Turns of Fate (Isle of Wyrd, #1) by Anne Bishop 
Series: Isle of Wyrd #1
Published by Ace on November 11, 2025
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 528
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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A young detective investigating crimes of the uncanny will learn that bargains can change your fate—for good or ill—in this darkly enthralling fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Others and the Black Jewels series.
Words have power. Intentions matter.
Most people come to Destiny Park for entertainment. They come to have their cards read to tell them a bit about their future. They come to walk through a beautiful park and to eat at the hotel’s restaurant. They come in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Arcana, the paranormal beings who rule the Isle of Wyrd.
But some people come to make a bargain with the Arcana—to change their fate. And some people come for dark purposes.
When Detective Beth Fahey is sent to Destiny Park to inquire about a “ghost gun,” she will begin a strange journey on which she must learn to navigate the Arcana’s unforgiving laws and dangerous attractions. Her search will draw her into seemingly impossible cases and the secrets of her own past as tensions rise between the Arcana and their human neighbors across the river.
For the Isle of Wyrd is a place where the dead ride trains to their final destinations, predators literally become prey, and seekers’ true natures are revealed in the ripples of destiny unknowingly stirred in their wakes.
Who will live? Who will die? And who will be lost in between?
Anne Bishop gives us a world where magic and mythology clashes with human greed and ignorance. More please!
I am a huge fan of Anne Bishop’s The Others series. While this new series is different from her prior series, fans will feel right at home with the opposition between the self-absorbed humans on one side of the Fates River and the Arcana or uncanny on the Isle of Wyrd.
New Detective Beth Farley has just moved to Penwych to join the Special Division in the 13th precinct who are the liaisons between human law and Arcana. Penwych is the closest human town to the Isle of Wyrd so interactions fall to the 13th precinct since this is where many humans cross the river on the Ferry to view the gardens in Destiny Park but most come to have their palms read or to ask the Ladies Three to look into their futures. But a few also come to hide. Hide from a dangerous situation or abusive relationship. The Arcana will help…for a price.
Lucas Frost, the Sorcerer King or leader of the Isle of Wyrd warns Beth that words and intensions are important. The Arcane make bargains and welching on a bargain with the uncanny will come with severe consequences.
Beth’s first interaction with the Arcana comes when a young man makes a bargain and suddenly drops dead of old age. Beth draws the short straw and takes the ferry to the Wyrd to try and get answers. As we’ve seen before, human hubris usually gets them into trouble with the more powerful and ancient races who share this world. Humans think they outnumber the odd inhabitants of the tiny island without realizing that the Pavillion and Destiny Park that the humans are allowed to see are only a fraction of the world across the river. This is a static hub between the human world and the Arcana, and those who wonder off the paths or sneak onto the island or worse, those who walk through the moon gates, can be lost in the wilds never to be found again. Even the Arcana know the dangers of wondering into other neighborhoods for tomorrow the world may shift and you might not find your way back again. You need to keep your thoughts focused on your goal as intensions matter and a moment of distraction could get you lost forever.
There are always those humans who ignore risks of the isle or have the insolence to think they have nothing to fear on Wyrd such as the High School bullyboys who come to stir up trouble and find much more than they bargained for off the garden paths.
When Beth returns from the Wyrd with more answers than he would have ever received, Captain Charles Forrester worries that the Arcana are showing a little too much interest in his new detective and what that could mean to the already fragile relationship between the humans and Arcana.
THOUGHTS:
This series has much different world-building than The Others series but we still have that clear-cut line between the Arcana and sneaky humans. So fans of Anne Bishop will feel right at home with this new series as the rules haven’t changed all that much. Break a promise with the Arcana and humans will feel their bite.
Some people come to the Pavilion, just to brush elbows with the Arcana. Some want their future read. Others come seeking help. No matter why you come to the Wyrd, the Arcana are willing to make a bargain and as long as you uphold your end, you have nothing to fear. But those who come to push boundaries or seek trouble, will certainly find that the uncanny are more than happy to take you up on your foolishness as well.
I am certain every aspiring author hopes to some day have a fan base, a following who wait anxiously for their next novel, and I am also certain every hard working author wants to go back and punch their younger self in the face. They work for months and months writing, re-writing, and finally polishing up their stories. They add on a beautiful cover to tempt readers like a siren. And as fans we scramble into bookstores and libraries to grab those copies as soon as they hit the shelf. We sit down and devour the story, finishing in a day, and then we start screaming “We want more!” Oh, how authors must hate us. I already want more time in the Wyrd.
Since it is obviously too soon for more Isle of Wyrd stories, I consoled myself with a re-listen to my World of Others stories to keep my inner Anne Bishop-fanship happy.
Favorite Scene:
In front of them was one of the moon gates. An arch made of stone with openwork metal gates that had a large butterfly in the center. The keystone had…symbols? He wasn’t sure about that, but he was certain that he didn’t want to push those metal gates open and walk under that arch. He was also certain that Dare would make him go first. Despite all his big-balls talk, Dare usually wasn’t the first to do anything if someone else could be sacrificed.
He couldn’t leave without Dare’s permission, not if he wanted to survive this school year, but maybe he could make Dare order him to go away.
“You’re a rat, Dare.” Ted’s voice carried. Not that there was anyone around to hear him and come over to check out what he and Dare were doing. Dare pushed at the metal gates, which swung open over well-trimmed grass, each gate holding half the butterfly. Then he turned back and gave Ted that psycho smile that made the younger kids at school wet their pants. “Oh, yeah? Why is that, Tedious?”
“You told everyone that I felt up Melissa Stevens under her shirt.”
“You wanted to, didn’t you?”
Sure he did, but he hadn’t done it. “I liked her, and now she won’t even talk to me.”
“Screw her.” Dare said. “Come here and see what this moon gate is all about.”
Something flickered on the keystone. Ted stared a it a minute. Was the symbol changing? He blinked. The symbols changed to letters.
Trans porta tion
Trans forma tion
Changing over and over, like the designation sign on a bus when it changes its route. Changing. Changing.
“Come on, Tedious,” Dare said, “Do as you’re told.”
No fucking way. “If you’re so curious, you go first.” Bravery born of terror filled Ted. “Or are you chicken?”
“That’s right, Tedious. I’m a chicken!” Dare tucked his hands under his arms and moved his elbows like wings. “Look at me! I’m a rat-faced chicken!” He danced around making clucking noises.
The letters on the keystone kept changing, changing: TRANSPORTATION. TRANSFORMATION. “Dare, you’re too close to the gate.”
“I’m a rat-faced chicken. Cluck, cluck, cluck.” Dare kept moving his arms and doing some kind of dance. “I’m a rat-faced chicken!”
Dare danced under the arch–and disappeared.
Ted stared at the pile of clothes on the ground. Then he heard something scream. Not human and yet…
He raced around the gate. Something moved under the clothes as it screamed.
He took a step toward the moving clothes. Took two steps back as something freed itself from the T-shirt. It looked at him as it flapped its wings and screamed.
A rat-faced chicken.
“D-Dare?”
The thing flapped its wings. It opened its rat mouth and screamed.
Whump!
Something dropped from the sky. One big taloned foot landed on Dare’s back.
Hawk? Eagle? Owl? How was he supposed to know? Whatever it was, it was almost as tall as he was. It looked at him and screamed, but not in terror. No, this was challenging.
Ted didn’t move. Couldn’t move. The bird tightened its grip on its prey, which produced one final squeak as the bird’s talons dug into flesh.
The bird flew away with its meal.
Ted stared at the bird and the thing that hung from its talons. He stared at the pile of empty clothes.
He fell to his knees and threw up.
Then he ran, blind to direction because the only direction he needed right now was away.
Oh wow, I have looking forward to her new book. I love the intrigue of the Arcana. Anne Bishop is a storytelling master.