I enjoyed this book so much though I think for being in the dragon universe the brief scene with the volcano dragon showed a completely different view. Otherwise I loved the book and hated for it to end. I can’t wait to read the next part of the story.

The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken is the first book in her new fantasy The Scarred Earth Saga series. I am a huge fan of G.A. Aiken (Shelly Laurenston) and I will always read anything she writes. As I have said before, no one makes me laugh and enjoy her stories better than Laurenston/Aiken. G.A. Aiken gives us the best dragons, that we love and laugh all the way. So I anxiously awaited to read this new series that are not dragons, and happy to say that once again, Aiken has another winner. I loved The Blacksmith Queen.

We meet our heroine, Keely Smythe immediately as she is fighting bad guys trying to hurt innocent people and or animals. Keely is a blacksmith and is a very strong woman, who has a trusty huge hammer that she uses to fight with. While in the midst of a fight, a group of mountain warriors come to help her; to her surprise, these warriors are Centaurs. We meet three of the Centaurs that will play an important part of this series, Laila (the leader), Caid (the brother and future love interest for Keely, and Quinn (the other wild brother). During the fight, the centaurs are thrown by a group of wolves who come out to help Keely, as they have red eyes and are demon wolves, and they seem totally loyal to Keely.

With the Old King of the land of the Black Hills having died, his sons are trying to kill each other to become the king. When the Centaurs follow Keely home, they will meet her family, including one of her sisters, Beatrix. Prophecy reveals that a queen will ascent to the throne of Black Hills, the Centaurs explain they are there not only here to protect them, but to take Beatrix to the witches confirming that she is the new Queen. Keely, her cousin Keran, and her just returned older sister, Gemma (who is a war monk) will take the trip to the witches with the Centaurs and Beatrix. There are some shocking twists and betrayals very early on, pitting Beatrix and Keely as opposing Queens (the witches claim there are two queens).

Keely spending most of her life protecting her family, is shocked at Beatrix betrayal, but the centaurs, Gemma, the animals (who love Keely) will convince her to accept her calling and be ready to fight to save them all. To tell too much more would be spoilers, as most of what I described is early on.
The Blacksmith Queen is another one of Aiken’s wild crazy exciting and fun adventures. Caid slowly finds himself attracted to Keely, and a slow build romance will start, but mostly in the background. I suspect in future books, we will see the romance escalate.

As is tradition in any book by Aiken, we have some wild characters that we come to love. I loved Keely and her family and friends; Gemma was tough, but in time she makes a great addition to Keely’s team, and I adored the Centaurs, including Caid, Laila, Quinn, their mother and father. Of course, I loved the wolves always by her side.

The Blacksmith Queen was a fun filled amazing ride, with a number of strong (not to mention crazy) characters. I look forward to the next book of this series to see where Aiken will take us in this wonderful world building. If you have loved Aiken/Laurenston previous books, do not hesitate to read The Blacksmith Queen.

I have loved all of G A Aiken's books and this one is no exception. This is the first book in a new series and is a fantasy romance. This book has strong characters and a lot of different characters : witches, Dwarfs, dragons, centaurs, and more. I will be watching for the next book in this series

The blacksmith queens has all the marking of great new series it has action, mythical beast and romance. Ms. Laurenston has the ability to create worlds that suck you in (I read this book in one day during a heat waves in 2019 New York city) . A prophecy has spread through the kingdom when the kings dies the next ruler will be a Queen. The problem is the king only has sons. When the king dies a group is sent by the witches to protect the future Queen and bring her to them to prove she will be the one they saw in the prophecy. The blacksmith Ms. Smyth has protected her family and home from all who would do harm, when she is told one of her sister will be the next queen. She decides to go and protect her sister when they meet the witches a new prophecy is given not one but two of the sister qualify as the next queens. I enjoy the story and can’t wait for next book in the series and who will rules.

Aiken (pseudonym of Shelly Laurenston) delivers the first in a new series featuring Keeley, a blacksmith. Keeley is caught between taking care of her large family of siblings her parents keep producing, a prophecy which says her sister will be the next queen of their land, and a roving band of centaurs who showed up to protect her sister. Oh, and the armies of the sons of the Old King who just died who are determined to kill her sister, each other, and anyone in their paths. Fans of Aiken will quickly pick up on the ties to her Dragon Kin series, but new readers don't have to have that complete back story to thoroughly enjoy Aiken's insane brand of fantasy.

I have long loved GA Aiken/Shelly Laurenston various series for being funny, raunchy and romantic all at the same time. I went into this new series expecting somewhat of the same and, perhaps, shame on me because it did affect the way I enjoyed the book.

Aiken gives us plenty of strong female characters, a prophecy to be fulfilled. a gang of misfits and enough snark to drown. While I generally appreciate the banter, it seemed to even more overwrought than usual which detracted a bit from an otherwise engaging plot line. The romance in the story was minimal which made me a little sad.

Overall, it was still an enjoyable book from one of my favorite authors. I am curious to see where she takes this series.

*Thanks to Kensington for ARC