Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okosun!

3.5/5 Stars

Received from NetGalley as eARC

*Minor Spoilers*


Positives:
The world-building in this book is incredible. The mythology and folklore felt so ingrained into the world resulting in a depth of world that I feel is left to the wayside when it comes to a lot of young adult books. The plotline is immersive and left me grasping at every little detail. I was not expecting the number of plot twists that would happen nor did I predict all that would come out of them. The characters are well-rounded and fleshed out. It is very obvious throughout the book that Demi is an unreliable narrator and this is a credit to the great writing of Okosun.

Negatives:
The pacing of the story fluctuates uncomfortably throughout the story. There were moments that I felt were dragging on, and then two pages later we were whipping through the story at a lightning pace. This is especially noticeable during the dinner scene after the King brings them all back to the palace. There were so many revelations within this scene that it muddled the plot. While the plot twists were interesting, I was confused as to what I actually was supposed to be paying attention to. Character-wise, I really liked Demi until the last 2 chapters. It felt like everything that made her interesting was removed once she recognized her mate bond with Jonas and she was suddenly acting very out of character for me.

Overall, this was an entertaining read that brought me a world of interesting characters and mythology. I would definitely recommend this to a young adult audience interested in different mythologies. I also think this story is an excellent addition to the growing collection of stories based on Yoruba mythology. While I had some issues with the pacing and characterization, I think this story is one that deserves to be read.

I found it hard to believe this was a debut novel. The prose was excellent, I loved the world building, and the characters were well developed. Some of the pacing was a little difficult with a lot of buildup followed by a ton of action. It also toes the line between YA and Adult fantasy. The characters are late teens, so I'd generally consider it young adult.

The story follows the Demi, a magic user who is part of a subjugated group of people. The political system was hard to understand because there were so many nations "united" under one king. But the gist of it was that Demi's family was the ruling family until they were taken over by northern neighbors. Her people are viewed as less-than the lighter skinned northerners and their magic is feared and hidden or exploited. Demi is pushed to undertake a task to help a potential ally gain political power. There is a love triangle, a lot of death, so many horrifical crimes against people, including genocide.

Overall, I found a lot of parallels to colonization with the Ajes overcoming the Oluso while considering them savages who need to have their language and culture removed forcibly. Definitely worth a read, especially if you enjoyed Children of Blood and Bone or the Binti series.

3.5/5 This is not the most original storyline that I've read, but I did find that I cared about at least some of the characters and really enjoyed the unique elements of the world-building (eg the spirits and the Oluso).

I liked the way the magic system opened up at the end, and I can already see how that storyline will continue in the sequel, as well as the politics becoming more prominent. There are lots of stories about rebellion and political upheaval, but few that show what happens <i>after</i> the revolution when you have to rebuild and reform a society of 2+ disparate cultures, so I'm looking forward to that and hope that she does it well.

The love triangle was a bit silly and obvious, and it would've been nice if it concluded earlier since we all knew the outcome the whole time anyway. But it is what it is.

Also did NOT expect the Mad Max: Fury Road vibes at the end.

Forged By Blood was an action packed fantasy that was filled with mystery and magic. I could not put it down! Looking forward to more from this author .

This one was very interesting! I think fans of Children of Blood and Bone will really like this. I love the folklore aspects of this book, it's always something I look for in YA fantasy. Very excited to see where the second book will go.

One thing that did deter me though, is how long this book is. It is pretty slow paced and I know a lot of fantasy fans will enjoy that, but that element was not for me.

Loved this!!
I’m a huge fan of fantasy stories written by authors throughout the African diaspora. Being a descendant of the TAST it makes me feel like I’m learning about things that my ancestors believed in or of stories they passed down.
This was definitely action packed and beautifully written. I absolutely cannot wait for book 2!

Not for me. I'm a bit confused about the age market for this book. I was under the impression it was YA, but other reviewers say that it's meant to be an adult fantasy? It felt VERY young to me, which was part of the reason I didn't enjoy it that much. The pacing felt off, and I had a hard time grasping the world building and magic system in the early chapters. I didn't enjoy the main character, which honestly led to me skimming a lot of the book, and I'm tired of love triangles and fated mate tropes. I do think the incorporation of Nigerian mythology is interesting, but overall everything fell flat for me.

This is a solid 3 star book. It covers all the basis of a good fantasy novel for me and I appreciate that. I loved the adventure, the finding an old “love” and when those who have been oppressed begin to riot. I absolutely love it. This gave Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi vibes, but just not as good.

I think where this story lacks is the romance. It really is a love triangle but it was hard to gauge how I really felt about it. I don’t think she was fair in how she was with them. She would treat Jonas bad and run to her best friend and then treat him bad and go back to Jonas. Like it was not fair at all.

I also think she allowed a lot of things to happen to her instead of taking point. I don’t think she made smart decisions and I wasn’t totally invested in her as a main character.

I was also a little confused on the magic system???

Anyway, I would probably read the second novel!

Thanks Netgalley & Harper Voyager for the arc!

I DNF’d around 20% into the book. The book started off really interesting, but after the time jump I struggled. The magic system was really chaotic, we’re told that people who kill with their magic pay heavily for it, then our MC causes harm multiple times and never seems to have a consequence, plus she always seems to have magic to spare despite complaining about being worn out, tired, etc. The whole thing felt very YA and hastily aged up.

(4/5 stars) I love African-inspired fantasy! Love it! And Forged by Blood was a well-done YA fantasy that kept me engaged throughout and had twists that even I, a seasoned YA fantasy reader, didn't see coming. I am looking forward to the final installment in this duology. The only thing I'll say that I wasn't a huge fan of was the love triangle, but such is the nature of YA novels. This is a great debut from Okosun and I look forward to their future work, which I hope dives deeper into character development and worldbuilding for what is a fascinating magic system. You'd probably like this if you liked Children of Blood and Bone.

I was so excited to read Forged By Blood, but it fell a little short for me. I love the world and the mythology in it. I found the magic system easy to grasp. My favorite part in the book is when they go into the spirit world. And I'm interested to see how Demi's promise while there plays out in book 2.

I liked the characters but didn't get super attached to any of them. There was so much happening and so many reveals that I think there just wasn't as much character development. And speaking of the reveals, I think having so many made them overall less impactful. And I think some space was needed between them to help with pacing.

There is kind of a love triangle in this book, but it's fairly obvious who she prefers from the very beginning. Love triangles are not really my thing anyway, so no surprise I didn't really like it in this story either.

As a side note, if you are considering listening to this on audiobook, I would definitely recommend it. I started out going back and forth between my physical copy and audiobook but eventually switched to just the audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job and I loved listening to them.

Overall, I wanted to love this but only liked it. And I think I will still read book 2 when it comes out.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Ehigbor Okosun for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Forged by Blood, a debut Nigerian mythology tale by Ehigbor Okosun, was a very creative and entrancing epic fantasy.

I was very excited about this when I first read the synopsis and saw it was Nigerian mythology inspired. I was kind of waiting for the "epic fantasy" to kick in, which it did not really do. This book felt like a YA fantasy with the character dynamics and the love triangle. Demi is a great character with a lot of potential!

I was excited to learn about the magic system, but unfortunately that did not come to fruition as I had hoped. It was a little confusing and not as flushed out as I would have liked.

I hope the author is able to tighten up the next book because I'd love to keep going with this theme, but maybe just market it as a YA fantasy so expectation are more in within that genre.

This book has an excellent concept and theme that was failed by it being marketed as adult fantasy when it feels so in the YA age range. The main character is strong and a great point of view to read from. Plus the mythology and inspiration were wonderful. But the overall plot struggled with pacing. Certain things just happened that didn’t quite make sense and you just kind of have to accept it and not think about it too hard. I also really was not a fan of the romance at all. It had two of the three tropes I dislike the most: a love triangle and fated mates. I think these made it feel the most YA on top of the main character being pretty impulsive. When I was younger I would’ve really enjoyed this book because I would’ve been the right audience. But since this is marketed as an epic adult fantasy it did not hit the mark.

Demi and other of her kind are being outcast from society, hunted and enslaved for the powers that they possess. The ones in power would rather see them all dead based on a lie. The one person Demi can put hope in better in their society is the one person she hates the most.

This story started off very strong and had me hooked in the first chapter. There was action right from the start...and it never stopped. It was reveal after reveal, event after event and there was no time to process what just happened. I found myself having to reread just to catch the switch in conversations. There were a lot of characters and concepts introduced in this first book in such a short amount of time. This easily could have been split into 2 stories to be able to allow for a more fluent story. Overall the ending was very good and does have me anticipating were the story goes next.

Storygraph review in link. Thank you for the book!

I really enjoyed this book. I really liked Demi as a main character.

Note: I received a complimentary pre-release copy of Okosun's Forged by Blood from NetGalley and Harper Voyager.

Forged in Blood, Ehigbor Okosun's debut novel is an absolute thrill-ride of a book. I was drawn to the book by the gorgeous cover art and the title description about an Afrocentric fantasy novel that combined politics and magic and passion and I was not at all disappointed. In fact, I was riveted and found myself staying up well after my bed time turning page after page to see what would happen next.

Okosun's characters, most notably her protagonist Dèmi, are all well crafted and believable. Their motivations, their dialogue, their actions all resonate well on the page. Equally believable is the political intrigue of the ruling Ajes and the subjugated but magical Oluso. While Forged by Blood is YA, it's still eminently readable and enjoyable to this 46-year-old.

The book description reads, in part, "[a] tale of rebellion and redemption, race and class, love and trust and betrayal, Forged by Blood is epic fantasy at its finest, from an enthusiastic, emerging voice." I agree. I really enjoyed Forged by Blood and can't wait for the second part of this duology and anything else that Okosun writes.

Reviewed on Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5631222968
Reviewd on Amazon (pending post approval)

It is an extremely original take on the colonialism theme with an elaborate and engaging magic system. It is a very fast-paced book that kept me wanting to read the next page. Demi, the protagonist, has an interesting take on magic that I loved reading more about. Throughout the book, we met a VERY large cast of characters, which made it slightly hard to remember who was what person, and keeping track of each person due to the fast nature of the book. Overall, it was very enjoyable and ticked more towards the New Adult section of the Fantasy genre, and I shall be looking out for more books of theirs in the future.

Forged by Blood was a quick, fun read. The beginning of the book really started off strong for me, but I did start to lose interest throughout.

This book does feel like more of a YA read instead of the adult read it is advertised as. Another one of my cons was the love triangle. I don't usually enjoy love triangles in general though, so that might be biased.

It was a fast paced book that I would suggest to fantasy lovers as long as they go in knowing this isn't a very adult read.

This book was beautifully written in places, and I loved the characters, but this was sooooo slow to start. It was super hard to get into and wasn’t for me, sadly