A well-written YA fantasy! I couldn't even tell that this is the author's debut. Such a great story that I think many people will enjoy. A great read for people that are fans of Children of Blood and Bone.

What an amazing book! Once it got going, it was really hard to put it down. The writing was super engaging, absolutely loved the characters, and really enjoyed the plot as well. I wish that there was some sort of dictionary or something in the back that would remind me who all of the people were and the different powers and the different places, because the world building was very intense and could be hard to remember at times. Absolutely looking forward to book too! 4.5 stars rounded up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Démi is a magic wielder in this Nigerian inspired world. Unfortunately for her and her mother, the magic wielders have undergone a harsh genocide by the hand of the king a few years earlier. When her mother is killed for helping a young man, Démi escapes and vows to avenge her people.

The good: I loved the worldbuilding and this universe. The elemental magic was very cool. The story dragged you right in and you could feel the pain that Démi went through very palpably. Jonas was also a fun character and I enjoyed seeing his back and forth with Démi and Colin. The author is clearly well versed in the real world culture and mythology. I liked how unique this voice is in a market that is full of European based fantasies.

The meh: The book stopped pulling me in around the midway point and I felt I didn't care so much what happened next. The stakes didn't feel high enough to make me want to find out what was going to happen. Démi, though seemed age and trauma appropriately focused on revenge, was getting very repetitive and blaming the wrong people for what happened to her mother. She was also leading Colin on a lot, which seems like an odd thing to do to someone who you consider family. The romance felt forced and it was obvious that Démi and Jonas would get together from the start of the novel. There seemed to be an element of fated mates but that was contradicted by saying there was choice involved. Speaking of contradictions, the first half of the book we learn that taking a life will lead to losing magic or death/disability, but then Démi is actually sort of promoted for it in the end? Odd. This also felt much more YA than adult fantasy which I've read it's being marketed as, so I'm not sure what to make of that. I think this book suffered from too many tropes shoved into one, too many ideas and contradictions, bland characters, and a forced romance.

The verdict: You may like this book if you enjoy sort love triangles, mythology, Africa inspired worlds, elemental magic, a spirit world, magic persecution, and revenge plots.

A StoryGraph review will be posted on 7/13.

As soon as I started reading this, I had to double check whether it was supposed to be a YA fantasy or not, because the first few chapters are narrated by the 8 year old main character, and after that, the timeline jumps to 9 years later, when she is 17. In professional library review journals and other places where I initially came across this title, it has been billed as for a "general adult" audience (although I see it is now tagged as "young adult" on Goodreads). If I had realized it was going to be narrated by such a young main character, I probably would not have requested an advance readers' copy of this title--I have realized that I am just past the point where I enjoy reading YA fantasy. I really wanted to like this book, but stopped reading around 25% or so just because the main character felt so young and naive. I can tell that the author put a lot of effort into world-building and from what I read, I think the plot is interesting, but it should be being marketed as a YA fantasy.

Forged by Blood is such an amazing book. It carefully combined magic with Nigerian culture to create a unique world and characters. The best part of the book is how well-written the protagonist Demi is. Her voice shines in the novel, with her thoughts, feelings, hopes, and fears driving the story further. As a YA fantasy novel, Forged by Blood stands out because of its storytelling. I was never able to guess what was going to happen next, but it still all flowed seamlessly. The story never felt rushed, and I enjoyed being in the world Okosun created.

I enjoyed this book so much! The storyline was so interesting with the world building easy to follow. I enjoyed that the main character had character development throughout the story. There was a little bit of slowness towards the middle but the end made up for any of that. This story was a rollercoaster ride that I enjoyed every page of.

This was such a great read. The characters I felt were very developed and you were truly rooting for them til the end. I loved the magic system and how it blended the use of folklore into fantasy with this story!

3.5 ⭐ rounded up to 4
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC

Forged by Blood is a story of oppression and hatred, and one girl, Demi, who has suffered greatly due to who she was born as, has lost her only family and is on the run, who is determined to save her people and free them. Okosun weaves a tale that is full of African mythology. She introduces a magic system that is fairly well developed.

We have our main trio: Demi, Colin, and Jonas. The three of them make up our "love triangle," though I'm not sure I would call it much of a triangle. Demi lets the readers know very early on that she does not believe in love and is not interested in Colin that way, despite what he thinks. It's very obvious from the beginning that Demi and Jonas would end up together, even just from their first meeting as children. Especially once the idea of fated mates came into play, there was no hope for Colin. I did not like the way that Demi seemed to lead Colin on, even though she had no intentions of being with him. That seemed just cruel and no wonder he was bitter at the end of the book.

The magic system was interesting. The different types of magic and then the use of harnessing a specific elemental spirit as well. I do wish that the lore behind the magic was a little more developed or the spirit world was expanded more. There were a few times were it seemed that the "laws" of the magic seemed to contradict each other or one thing was known to be true, and then at the end, someone had randomly been able to find a loophole to it (i.e. the whole fact that killing someone would make you lose your magic yet Ekwensi had been killing people for a long time but somehow that was ok because the spirits deemed it as "justice"?? Makes no sense to me).

Overall I did like the book and will be reading the sequel. There were some spelling or grammar errors but hopefully those will be fixed for the final publish. I would've really liked to see a glossary as there were a lot of new words that I had a hard time keeping straight what they meant.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars!

Ehigbor Okosun’s debut novel follows Dèmi, a young woman who is desperately trying to survive in an empire that wants her dead. Years prior to the story, her people—magic wielders—have suffered a brutal genocide by the King. Dèmi and her mother live peacefully in a village until one day the King’s soldiers murder her mother in front of her, setting her on a journey for revenge.

Forged by Blood started off zippy and interesting and does not spend any time meandering around in the world Okosun has created, but ultimately I thought this was a good YA fantasy and a middling at best adult fantasy. I genuinely loved the setting and aspects of the world like the Aziza, and I think Okosun’s grasp of this world’s culture is excellent. There were parts of this that were truly excellent, and I found this to be very readable with fast pacing that demands your attention. I’m quite curious about the prophecy that was given partway through this novel about Jonas and Colin, and I am generally curious as to how this duology shakes out in the end: the end of this novel leaves some interesting questions. Still, this wasn’t quite what I’d been expecting. Billed as an adult debut, while I think Dèmi’s reactions and thought patterns make sense for someone who has continually suffered under colonial violence, she and the rest of the cast read quite young and reckless and since this is told in first person (present tense), the entire story is filtered through her lens. First person is always a tricky point of view for me and I am significantly more sensitive to the voice; Dèmi’s voice is strong but the way she processes events makes it difficult to recommend this as an adult fantasy, but quite easy to recommend as an upper young adult/new adult fantasy.

The start was strong and readjusting my expectations to that of an older young adult novel helped me get into Dèmi’s POV, but while the ultimately plot was straightforward and made sense, there were too many reveals and tropes for me to really sink into this. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of fated mates or mating bonds and when this popped up I felt very hesitant about any potential romance, and there is a very odd love triangle that I didn’t quite understand the purpose of and felt wedged into the story. There’s also quite a bit of mysterious parentage going on and by the end it felt overworn, but I think I would’ve eaten it up as a teenager. There’s a bit too much going on in the conclusion for me: evil kings and a lot of monologuing and everyone shouting or yelling at each other, though I do think the way things are left leaves interesting questions. It just was kind of a bumpy ride to get there, especially because I thought the start was strong.

I really wanted to love this, however I went in expecting something older in tone and approach and there’s a handful of tropes I didn’t particularly vibe with. Forged by Blood is a fast, well-placed series opener that I think would primarily appeal to readers who enjoy young and new adult fantasy and readers who enjoy certain popular fantasy tropes (mysterious parentage, being a young person hellbent on revenge, fated mates, prosecuted magic, etc).

DNF - 12%. There was SOOOO much info dumping that I simply could not get into the story or any of the people in it. Maybe i'll get back to it but alas for now, it's over.

2.5 stars.

This book had a good start, but then I really started to struggle with it. The magic system, although initially very interesting, grew very confusing and scrambled. I felt like there were many random moments in the story and to be honest, I didn't really know what was happening in terms of what they were trying to do. I didn't know how they got themselves into half the situations in the book and it definitely didn't help that there were lots of terms that I wasn't familiar with. I would have loved a clearer image of the world without having it impact some of the action scenes since it felt very jarring. It was also really hard for me to like the main character. She was stubborn and lots of her thoughts were very repetitive. I'm also wondering what Colin's character was supposed to contribute because we learn right from the beginning that there's no potential for him to be a love interest. Also, Dèmi's relationship with Colin and with Jonas felt extremely forced and abrupt, and I think part of this is because of the pacing of the book. All the characters were honestly quite bland. Overall, this book had lots of potential but the writing felt more YA than Adult, and there were too many ideas pitched at once.

I ended up DNFing this book because while I enjoyed the plot, I felt like this wasn’t entirely different than other books I had read and therefore I had a difficult time getting into it.

Forged by Blood is a stunning series opener. Beginning with an unlikely friendship that might just turn around and bite down, this series opener is action packed. It's a book that asks you from page one if you can trust anyone. Okosun weaves a rich multi-layered world full of tension, love triangles, and trust which erodes and secrets which fester. Who will sacrifice in the end? Will it be the ones making the decisions or the ones on the ground?

I couldn't have loved this book more! Such a good story, and the character relationships were wildly perfect and fascinating. Will be purchasing a physical copy to add to my collection!

This debut was so good, this is probably my favorite read so far this year! The characters are extremely compelling, the romance worked really well for me (I'm usually wary of love triangles but this somehow worked for me, it gave me ACOTAR vibes), the world-building is amazing, and the writing itself was so strong, I flew through the book, I can't wait for the sequel!!

This was an amazing tale to read with a blend of the mythology of a different country and what some would consider magical. It can be so easy to stick with the literature of your own culture, so diving into a different one can be eye-opening.

Demi has to struggle with coming to terms with her place in the world, knowing her enemies, and figuring out which guy will have her heart. As a young adult novel, there are not super steamy scenes like you might find in

I hope to read more from this author.

this was good! it was so interesting to read nigerian mythology, as that's something i've never delved into before. the story was captivating and the characters were very well- written. i really enjoyed how Dèmi tried to make everything right and wanted nothing to stand in her way. i would like to read more from this author.

Forged by Blood is book 1 of a YA fantasy duology, and tells the story of a magic-wielding girl fighting to protect her people after a great personal loss.

This book was inspired by Nigerian mythology and that was probably the most interesting thing about it. The pacing was all over the place, at certain times I felt rushed and at others, I just wanted something exciting to happen.

There is a love triangle, but the fated mates trope was introduced so early that the other love interest never really felt like a possibility.

I think that the author has a unique voice and I would love to read more from her- I just struggled to connect with the characters in this book and felt that the plot was lackluster.

***I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A story with a wonderful start but that came to a halt at 60%. The beginning was slow paced, yet the ending was too fast paced and as a reader that felt jarring to keep up. There needed to be a steady pace. The world building was excellent. The characters fell flat for me. I can see the potential it is setting up for book 2. Will look forward to seeing how this story ends.
Thank you to Random House and Netgallery for the arc in exchange for review.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and was instantly intrigued.
The world and magic concepts are both unique and I wanted to love the book but I really struggled with the names and info dumping that happened. It seems like a lot of people are known as 1-2 different names but I might have just gotten confused.
I think a glossary and pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book would help a lot.
A lot of fantasy books will have different languages in them but I didn’t think it added anything to this story to have it thrown in there.
If those were added I think this could be a 4 star for me but it was a little too long and a little too confusing as it currently stands. Also, spelling errors and typos don’t typically bother me in an ARC but this book had more and more errors throughout that became distracting.
Rating: 3/5 stars
.
#Bookstagram #bookreview #netgalley #fantasybooks #shelfie #fantasy #fantasyreader #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #booknerd #read