TL;DR: It took me a minute to get into this story but once I was hooked, I didn’t want to put it down! This was action-packed and full of magical adventure and a somewhat literally steamy romance. 😉 Daella and Rivelin were fun characters to root for as you see them go from untrustworthy enemies, and tentative friends to eventual lovers. It was a nice slow burn! Overall, this was a great first cosy-ish fantasy romance at the start of a new series and I can’t wait to continue it soon!

Although I feel this had a bit of a slow start as we’re introduced to this magical kingdom that has been taken over by a megalomaniac frost giant hell-bent on getting rid of all dragons, dragon-magic users and other creatures that threaten his dictatorial rule. This world had a mix of all the creatures that you’d expect to find in a fantasy including elves, orcs, dragons, pixies, ice giants, dwarves and elemental demons, amongst many others. Despite the kingdom having a dark history, this was a pretty cute and cosy fantasy romance! There was something so comforting reading about the idyllic island life and the midsummer parties, plus I especially loved the Travelling Tavern!

I liked Daella and Rivelin. Both have experienced great losses due to the emperor and they were both easy to root for and empathise with. When Rivelin finds Daella he believes her to be a murk from the Emperor and despite both feeling some kind of attraction for each other, their initial enmity and lack of trust meant they went from enemies to tentative friends and eventually became lovers. The romance moves quickly once they give in to their feelings but I wouldn’t necessarily call it “instalove” and although the events happen over one summer, it didn’t feel like it happened fast and I enjoyed the way their relationship evolved as they let their guard down around each other.

That said, where it went kinda bonkers for me was in the last maybe 30%. The miscommunication or more like no communication trope plays a massive role in their third act and I was not a fan of it especially since they made snap judgements about the other when they had seemingly worked past doing that. Things escalated quickly from speculation to pointing fingers straight to jail and it was very confusing and a bit nonsensical. The logic was not logic-ing and it kinda took away from my enjoyment a bit simply by how predictable and how quickly things escalated. I wish that Rivelin had to do a bit more grovelling for how he reacted and Daella’s instant forgiveness of the other community members who played a role in driving her away was just too easy. I wanted to feel they were more sorry than they came across!

Overall though, this was a fun read. Friendship, a magical midsummer competition, and a community of fantasy species living in relative harmony on a secluded idyllic island location, out of sight of the kingdom’s bloodthirsty tyrannical ruler. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series about Lillia cos I loved her!

Have you read Forged by Magic or is it on your TBR?

• Follow me on Goodreads!
• Follow me on Bluesky
• Follow me on Instagram!
• Follow me on Twitter!