the other characters don't feel as strongly realized as Farzana, for example. But again, I think these criticisms are sort of lesser concerns for me, because, at the end of the day, Felix really captures a feeling in this work -- one that the entire world is watching you, and that, only through the trust of those you value, can you overcome that. I think that lends to this book being something I'll mentally come back to for quite some time.
June 13, 2024
Take your time reading this novel. The relationships and characters have so much depth, that if you plow through this, it may be lost on you. Felix captures the emotions and details of realistic situations, bringing life to the words printed throughout every page.
This novel is a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from joy, to sorrow, to actual deep seated hatred. I found myself literally sick to my stomach due to events in this novel. Not because of anything graphic, but because the sheer amount of stress and anger I was feeling.
It's been well over two weeks since I finished this novel and every day since I still find myself reminiscing the story within. I find myself playing out the entire novel, from cover to cover, in my head as I go about my workday. I promise you, if you give this book a chance, it'll reward you tenfold.
This novel is a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from joy, to sorrow, to actual deep seated hatred. I found myself literally sick to my stomach due to events in this novel. Not because of anything graphic, but because the sheer amount of stress and anger I was feeling.
It's been well over two weeks since I finished this novel and every day since I still find myself reminiscing the story within. I find myself playing out the entire novel, from cover to cover, in my head as I go about my workday. I promise you, if you give this book a chance, it'll reward you tenfold.
December 3, 2025
Some parts felt like adult romantasy, some parts felt like very juvenile YA. And that ending...too many things were shoved in there at once tbh.
The author has some really creative, fun ideas and some things are written really well—this one just wasn't my favorite.
The author has some really creative, fun ideas and some things are written really well—this one just wasn't my favorite.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews