Forge and Shadow

ARC REVIEW NOTICE: This book was read as an Advance Reader Copy (ARC). The review was provided voluntarily and reflects my independent assessment of the book.

*****

What pulled me into Forge and Shadow was Arden and Keera. When the story begins, they’re already in love and planning their future together. Arden is a blacksmith, Keera is the innkeeper’s daughter, they plan to marry, Arden hopes to own his own forge, and they’ve even talked about the children they want someday. I liked getting that time with them because I got to see their relationship before everything changed. They already had a history and a life they were building together, which made what happened next hurt a whole lot more.

River’s Crest is destroyed, Keera loses her father, Rafi, and she and Arden are separated in the chaos. Keera leaves believing Arden died, while Arden eventually comes to believe Keera died too. From there, the story splits between them as they try to survive the loss of their home and the person they thought they were going to spend their life with.

Their separation worked for me because they aren’t only grieving each other. They’re grieving the future they had planned together. Some of the quieter moments were actually the ones that hit me hardest, especially Keera carrying Arden’s hammer and the dream where she sees the life they should have had together—their home, their children, and Arden working at his forge—only to wake up holding his hammer. Rafi also remains part of Keera’s story after his death through the things he made and taught her, which I really appreciated.

Keera was probably the character I connected with fastest. She’s curious, intelligent, and willing to question what she’s told instead of accepting something simply because it comes from a church, a book, or someone in authority. As she begins learning about gods, souls, Light, Darkness, and Shadow, she starts questioning the history she grew up believing and who exactly got to decide which version became the truth.

I especially liked that her curiosity is connected to her grief. Keera believes Arden is dead, so when she starts asking what happens to souls after death, she has a very personal reason for wanting those answers. That slowly pulls her deeper into Shadow, and along the way she begins making choices that show just how much she’s changing. I understood where some of those choices came from even when I wasn’t completely comfortable with them, and I liked that I could understand Keera without necessarily agreeing with everything she did.

One of my favorite parts of the worldbuilding was that Light and Darkness aren’t treated as simple versions of good and evil. The more Keera learns, the more complicated everything becomes. History, religion, power, prejudice, and who gets to tell the story all matter, which left me questioning how much of what these characters have always believed is actually true.

Keera also begins uncovering questions about her own family, including a mystery surrounding the pendant she’s carried with her. When she discovers a portrait containing a matching pendant, it opens up an entirely new set of questions about who she is and what she may have inherited.

Arden’s journey takes him in almost the opposite direction. After surviving River’s Crest, he discovers that he can access the Grace and has to begin learning what that means. I liked that having power doesn’t suddenly turn him into a completely different person. He’s still Arden, and his life as a blacksmith continues to shape the way he approaches what he’s learning.

Magnus was another part of Arden’s story I really enjoyed. He becomes a mentor and companion without taking over Arden’s journey, and their friendship brings some much-needed humor into a story carrying quite a bit of grief. Arden also starts uncovering questions about his own family and his father’s possible connection to the paladins, so both he and Keera end up learning that their histories may be a lot more complicated than they ever realized.

What interested me most was watching their separate paths begin to mirror each other while pulling them in different directions. Arden is becoming connected to Grace and Light while Keera is learning more about Shadow and Darkness. Neither knows what the other has survived or who they’re becoming, and neither knows the other is still alive. There are also dreams and strange moments of connection between them that made me wonder whether their bond is doing something neither of them understands yet.

One of Arden’s strongest moments for me comes when he finds what he believes is proof that Keera died. Until then, he has held onto a little hope that she survived. As the reader, I knew she was alive, but that actually made watching Arden lose that hope worse. It’s one of the places where the grief really worked because the moment itself tells you everything you need to know about what he’s feeling.

Where Forge and Shadow lost a star for me was mostly in the pacing and the amount of worldbuilding being introduced. Andellian is a big fantasy world with several gods, different beliefs surrounding Light and Darkness, Grace, Shadow, paladins, supernatural creatures, magical objects, history, family mysteries, and quite a few locations. I enjoy detailed fantasy worlds, but there were times when I had to stop and remind myself which god was being discussed or where everyone currently was. I don’t think the world needs less detail, but a few more little reminders along the way would have made some of it easier for me to follow. I also think this is exactly the kind of fantasy world that would benefit from a map.

The middle slowed a little for me as Arden and Keera settled into their separate periods of learning. Some of the training, discoveries, and grief cover similar ground, and I think a little tightening would have helped the story keep its momentum. The more specific emotional moments—the hammer, Keera’s dream, Arden reaching for her and finding nothing, and especially what he discovers involving the purple carriage—were the ones that affected me the most.

Things pick up again toward the end as Arden finally has to put what he’s learned about Grace to use, and I liked that becoming more powerful doesn’t make him invincible. Keera’s ending is quieter, but her discoveries leave some pretty big questions about her family and where her path is taking her.

And after all of that, Arden and Keera still don’t know the other is alive. I spent a good portion of the book waiting for one of them to finally discover the truth, but as much as I wanted that reunion, I actually think keeping them apart works. They’ve both changed considerably since River’s Crest. Arden is becoming connected to Grace while Keera is learning to wield Shadow, and neither one knows what the other has experienced. Their eventual reunion now has the potential to be a lot more complicated than simply discovering the other survived, and I really want to see what happens when they finally meet again.

Overall, I’m giving Forge and Shadow ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 stars. Arden and Keera were the heart of this book for me. I enjoyed the way their separate journeys developed, the more complicated approach to Light and Darkness, and the mysteries surrounding both of their families. The amount of information being introduced and some slower, slightly repetitive stretches through the middle kept it from reaching 5 stars for me, but I finished invested in these characters and wanting to continue their story.

For spice, I’m giving it 🌶️ 1/5 peppers. Arden and Keera’s relationship is important, and there’s affection and intimacy between them, but this isn’t a spice-heavy book. The focus is much more on their relationship, loss, magic, and the separate paths they’re being pulled down.

By the end, Arden and Keera are a long way from the two people who started the book planning to get married and buy a forge. One is being pulled toward Grace while the other is learning to wield Shadow, both are uncovering secrets about where they came from, and somehow they’re still mourning each other while they’re both very much alive. I have plenty of questions about the gods, their families, their abilities, and what’s really happening in Andellian, but mostly I just want these two to find each other again.

And now comes my least favorite part of starting a new series: waiting for Book Two. Apparently, Alexander expects me and my inner BookDragon to sit patiently until Oaths and Sacrifice arrives so I can finally find out what happens when Arden and Keera discover the other is alive. We are not known for our patience.

Review By: SASSY
Owner • Creator • Queen of the Chaos
SassyReviews.com
Read, Reviewed, & BookDragon Approved… or Not.