A Fate Forged in Fire

It has the potential to become an enticing magical world with an intriguing religious and political corruption network…

A Fate Forged in Fire
A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride, reviewed by Fae Reviews
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Somewhere between 3.75 and 4...

🎥 In a Snapshot

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Review

A Fate Forged in Fire (Bonded to Beasts #1)

🔗Author: Hazel McBride

📚 This is a duology. Check my review on its finale here.

Highlights

The politics and religion involved in the plot were intriguing, although there was some refining to do. Also, giving us not exactly a fierce female main character (FMC), but someone prone to mistakes had potential—I’ll talk about what I missed about her below.

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All in all, I see promise. For book 2, I expect a polished arc for some characters, a better exposed world with its territories intricacies, and better explained motivations.

What to Expect

  • Enemies to lovers
  • A bit of sexual fire
  • Royalty power struggles
  • Magic vs non-magic
  • Religious manipulation
  • Twists
  • Secrets and betrayals
  • War
  • Dragons involved

What I Missed

  • The world was complicated. The author tried to disentangle it for us through about 25% of the reading. Still, the curse, the religion’s broader goal, who the neighbors involved were, their magical conscription to their territories after a major war…all that needed more explaining, more in-depth context.
  • I had flashbacks from the Wings of Ink series (not sure if in a positive way). This “good side” situation where they’re constantly making mistakes and failing in their strategies is disheartening when you want the intrigue, wisdom, planning and experience building a smart plot with worth-fighting-for characters. Rhysand from ACOTAR is a go-to example. Even when he’s bested sometimes, he has the vision to be one step ahead of his enemies.
  • The FMC had fire in her. However, most of the time she acted as a reckless teenager rather than an almost 30-year-old-supposed-to-be-experienced-in-life woman. So, I had mixed feelings with her.

🚨 Spoiler Alert

Great twist by the end, although I’m confused. Was Aemyra betrayed at the last minute or played since the beginning? There are dialogues suggesting either option.

THE END

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