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A review by nikkisbooknook
A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride
4.5
I came for the feminine rage and the dragons and I stayed for the political intrigue, religious trauma and enemies to lovers. What was even better? A Scottish author, basing a fantasy world rooted in Scottish mythology and using Gaelic appropriately.
I was prepared for the rage and anger, not for the tears. My heart broke for Aemyra at times and I could feel her grief poring off the page. The enemies to lovers was handled well and even though we knew there had to be a catch, I was rooting for Aemyra and Fiorean.
Saying that, Aemyra isn't perfect and she is her own worst enemy on occasion. Knowing your a queen and living as a blacksmith has to be a bit of a headache. But when she finally reveals herself she sometimes has an air of "superiority" that kind of sticks in the throat a bit. That inexperience really becomes apparent in some of the decisions she makes.
Fiorean was a great foil to Aemyra, he really knew how to inflame this firebrand but at the same time he was also a bit blinkered when it came to his horrible relatives and the religious sect they had allowed into their lands.
Aemyra really does have a tough go with the men in her life (with the exception of Adarian). They all let her down or betray her in some way. The scenes with the Chosen really left me chilled and not a little revolted. Talk about fiction mirroring life, whoever says reading isn't political is a complete dunderheid! Sometimes the Gaelic defeated me and I just substituted places I thought would fit the description we had been given. Even us Scots are sometimes defeated by Gaelic, my brain just buzzed occasionally trying to get my tongue around some of the names.
There was definitely lots of "My Wife" moments and touch her and d!e energy. We're left on a bit of a cliffhanger and a WTAF moment but with that last scene with Aervor I'm really hoping that there is some skulduggery going on trying to divert the Chosen.
There is much still to uncover and no doubt more treachery and betrayal to unfold before we get that epic HEA. But just how this tangles web is going to resolve itself I have not one clue!
I was prepared for the rage and anger, not for the tears. My heart broke for Aemyra at times and I could feel her grief poring off the page. The enemies to lovers was handled well and even though we knew there had to be a catch, I was rooting for Aemyra and Fiorean.
Saying that, Aemyra isn't perfect and she is her own worst enemy on occasion. Knowing your a queen and living as a blacksmith has to be a bit of a headache. But when she finally reveals herself she sometimes has an air of "superiority" that kind of sticks in the throat a bit. That inexperience really becomes apparent in some of the decisions she makes.
Fiorean was a great foil to Aemyra, he really knew how to inflame this firebrand but at the same time he was also a bit blinkered when it came to his horrible relatives and the religious sect they had allowed into their lands.
Aemyra really does have a tough go with the men in her life (with the exception of Adarian). They all let her down or betray her in some way. The scenes with the Chosen really left me chilled and not a little revolted. Talk about fiction mirroring life, whoever says reading isn't political is a complete dunderheid! Sometimes the Gaelic defeated me and I just substituted places I thought would fit the description we had been given. Even us Scots are sometimes defeated by Gaelic, my brain just buzzed occasionally trying to get my tongue around some of the names.
There was definitely lots of "My Wife" moments and touch her and d!e energy. We're left on a bit of a cliffhanger and a WTAF moment but with that last scene with Aervor I'm really hoping that there is some skulduggery going on trying to divert the Chosen.
There is much still to uncover and no doubt more treachery and betrayal to unfold before we get that epic HEA. But just how this tangles web is going to resolve itself I have not one clue!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail