booksalacarte 's review for:

A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride

2.75

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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2.75⭐️3🌶️

Romantasy

Adopted/blended family

🏳️‍🌈, 26yo FMC

Prince MMC

Dragons

Elemental Magic

Secret identity

Betrayal

Political intrigue

War

Rebellion

Tw: childbirth, medical trauma, sexual assault, murder, vomit, gore, religious trauma, 

The storyline and overall premise are strong. I really enjoyed the concept. The idea of a female-centric government being overthrown by masochistic men sets up an engaging ideological war, and the exploration of female rage is compelling. However, the execution feels slightly disjointed, and I’m struggling to pinpoint exactly why.

The bond between the dragon and the writer is disappointingly vague. The magical familiar concept is fantastic, and I love the idea, but it wasn’t developed in a way that felt meaningful or consistent. That may be part of the larger issue with the worldbuilding. It feels scattered. A more defined portrayal of the belief systems earlier on would have helped ground the story and clarified motivations.

The characters are interesting, but I never felt fully convinced by anyone’s motivations. It was hard to watch the FMC ignore red flags so blatantly. It made me want to shake her.

The writing itself is good, but the story needs tightening. I won’t be continuing, mainly because I’m just not interested in another overpowered, under-acknowledged female main character. Her birthright didn’t feel earned, no matter how often it was asserted. I wanted to root for her, but she read more like a self-absorbed “it should’ve been me” archetype than a complex, just ruler. She came off as an angry pick-me girl at the start, and it took too long to peel back her layers.

The romantic or interpersonal tension also fell flat. There was too much hate at the start with not enough chemistry or intrigue to balance it. So when the tension finally broke, it didn’t feel earned or climactic.

Lastly, the foreshadowing was predictable. I saw the cliffhanger coming from a mile away, which dulled its impact.

Thank you NetGalley and  Random House Publishing-Ballantine for the gifted eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism