I really enjoyed this and can’t believe it’s a debut book, it really didn’t read like it. I found it so beautiful, almost magical in reading it. I really enjoyed reading this Nigerian mythology-inspired story , the world building and magic system are well done and so well constructed , I really appreciated the inclusion of discussions on colonialism something there needs to be more of, a thoroughly entertaining and impressive read.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received this email arc on exchange for an honest review from netgalley.
This story is about a girl named Démi. She lives in fear with her mother everyday just because they have magic. One day they help a dick boy and the aunt tells the guards. Even though she asked for the help.
Later that day dèmi loses her mother and runs for her life.
Fast forward nine years and she's with friends of her mother, other magic users like herself. She finds herself in an awkward position when she saves a few kids. A high official sees her from his ship and finds her to make a deal. She must kidnap the prince and deliver Jim to this man so he can turn him and take the credit for finding him. This man has magic and tells her that he can help their kind.
Little does she know that this man she has to kidnap is the same one her mother saved all those years ago.
This story contains Nigerian mythology. Which I was excited to read and learn about. It's an overall good book. Which I gave it a 5 star rating and can't wait for book 2 to come out.

Thank you netgalley for providing this arc.

Dnf at 52%. While I’m rating this pretty low, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad book. I feel like I’m not following the story… it’s kinda confusing. I’m not enjoying reading it, so I’m going to move on. The first few chapters interested me, but after that the storyline felt blurred.

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am obsessed with this magic world and cannot wait for the sequel to see where things go from book one!

Forged by Blood is the start of a Nigerian mythology inspired fantasy series. Dèmi is an Oluso (refers to the dark-skinned magic wielders native to the land of Ife) who embarks on a mission to kidnap the crown prince in a political move to strengthen the voice of the repressed Oluso.

Read this if you enjoy any of these:
>Rebellion/revolution
>Love triangle
>Fantasy as the main aspect, romance on the back burner
>Fated mates
>Nigerian mythology inspired

This novel kept my attention, and I was never bored. Dèmi is a strong character, even though some of her actions and attitudes make me want to shake some sense into her. What we got of the magic system and world were interesting and have me wanting more, which I hope will be expanded upon exponentially in the sequel, because better explanations on several aspects of the story are the thing I wanted from this book and didn't get.

I liked the journey aspect of the story; it allowed for us to get to know the characters, world, and magic system better. Sometimes things that should be extra hard or near impossible, our characters temporarily struggled with before some grand revelation came about or something else happened that just made it seem a little too easy. I don't mind love triangles, but I didn't enjoy how one of the love interests who has been a positive character towards Dèmi the whole book, became snide and rude when it seemed that Dèmi chose the other guy.

I think the story explores themes of colonization, (attempted) genocide, slavery, and racism/classism very well. The ending definitely makes me want to know more- about where things go, how things resolve, more about the magic system and the spirit realm, and more about the world. I think book one opened a lot of questions up, and I desperately need answers!

Forged by Blood is a debut fantasy by Ehigbor Okosun and the first in a duology inspired by Nigerian mythology. The main character is Dèmi, an Oluso, or magic wielder, with the power to heal and call upon wind spirits. Dèmi lives in a world where the Oluso are subjugated by the Aje - those without magic - and hunted and destroyed. She spends her early childhood hidden away with her mother, healing villagers and avoiding the detection of royal guards. When she and her mother are betrayed after healing a young boy with a deadly fever and Dèmi's mother is brutally killed, Dèmi commits herself to avenging the murder of her mother. She finds other Oluso to learn from and alongside and does what she can to protect other Oluso like her from brutalization. When she is given the opportunity to kidnap the Aje prince, Jonas, with the help of her best friend, Colin, in order to ransom him and support the appointing of an Oluso into a position of power, she jumps at the opportunity. What she doesn't expect is for the prince to be the boy who betrayed her and her mother a decade before. Loyalties shift and Dèmi must determine what price is too high to pay for victory. Does becoming like your oppressor in order to end oppression mean becoming just like them? Is peace ever a viable path to change?

I had such mixed feelings about this one! The setup was fascinating and I really liked the beginning of the story. The last 40% though was rushed and confusing and had a lot of information about parentage - it felt like a new twist was happening every other page. I also couldn't tell what genre this book was. It's marked on Goodreads as both YA and Adult and I think that sums up some of what didn't work about this book - it had some adult themes and adult characters, but the writing and decision making of the characters was very YA, as was the black and white moralization of the actions taken by characters in this book.

All in all, this was a fabulous debut from an author to watch! I loved the mythology, magic, and focus on found family.

Some quick takeaways:

✅ Debut Novel
✅ Fantasy
✅ Nigerian Mythology
✅ Love Triangle
✅ Fated Mates
✅ Found Family
✅ No Spice

Thanks so much to Ehigbor Okosun and Harper Voyager for this ARC through NetGalley. Forged by Blood is available for purchase now!

This book started off very strong but once the time lapse happened, it lost my interest. This was a story definintly meant for a younger audience. I would recommend this to someone who may have never taken time to read a fantasy because it's easy to understand. Just when it stands against the other novels I've read, it falls short.

This has all the makings of a really good story. Okosun, as a debut author, knows how to bring a reader into a setting, make you care for the characters, and want to know what happens next.
The pacing was off for me sometimes but not so much that it prevented me from following the plot well enough. The characters are likeable enough that I want to know how the story ends, even if the love triangle was a tad predictable, funny but predictable. I look forward to book 2.

For readers that want to delve into a story with mythology outside of the traditional Western cannon, then this book is for you.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this work in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
I made it to around 35 percent but I ended up DNFin this book. I enjoyed the setting and elements of the story but I didn’t like the MC.

Although I haven’t finished this book - I’m about 70% of the way through it at the moment. But I’ve decided to DNF it as I’m just not interested in finishing the book at this point in time.

For me the plot was quite slow and the book seem to drag on in areas which made me not want to continue reading.

I did really like the plot overall though, and I am interested to see where it leads to in the last 30% of the book - just not at this point in time.

I thought the world building was most good, occasionally I would get a bit confused as to what the setting was and although creating your own way of reading time is fun, I did think it confused me more as I had no clue as to what each time represented in the real world.

The characters were loveable and the romance elements were really good

While not a bad book, Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okosun was a book that ultimately left me bored and like I was reading something I’d read a hundred times before, just simply in a different setting this time.

Featuring:
- A stunning and vast magic system
- A girl meets boy, boy is secretly the heir to the kingdom that overthrew hers, and they fall in love storyline
- and a girl determined to save her people and get back what was taken from her.

Forged by Blood is a book that leans pretty heavily into the YA fantasy tropes of books like Red Queen, ACOTAR, and similar YA fantasy books with love triangles and girls in a world where magic is banned. For me much of this book felt like a slog, and not a particularly enjoyable one. The pacing was odd, and for much of the story it didn’t feel like the characters were really <i>doing</i> all that much. More they were just trying to get from one place to another, and spent far too long doing so in aims of building up the love triangle and ultimate relationship between the main girl and her ultimate love interest. On top of which, the love triangle didn’t really work, because I knew how it was going to end from the moment it started, partially because one relationship was purely relying on the history we were being told two characters shared, while the other two’s history we were being shown. That being said, during the final fourth of the book, the pacing finally picked up, and I found myself enjoying the book. In the end, however much much of this book was actually a slog and not simply my tiredness at the commonplace plot is hard to place. If you enjoy YA teen fantasy, and have been wanting some not set in your standard western European fantasy world, then this book is absolutely for you. Unfortunately for me it was not.

Also I knocked off a star for a colonizer x colonized romance, which I think are always kind of shit.

Great book! The cover of the book is gorgeous which led me to want to read the story to begin with! Glad I got chosen to receive an ARC. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Since Raybearer, I am all in on African folklore inspired fantasy, so this one sounded right up my alley. I'll start off by saying, I liked the concept in principle. But I was definitely on the struggle bus with this one several times. I started it with the intention of posting on pub day. Unfortunately, there were several times I put it down and had to press myself to go back to it.

It's a kingdom based story where those with magic are oppressed and often killed. When Demi's mother heals someone with connection to royalty, she is murdered leaving Demi as an orphan to survive on her own. Her paths cross again with royalty and tensions run high as she tries to protect her people from oppression and torture. I loved Demi as a character and the world building was good, but I struggled a bit with the rest.

First, there was a huge time jump that I felt was unnecessary. I get the author wanted an older character for the full story but the way it was done was so jarring. Second, the love triangle was super frustrating. I liked Jonas and Demi's unusual history but Colin was a very frustrating character full of toxic masculinity throughout. Demi was supposed to be so clever and smart, she didn't need either of these boys - think Katniss. Some of the important plot points seem to happen off the page and are just recounted to Demi, I found that super frustrating. Also the pacing was very uneven, there were times where I was reveling in action and times where I was very bored.

In the end, the story got there but I'm not going to go out of my way to read the sequel. I get it was the author's debut, so if I see some positive reviews for book 2, I may give it a go, we'll see.

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

I loved this book. The world building was so rich and the flow was great. It did start off a little slow but once it picked up, I had a very hard time putting the book down. So many questions left unanswered though, can't wait to see where the story goes.

Thank you NetGalley/Avon and Harper Voyager/Ehigbor Okosun for the ARC and allowing me to review!

This book was a such a pleasure to read. The world and lore building was exquisite. I felt the pace was great and did not lull at any time. I know that this is a duology and I want to read the second book yesterday.

Forged by Blood was a fast paced and fun read! There is never a dull moment, and I flew through the story. I loved the magic system and the world that the author created. The author did an amazing job world building throughout the book and explaining history as you read.

I really enjoyed the main character, Dèmi. She was always trying to help others, and she’s very resilient.

While I did enjoy how fast paced this was, there is A LOT that occurs in this book. I do wish some areas of the book were slower. There is a lot going on, and it was sometimes hard to keep track of everything and every character that is involved.

Overall, I am giving Forged by Blood 4 stars! I overall really enjoyed reading this, and I did love the characters and the overall plot of the book!

I wanted to love this book but I just kind of liked it. I really enjoyed the world building and the magic caste system, both of these give the book the opportunity to be great but some things were just off to me. I know that the characters are between 17-19, but a lot of the times it felt younger. There is also a love triangle that was unnecessary, Colin would have been better as an older brother/cousin role than a love interest. The pacing was also off in some parts of the book. In sections were we should've been given more time with something big happening or being revealed, we moved past it too quickly. And some parts just dragged out when they could've been a lot shorter.

With the way the book ended, I have hope that the second book can be better and I'm hoping that it is.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn't influence my review. I have never before read a nigerian fantasy novel, and was glad for the experience! This was such a unique book, I loved the romance, and you guys should definitely read it!

I read this book a lot slower than I normally do, due to school and life getting busy, however, I loved the world building and the magic system that was in place. I enjoyed Demi’s character and her desire to save her family, I do think that the ending felt a bit cluttered but otherwise enjoyed the story and the writing style.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this I can’t wait to see what happens in book 2. Dèmi is a badass MC absolutely loved it 🥰

„Fear is a strange master. It makes monsters from the simplest of men.“

Book: Forged by Blood
Author: Ehigbor Okosun
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: YA Fantasy

This Nigerian mythology inspired book brought me back to my teenage reading years! In a good and bad way!

Dèmi just wants to survive: to avoid the suspicion of the nonmagical Ajes who occupy her homeland, to escape the King’s brutal regime of her people (the magic wielding Oluso) and to live peacefully with her secretive mother while learning to control her blood magic.

But when Dèmi’s misplaced trust costs her mother’s life, survival gives way to vengeance. She bides her time until she gets an opportunity she can’t say no to. Kidnap the Aje prince, Jonas, and bargain with his life to save the remaining Oluso.

➕I’m very interested in the magic system and the world in general.
Dèmi as a MC is great, because she can be absolutely ruthless and caring at the same time. I love that she makes mistakes, but learns from them.
I’m a bit scared for her best friend Colin though. I feel like he is going to make a huge mistake in the Sequel.
Love Jonas and I hope I won’t regret that sentence.
The last 100 pages or so were without a doubt the best thing in this book.

➖There was a lot of untapped potential with the world building, that sadly just didn’t happen. I feel like the author didn’t want the reader to be bored, so she filled each chapter with pointless „action scenes“ or „plot twists“ instead of letting us experience the world as it is.
I wanted to know so much more about the past kingdom and the magic system, but hopefully the sequel will answer any questions about that.
The writing was sometimes very cringe („I let go of the breath I didn’t know I‘d been holding“), but it got a lot better towards the end.

All in all, I still found this debut quite impressive and enjoyable. I will definitely pick up the sequel.