Reviews - A Forgery of Fate

581 reviews for:

A Forgery of Fate

Elizabeth Lim

4.28 AVERAGE

shelves_by_sim's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional fast-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: Complicated

Beautifully decadent and superbly enchanting as Lim's books always are. I love this author and she never fails to write a story that is perfectly balanced in eastern mythology and fantasy, with a love story that is sweet and heartbreaking and earthshattering. This is a Beauty and the Beast inspired story and I loved the grotesque features Elang had, so unique, so authentic. I loved the underwater world, the magic system that was rooted in eastern culture as well as all the weird and wonderful side characters one would, of course, find in an underwater dragon realm. It's also a standalone and I absolutely love that because it's always nice to read a book from beginning to end and know that between these covers is all you get of these characters and that's so special!

floyuki702's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

catriona_v's review against another edition

3.0

funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

osenia's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

underrose's review against another edition

5.0

A Forgery of Fate blends together myth and legend with love and heartbreak, in this beautifully written masterpiece of a story. Protagonist Tru loses her father when she’s young and spends her whole childhood trying to provide for her family by forging paintings for a living. With the help of her friend, Gaari, she starts to perfect her portrait painting skills. That’s when everything goes wrong. Her mom gambles with the wrong people again, and while trying to escape, Tru falls into a stranger’s garden. Then, a proposal for a fake marriage promises to fix everything for her. All it’s going to take is for her to leave her family, pretend to love an insufferable groom, and paint the largest and most intricate portrait yet. What could go wrong? Perhaps, love. This was a heartwarming and suspenseful enemies to lovers story, with a twist.

Maybe this story will be predictable for some, but I did not see the ending coming at all. I loved the way Elizabeth Lim always keeps you guessing on what is going to happen with Tru and Elang. Is it more like Beauty and the Beast, or are they going to end up like Romeo and Juliet? Sprinkle a little Princess and the Frog in there, and maybe that’s the complete story. I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself. In the end, I loved the story and the world of Lor’yan so much, that I added the rest of Elizabeth Lim’s stories to my TBR shelf.

otto_c's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

dr_dumpling's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A Forgery of Fate was beautifully written, but the romance plotline just didn't work.

From old male mentor to lover? No thank you. Pretending to be Gaari while manipulating her into painting to destroy Zazayun and making Tru think her friend was dead is a borderline toxic relationship. Not to mention that he stalked her for years...

. There are also so many unanswered questions, but the ending really bothered me:

sure, dragons are immortal, but did how did Elang just materialize three years later as a fully grown man?

The book was also incorrectly marketed as Six of Crows, but that's not the author's fault.

Content Warnings

amandamaney's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted 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: Yes

talia05's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional mysterious

4th_fav's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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: No

It was a cute story, loved the beauty and beast inspirations as well as the Asian influences. Gave me studio Ghibli vibes.

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