Forged in Fire and Stars
Mar. 20th, 2024 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI picked up Forged in Fire and Stars by Andrea Robertson because I thought it might be a good comp for when I'm querying agents with my current novel - and it is.
Our plucky heroine, Ara, has a destiny she's been told about since she was a young child, but she's conflicted about it - check.
There are shadowy antagonists who pop up in their own chapters here and there, but don't initially offer an immediate threat - check.
There are different factions of good guys, who don't always see eye to eye - check.
The stakes should probably be more obviously high much earlier on - ummm, check... (perhaps I ought to do something about that in mine...).
Once the story really gets going and the heroine starts seeking out her destiny, it turns out things aren't necessarily as she's already been told - check.
I really liked the ructions between the different groups of good guys, there were twists I didn't see coming (and some I did), I enjoyed the interactions of the main characters (though I found the romance subplot less than compelling), and I thought the worldbuilding and the involvement of the gods was really good.
Am I dying to read the rest of the series? No. But this was a solid YA fantasy and I enjoyed it overall.
(I'm not expecting my novel to light the world on fire, either, which is one of the reasons this is a good comp...)
Our plucky heroine, Ara, has a destiny she's been told about since she was a young child, but she's conflicted about it - check.
There are shadowy antagonists who pop up in their own chapters here and there, but don't initially offer an immediate threat - check.
There are different factions of good guys, who don't always see eye to eye - check.
The stakes should probably be more obviously high much earlier on - ummm, check... (perhaps I ought to do something about that in mine...).
Once the story really gets going and the heroine starts seeking out her destiny, it turns out things aren't necessarily as she's already been told - check.
I really liked the ructions between the different groups of good guys, there were twists I didn't see coming (and some I did), I enjoyed the interactions of the main characters (though I found the romance subplot less than compelling), and I thought the worldbuilding and the involvement of the gods was really good.
Am I dying to read the rest of the series? No. But this was a solid YA fantasy and I enjoyed it overall.
(I'm not expecting my novel to light the world on fire, either, which is one of the reasons this is a good comp...)
