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the_ash37's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
this book was amazing. i am obsessed. it was so well written and the characters were exciting and loveable. i was hooked onto the story since the start, which rarely happens with books that are this long. i usually lose interest quickly but i was very surprised with how much i loved it. i had never heard of the book before but i saw it in a bookshop and i decided to try it. i hope that this book and all of kemmerers books get more recognition because she is a truly wonderful author. i cant wait to read her other books and fall in love with her characters again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Addiction, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, and Animal death
Minor: Child death, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
reading_leaf's review against another edition
I don’t know it’s just got too much yucky power dynamics for me and it’s rather triggering. Also very slow and lacks world building that gives me a want to care. Theres *spoiler*
Romance between characters thats good and I love the representation but it’s just yucky. It has a lot of potential but I just keep reading other books and kinda hate coming back to this book so I just stopped.
Romance between characters thats good and I love the representation but it’s just yucky. It has a lot of potential but I just keep reading other books and kinda hate coming back to this book so I just stopped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Sexism, Physical abuse, Death, and Classism
nostarsleftinthesky's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book. Brigid Kemmerer has never failed to make me cry, scream into my pillow, throw the book across the room, punch my mattress, have to stop reading out of shock and just adore/loathe her characters.
Jax was such a well rounded and intriguing new member of the cast, Callyn I had mixed feelings about until the very end when I decided I adored her, and of course it was wonderful that Tycho my beloved was given a POV in this story. (I will be extremely mad if he or Jax don't get POVs in the next one.)
I love how the relationships in this story added to the ones already established in the cursebreaker series, and I was glad to see Rhen back to his scheming. Jax and Tycho were so gloriously domestic and Lia Mara's bond with Callyn was really comforting to read.
My only issue(?) with this book was likely the lack of racial diversity. As much as Kemmerer has written some of my favourite characters of all time, only Noah (I think) is a canon POC main in her fantasy work. I would love to see more racial diversity in these stories.
Overall, however, for sure a new favourite.
EDIT - this is also the first book I’ve read in ages which I consistently read 100+ pages each time I picked it up, which is just huge credit to Brigid’s writing.
Jax was such a well rounded and intriguing new member of the cast, Callyn I had mixed feelings about until the very end when I decided I adored her, and of course it was wonderful that Tycho my beloved was given a POV in this story. (I will be extremely mad if he or Jax don't get POVs in the next one.)
I love how the relationships in this story added to the ones already established in the cursebreaker series, and I was glad to see Rhen back to his scheming. Jax and Tycho were so gloriously domestic and Lia Mara's bond with Callyn was really comforting to read.
My only issue(?) with this book was likely the lack of racial diversity. As much as Kemmerer has written some of my favourite characters of all time, only Noah (I think) is a canon POC main in her fantasy work. I would love to see more racial diversity in these stories.
Overall, however, for sure a new favourite.
EDIT - this is also the first book I’ve read in ages which I consistently read 100+ pages each time I picked it up, which is just huge credit to Brigid’s writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Toxic relationship
mali33102's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Brigid Kemmerer does it again. I love her books so much, and being able to revisit Syhl Shallow and Emberfall was great. I loved getting to see the old cast of characters once again as well as the new characters that were introduced. I also really appreciated how she sprinkled the plot of the Curse So Dark and Lonely throughout to remind past readers who may have forgotten some of it (AKA: me).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Miscarriage, Animal death, and Child death
Minor: Sexual content
theespressoedition's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In a mini-review I posted on bookstagram, I said, "move over, Cursebreakers, this spin-off takes the cake!" I think that pretty much sums up the majority of how I felt about Forging Silver Into Stars!
I loved the original series (primarily the first book), but I never felt the kind of connection to it that I felt while reading this book. There was something really special about the start of this new series. Not only did it continue to include disability rep, it also had queer rep, and dealt with much heavier topics like miscarriage and abuse. While those things might not entice everyone to pick it up, they were really well written, in my opinion. I appreciated the sensitive approach to the challenging elements and the way that they were handled throughout the story. It drew me to the characters and made me relate to them during so many moments.
Along with that, I loved that for the majority of the book, you weren't really sure who you were meant to root for. It seemed as though everyone was a touch morally gray, and that wound up being really appealing. Sure, it was easy to pick favorite couples or characters (at least, it was for me), but you didn't always know whether or not you should trust them. It added to the suspense of the story and had me gasping aloud on multiple occasions when certain things were revealed. The characters were truly the heart and soul of Forging Silver Into Stars and I look forward to seeing how they grow in the coming installations. It was also really special to be let into the lives of some of the beloved characters from the former series. After several years, they had matured a lot and it was comforting to witness how they had changed and grown.
The literal only issue I had with the story was the fact that one of the characters from the original series was villainized a bit in this book. This seems to be something that Kemmerer likes to do to throw you for a loop, just when you think you understand everyone. She did this in the Cursebreakers series, when Rhen became the villain in the second book, after you had completely grown to adore him in the first. Similarly, she did that with Grey in this book, making him a bit of a villain towards Tycho, despite the fact that he's always been a loved (and loving) character. Now, I recognize that for some people, this is really cool. In fact, the person I buddy-read with liked this element a lot. For me, it tends to be a little frustrating. But I can't say that it took away from how excellent the book was.
Truly, I'm just so excited to find out what happens next. That ending was fantastic and left me with a lot of questions that I hope will be answered in the sequel!
I loved the original series (primarily the first book), but I never felt the kind of connection to it that I felt while reading this book. There was something really special about the start of this new series. Not only did it continue to include disability rep, it also had queer rep, and dealt with much heavier topics like miscarriage and abuse. While those things might not entice everyone to pick it up, they were really well written, in my opinion. I appreciated the sensitive approach to the challenging elements and the way that they were handled throughout the story. It drew me to the characters and made me relate to them during so many moments.
Along with that, I loved that for the majority of the book, you weren't really sure who you were meant to root for. It seemed as though everyone was a touch morally gray, and that wound up being really appealing. Sure, it was easy to pick favorite couples or characters (at least, it was for me), but you didn't always know whether or not you should trust them. It added to the suspense of the story and had me gasping aloud on multiple occasions when certain things were revealed. The characters were truly the heart and soul of Forging Silver Into Stars and I look forward to seeing how they grow in the coming installations. It was also really special to be let into the lives of some of the beloved characters from the former series. After several years, they had matured a lot and it was comforting to witness how they had changed and grown.
The literal only issue I had with the story was the fact that one of the characters from the original series was villainized a bit in this book. This seems to be something that Kemmerer likes to do to throw you for a loop, just when you think you understand everyone. She did this in the Cursebreakers series,
Truly, I'm just so excited to find out what happens next. That ending was fantastic and left me with a lot of questions that I hope will be answered in the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Blood, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and War
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Alcoholism, and Sexual content
Minor: Animal death and Vomit
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