Reviews - A Forgery of Fate

603 reviews for:

A Forgery of Fate

Elizabeth Lim

4.28 AVERAGE

melimellow64's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional 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

bookishbsap's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Lim does it again! I will never get tired of her writing or the worlds of Loryan/Ai'long

dawn_marie's review against another edition

3.25

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim weaves fairy tale, mythology, and folklore into a charmingly engaging story. The story follows Truyan an 18-year-old who, after her father’s disappearance at sea five years earlier, turns to art forgery to help support her family. When her mother’s gambling habits drag the family into further ruination, Tru agrees to a sham marriage with Elang, the “demon prince” who just so happens to be a dragon lord and assist him infiltrating the Dragon King’s court.

While the characters aren’t well-developed or complex, some being little more than caricatures, they are interesting and move the plot. The characters were likeable enough – though for someone who prides herself on her ability notice details, Truyan missed some obvious details. The plot is a beauty and the beast retelling sprinkled with Japanese folklore. The pacing was a bit uneven, feeling a little draggy at some points and repetitive in others. The writing was lovely and captivating.

aleeeeessab's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was my introduction to Lim's works, and I absolutely loved it. The imagery and detail of the world and the paintings that Tru created were beautiful. The relationship between Tru and Elang was complex and developed very well, acknowledging both their feelings, situation, and backgrounds as they navigated political drama, love, and curses in a world neither of them felt safe in. The landscape that Lim built was gorgeous and very unique. I enjoyed exploring the kingdom of A’landi (or underwater dragon land, as I called it in my head) through Tru as she finds the beauty in Elang's home.

As others have mentioned, the true beauty of this work is how Lim explores themes of inner beauty, transformation through love and self-confidence, and what it means to be monstrous and afraid, yet unwilling to back down. Lim uses her fantasy setting to examine questions about racism, the self vs other, family bonds, love, and identity, especially in a world that does not want you. A Forgery of Fate does an excellent job of presenting these difficult and painful topics wrapped up in a beautiful love story.

Gorgeously breathtaking, this book showed love, art, and very delicious food as the key to not only finding your true self, but finding happiness.

meganlowe87's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

starmiffy's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

from the start, this book was instantly engaging. i always find myself getting lost in elizabeth lim’s books and wanting to see where the story goes, especially with the way she paints a family story.

overall, this was good. i especially liked one particular twist that was revealed near the end. i remember gasping aloud as i read it.

this book wasn’t perfect for me for a few reasons. a lot of it ended up feeling predictable. sometimes, this doesn’t bother me as i usually end up enjoying the story still even if i can see it coming but this time it felt as though some thing didn’t have the right impact that they were intended to have. some plot connections felt too easy and some character choices felt uninteresting. some moments that i imagine were meant to be very emotional didn’t land as well either. i also do have a personal gripe with the way one point gets resolved a little too neatly. also, i wasn’t so pleased with the ending. it, like many other things as i said before, felt too easy.

i feel this story could’ve been even better if it was longer. many things could’ve delivered well if they were fleshed out.

i don’t think i would read this book again, but i did overall enjoy it. gorgeous cover btw.