This book was intriguing to me from the start. A beautiful, eye-catching cover with an initial hook that led me to have high expectations for what was to come. I appreciated the premise and overall lessons within the story, however it did seem a little young for my typical taste. The main character being young and inexperienced herself led to this overall feeling while reading.

I think I would’ve been happy to read this book without any romance element, but again I’m not typically a fan of love triangles.

I rated this story 3 stars because it was a world I was glad to experience, but would recommend it for young adult readers.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC!

I really loved the description of this book when I first got an ARC copy of it through net galley. I wanted to first thank Harper Voyager for also sending me a finished copy before release date for an honest review. I enjoyed the initial plot of this book. What I loved about it was the world building and the unique magic system. I also loved the main characters Demi and and the strong ethics and morals that she had throughout the book. I also loved the main plot line of Demi taking the steps to fight the oppression in plaguing her world but I think I am a bigger fan of Ekwensi because I think realistically his mindset is where I am at when it comes to fighting oppression. The I think that the love triangle between Demi, Jonas, and Colin was not necessary, I think that the book would have been more enjoyable if the focus was on the relationship between Jonas and Demi. Overall the world building was spectacular. The last 30% of the book there is a lot of info dumping that was rather enjoyable and increased the drama of the book. I do recommend reading this book if you love books with great world building, and breaking down oppression, and also a little bit of romance.

Thanks to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I DNF'ed at 20%.

I was really annoyed at how this book had really cool worldbuilding but the MOST BORING romance. Why is there even a romance in this fantasy dystopian world?! I was hoping for a more straightforward fantasy adventure with a protagonist toppling society but instead, it was just blah blah about who likes who. and fated soulmates...judging by other reviews there seems to be a love triangle deeper into the book. Snore.

Weird romance aside--the pacing was really off too. The protagonist immediately trusted the Eventual Love Interest despite her mother warning her not to and gee what happens...ha. I was also getting really confused with how much time had passed--due to strange pacing--it felt like only seconds passed by but apparently, it had been longer than that.

Despite it all I can tell this author really has great ideas for worldbuilding--I just hope they fix the pacing issues in their next book.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=3? | 😘=2.75 | 🤬=2 | ⚔️=5 | 14+; T

thoughts: this is fine?? I’m not super impressed and nothing really stood out to me I guess. just meh.

***Thank you to Harper Voyager for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

I struggled so much with this book, but there were some things that I really loved. The mythology and culture were fascinating, and I really enjoyed learning about it over the course of the story. The exploration of themes related to colonization, racism, and colorism was thought-provoking and gut-wrenching. The author painted a vivid, grim picture of what life is like for those who face systematic persecution at the hands of a colonizer. I also appreciated the nuanced examination of revenge versus justice and the difficulties inherent in deciding how best to change a corrupt system.

Despite having some great themes and an impressive backdrop, the execution of the story was rough. I was hooked in the beginning and completely invested for the first few chapters. Then the nine year time jump happened, and I hated it. All the momentum of the first chapters came to a screeching halt, and it felt like I was back at the beginning of the story. Everything just sort of meandered around from there until the climax at the end. The pacing was all over the place with so many lulls my eyes glazed over. The end was okay and set up some interesting conflicts for the next book, but all of the supposedly shocking backgrounds and connections between the characters just left me unsatisfied and a little bit confused. I came away from it all not really caring what happens next, largely because I can sort of guess how it will go. So, I don't think I'll pick up the sequel.

Now on to the thing I disliked the most about this book: the characters and their relationships. I didn't hate the main character, Dèmi. She was fascinating and had a life full of trauma she was attempting to overcome. She just wanted to do what was best for her people, and I really liked how her character was used to explore the ethics of revenge and justice. The problem was the boys, Colin and Jonas. They dragged her character down into a stupid love triangle, and I hated it, especially since both of the boys lacked depth. Fated mate pairings can be riveting, but this book did that trope dirty. Everything was so obvious and insta-love. I was cringing. The sad thing is Jonas could have been used to explore class and race privilege in such fascinating ways because of his unique position. Instead we got a bit of shallow lip service to that topic, and he and Colin were largely reduced to making googly eyes and fighting over Dèmi. It felt juvenile and was so frustrating to read.

All in all, this book was not for me. It had such a vividly imagined setting, but the story was a let down. The tropes were just a little too tropey, and the annoying love triangle had me rolling my eyes so much. I'm going to be generous and rate this 3.5 out of 5 stars because I appreciate what it was trying to do even though I didn't love it.

This debut was easy to read, filled with complex characters and rich in magic. This book takes a first person point of view following our main character Demi. She is a strong, impulsive and heroic female main character learning to deal with her grief and anger. Her childhood friend Colin, is reckless and hopelessly in love with her while prince Jonas is full of secrets.

The plot in this book was riveting as we try to unravel all the secrets and stumble into magical realms of the different spirits. There are strong themes of oppression and survival along with great twists. Some tropes included are love triangle, fated mates, second chance romance and childhood friends.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fantasy that takes place in an African inspired world or a fantasy read more about secrets and crazy plots. I would not recommend this to someone looking for romance as I felt that the romance was a bit lackluster and took a backseat to the complex plot elements.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Harper Voyager for providing me with a digital ARC for my review.

an action packed journey as Demi ventures to kidnap the king's nephew to save her people, she gets more than she thought she would. I think that this book's strengths lied within it's magic, I was entranced by how it interacted with the world and am excited to see how it develops through the series.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. The concept was emotional and impactful, despite being one that I have read in other books. The pacing kept my interest and I was always eager to keep reading or pick it back up again after having to put it down. I thought the writing was very well done, not too wordy or overly complicated in concept, but also not overly simplified. I would say this did read a little on the YA side for me, but I wasn't turned off by it at all. The content and storyline felt mature but not overly so. The characters had depth and the connections that were made between them felt genuine and lasting. I felt emotions for these characters and I love when I can experience that while reading.

I found myself really appreciating Dèmi's character. Her fierceness and determination is something that I always enjoy reading in an FMC. But at the same time she maintained her empathy and passion for those she cares about and loves, and for those that she seeks to protect. Her people are so important to her and that theme carries through the entirety of the story. She doesn't compromise in her values, even when it is not in her best interest to do so. This makes her character so much deeper and her arc so much sweeter, because her quick temper and wit evolves into something more mature by the end of the book. I also really enjoyed the dynamic between Dèmi and Jonas. I loved how he continually wanted to learn from her and typically kept trying to put her first despite everything they were going through. Colin's character annoyed me from the beginning...he just always seemed so pushy and selfish, both towards Dèmi as well as relating to other things later in the book that I can't really go into without spoiling things. There was a small amount of steamy tension in this book, but nothing explicit. Very, very tame. I would have loved more spice (I love my spice), and I think that's what these characters are calling for, so maybe we will see more in the next book?? Fingers crossed *smiley face*

I thought the magic system, as well as the background on the gods and spirits was very fascinating and interesting, although at times I felt like I didn't fully grasp the depth of the magic system or what all it entailed. I would have liked to have had a bit more background on what capabilities different people had. It seemed to be based on elemental abilities, but I'm still not entirely sure. That could also just be my own ignorance and lack of comprehension while reading too. I was also a little confused on who was actually still alive and who was deceased by the end of the book. I don't feel like I can go into too much detail, because I don't want to spoil anything. But I felt like some things still weren't clear. My arc was also missing the "Dramatic Personae" section (it had the page for it at the end, but no content), so I may have been missing some appendices information that could have answered some of those questions(??). A family tree or something describing the lineages of families prior to the events of this book would have been super helpful when trying to figure out who was who and their connections to each other/the story.

The events leading up to the end felt a little on the chaotic side. But it also felt quite intense in a good way! There was just so much happening! I almost wish it had been a little bit longer and things had been a little more drawn out in order to give the reader more clarity about why things were happening the way they were or what all had actually occurred outside of Dèmi's perspective/life leading up to the ending events. Some things felt a little rushed and not fully explained. For one example, what the heck was the deal with Mari and the king??? Was she in love with Yetundé as well, or just hella jealous of her?? I was confused about some things. Again, that could have just been me missing some points made previously. I also am a big fan of thick fantasies so I love longer books in general. The more details and background, the better for me. It can be done well.

I actually really loved the way this first book of the duology ended. There wasn't this massive cliffhanger that left you wanting to chuck the book across the room because you were left in the dark with a ton of open holes. It concluded the most important and direct things very well (satisfyingly so, in my opinion), but yet also left a lot of open-ended pieces that could easily be picked back up with the next book. It left me sated, yet also enthusiastically desiring to know what happens next.

Congratulations to the author on her debut novel! I would definitely recommend this book, especially to those looking for diverse stories/authors to add to their shelves. I hope you enjoy!

I really wanted to love this book, but it did not work out for me. This novel was incredibly juvenile for it to be marketed as an adult. All of the characters are still very young, and there is nothing really in the book to make it appeal to an older audience. At most, I would market this for New Adults, and even that is a bit of a stretch. The world-building had a lot of promise, but it is never fully fleshed out. At most, we got sections of info-dumping to explain random scenes. The magical element was incredibly confusing. By 25% I still didn't grasp about how the magic system worked and the political turmoil of the countries. On top of this, a love triangle took precedence over everything else. I'm not particularly fond of this trope, to begin with, but in this book, it was unnecessary and felt out of place for an adult fantasy. Overall, a very disappointing debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for the advance copy! All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

**I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher. This is my honest review**

3.5 STARS!

There were a lot of positives for this book, BUT the pacing/transitions made it hard to follow what was happening sometimes. I wanted to love this book but several times I was flipping back through feeling like I had missed something important.

<b>Some things I loved:</b>
The world and magic system is elaborate and engaging.
It is fast-paced.
The magic, creatures, and various fantasy elements are a breath of fresh air after reading so many books with European inspired fantasy.
The overarching theme of colonization was done well. There was so much this story had to offer in surviving as an oppressed people and what it means to rise up against injustice. The internal conflicts/reactions of each of the three characters felt genuine in regards to their part in the political and social issues of this world.
Ehigbor Okosun's writing shows a talent and great potential for wrapping us up into a story. I really enjoyed her writing style. The descriptions don't feel forced or drawn out, the magic system is fascinating and the political/social aspects of the world make you want to read more.

<b>Things that didn't work for me:</b>
We flew through things at times. We'd be dealing with one plot point and suddenly that was resolved and we had skipped through to a totally new conflict in the plot. Normally this would make for a fast-paced book but the transitions made the plot feel disjointed to me. I (on multiple occasions) had to pause and check if I had skipped something or missed an important detail.
I felt like the magic system needed some clarifying. For example, what was essentially a magical leash for Jonas, on several occasions was described as not being able to stretch very far. But then there are times that Demi is a whole room over without concern.
We need a glossary. There are so many terms, words for different types of Oluso, and so much in this world that I had difficulty remembering what was what.
There is a huge cast of characters and we didn't always get enough of an intro about a character for them to stick in my mind the next time they appeared. Again this may be because of the pacing/transition issue for my brain.

<b>Additional Comments:</b>
The love triangle was hard. I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between two of the characters, so it didn't feel so much like a love triangle but more like the MC was just using the characters to relieve some of her trauma/stress through physical affection. This does appropriately fall under romantic fantasy genre, not fantasy romance, as the romance is a subplot.

I believe this is suppose to be marketed as a New Adult or Adult fantasy book. But the characters are young and the way they act makes it hard to read it as adult fantasy. HOWEVER, they are young but dealing with very much ADULT issues. So I am interested in seeing if the second book expands on that idea and matures them. I'd say for the general adult fantasy reader, this book may not be what they're use to because of the immaturity of the characters.

<b>Final Notes: </b>
As a debut novel, Forged by Blood did intrigue me. I will be watching Ehigbor Okosun in the coming years and reading her books because there is amazing potential in her writing. I think that if the transitions and plot pacing wasn't so rough for me, this would have easily been a 4 or 5 star read. It's a solid debut and I can't wait to see what comes next!

This book is definitely YA so go into it knowing that. The FMC was pissing me off majority of the book & not just because I do not agree with her views but because girl grow TF up! She seemed so weak minded. Her magic wasn't what I thought it would be. I appreciate the author taking us through different adventures to give us a view of the world/realms, however, it only seemed to further drag the story. There was no real action & even then it was mid. If this was a trilogy/series I would not continue, but since its a duology I will read the second book just to get closure. This was not at all a bad book. Unfortunately, it just does not stand out against all the other blood magic fantasies that I have read.

I did receive an e-ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

This book is an excellent reason why we should all be reading diversely. This book really delves into the repercussions of the colonizer mentality. The magic, language, history, and mythology of this world were rich and interesting. There were parts that were incredibly poignant and some I found myself laughing about.
This did skew more YA which I did not mind. The only negative for me was the love triangle subplot, which is a trope I do not enjoy.
I found myself unable to predict the ending which is always nice, and the book left me wanting more. Thank you netgalley for the earc. My opinions are my own

Forged by Blood is a solid debut for this Nigerian fantasy! The beginning of this one has a strong start that had me drawn into Demi and her story with her losing her mother and tasked to kidnap the prince. I was also intrigued by her magic, and the world building was also interesting. We do have a bit of a love triangle in this one that i saw coming. 😌 There were times Demi had me rolling my eyes at some of her decision-making.

One thing that did take away from the book for me was the big time hop, along with the flow of the book sometimes. It had me wondering what happened in between the times we missed. I do feel that because this one is a duology, this book is laying the foundation for what's to come! I can't wait to continue on and see where it comes together and what happens next!

Forged by Blood is book one in The Tainted Blood Duology by Ehigbor Okosun.
FBB is a powerful and enthralling tale of vengeance and hope, struggles and growth in a lavish fantasy world. Ehigbor Okosun’s debut boasts unparalleled world-building, full of magic and emotion, and characters who will leap off the page. I absolutely loved it. A fantastic debut.
The care and details the author out into the world-building in phenomenal, laying the perfect foundation.
This action-packed duology inspired by Nigerian mythology was an amazing read.
Set in a complex world in which a young woman fights to survive a tyrannical society, having everything stripped away from her, and seeks vengeance for her mother’s murder and the spilled blood of her people.
This is one mythology you won’t want to miss.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Harper Voyager for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Stars: 3.75/5.0

Forged by Blood, as so many others are saying, is the perfect book for someone who is looking for a YA (pushing NA) fantasy book with commentary that heavily parallels the real world with European colonization. There are elements of Nigerian mythology which paired with Okosun's beautiful writing (and I will probably never stop talking about how beautiful it is) made for a story that was so easy to lose oneself in.

My biggest complaint is the pacing; however, that being said, I was so into the world already with Okosun's writing that I still happily continued to read it.

I do mention that it has a YA pushing NA feel to it. The characters and plot feel very reminiscent of most YA where the good are good and the bad are bad, but there are certain descriptions and events that make me say it pushes towards NA.

Overall, absolutely loved this book and will be excitedly waiting for book #2 and to see how Okosun grows as an author too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute!

I'm not big on the YA fantasy style, but this managed to be simple and fun without feeling halfway done. It's fast paced, action-packed, and emotionally thorough. Just the kind of book I'd recommend to someone who was more into this genre. Okosun really weaved together an interesting world with its own complex power structure while also not bombarding the reader with too much unfamiliarity. Fantasy can be tough when you're forced to try and pretend like you understand an entirely new society, but this wasn't like that at all. Also, the characters were very cute.

This debut is a solid addition to the already lush Nigerian fantasy genre that has been gaining notoriety the last few years. Even just as a general fantasy book, Forged By Blood shows up with strong bones. Okuson’s writing shines in action scenes and sentimental prose, and she managed to craft one of my favorite morally gray characters to read about in a long time. This was a delight to read and I am looking forward to the conclusion!

Forged by Blood is a fantasy adventure from debut author Ehigbor Okosun that follows Dèmi as she experiences the prejudices of being a magic-wielding Oluso and her journey to fight against a tyrannical society that seeks to wipe her people out. When she is tasked to kidnap the prince to help an Oluso regional lord gain a seat on the king's council, Dèmi's powers and strength are tested - especially when the mission reveals pieces of unfinished business from her past.

From page one, the author introduces us to a world lush with magic and folktales inspired by Nigerian mythology and harshly juxtaposes its beauty with the cruel reality of the racist regime that is determined to destroy it. Dèmi is quick to act and dare I say a tiny bit hot-headed, but her intentions are good and she truly just wants to see the world become a better place. Even when her world is brought crashing down by her mother's death and her worldview becomes more vengeance-tinted, Dèmi doesn't stray from her ideals of wanting peace for her people.

Her compassion and sense of duty towards the other Oluso send her down a path of possible rebellion but also reunites her with someone from her past. Her journey exposes more of herself and her morals while she battles against time and uncovers truths that threaten her own survival. Despite being marketed as an adult novel, the characters felt more targeted towards an upper YA or NA audience because of how black and white everything was portrayed. The bad guys are bad (for obvious reasons) and the good guys are good, but there's a lack of morally grey characters to help sway the story. Not to say that every novel needs the whole spectrum, but I found myself being less convinced and almost worried by the idealistic goals of the characters as a result.

With that being said, I still rooted for Dèmi and her friends because of how much they believed. With all that is thrown their way, they refused to hope for a better world even when set against a colonial power that has brought so much violence and suffering. This just leads to an explosive ending with angry mobs and literal chaos raining down as Dèmi has to choose whether violence is the only answer or if peace is possible to achieve. And while the story itself wraps up nicely, there's room for the author to expand and challenge the characters which I am very intrigued about.

Forged by Blood is a fantastic story of hope in the face of tyranny and a solid introduction into a captivating world of magic and spirits. Despite being younger in tone than I expected, Dèmi is a strong storyteller and I am excited to see how her story and world will continue to grow in the sequel.

I really wanted to dive into this book - anything inspired by mythology catches my interest, and the premise of this book promised an action-packed fantasy with a unique magical system.

From the beginning, the writing style and pacing proved difficult for me to get into. The writing leans heavily on dialogue and action, which isn’t a bad thing, but I felt that this overshadowed the emotion and exposition that would have drawn me in. I appreciate that the author wanted to introduce us gradually to the world and magic system, rather than giving a big infodump at the beginning. But the sudden drops of cultural and magical details sadly made it hard to follow, and I felt lost in the world-building and magic system.

It didn’t connect with me that the beginning is told from the perspective of Demi as a child, which left me disconnected with her and it took time to reconcile the narrative voice with the sudden time jump. Because the story was told from two age levels, I couldn’t tell if this was intended for a YA audience or adult audience.

I was also a little sad that the time jump fell when it did - I would have been interested to see Demi growing up and learning to trust again, which might have made me feel more connected to the story.

I think that readers who like action and fast-paced stories will enjoy this. Unfortunately I didn’t get the emotional connection I needed to be drawn in.

Rating: Enjoyed It, 3.5 stars

This was once again a case where I absolutely loved the world and the magic, but my rating was brought down by pacing and characterization issues.

Forged by Blood is the first in a debut duology, inspired by Nigerian folklore and mythology. The country of Ife has been invaded and colonized by nonmagical Ajes, and they have committed genocide against the native, magic-wielding, Oluso people. Dèmi lives with her mother, hiding and living a life of secrecy, until one day they are discovered and she is on her own. We pick up with 18(ish) year-old Dèmi who is looking to protect her found family and make things right for her people. She is pulled into a scheme to capture the Aje prince for another's political gain, and events unfold from there.

So the things I really enjoyed:
- The magic and the world are incredible. They are lush and beautiful. It is a world that I would like to explore more and really get to know better. Dèmi and company bounce around between different places, but my favorite was The Spirit Realm. I could have read an entire book following those spirits, honestly. I felt like a lot of the worldbuilding elements were very fresh and unique, and I was also really intrigued by the magic system. It was very much a throw you in without a ton of explanation, but I enjoyed that.

- For the most part, I really enjoyed the writing. I think that it suffered slightly from a first person POV because there were quite a few times the worldbuilding was delivered in info dumps by our MC. But the mechanical crafting of the sentences were often quite pleasing. There were lines that were very poignant and really conveyed a lot within them. I expect that this will only get better as Okosun improves in writing craft over time, and I look forward to seeing how it develops

- I felt that the pacing was quite uneven, but when it was on, it was definitely on. We start out with a bang, and then there are different parts throughout that I absolutely devoured.

Things that I found that were neither good nor bad:
- This novel is published by an Adult imprint, but it read like an upper YA novel to me. We follow a very young protagonist in first person POV, and it follows a lot of common tropes and plot beats that are very familiar in YA. I felt like Dèmi, despite experiencing so much brutality in her young life, was still very naive to the ways of the world and was searching for who she is and where she fits in the world. We also get a very poorly executed love triangle. It is a very dark world though, and I expect there will be a lot more brutality in the sequel as we approach the conclusion of the story.

Some things I didn't enjoy:
- As I mentioned, the pacing was very uneven throughout. Honestly, this read a bit like a trilogy that was being stuffed into a duology. I have noticed this in several duologies that I have read in the last few years, and I think that some of the issues could be resolved by giving the author the space to fully develop the world and characters rather than cramming all the plot points in in a mad dash to the finish.

- I feel like the characterizations suffered a bit from the first person POV. I usually love a brash, impulsive, angry heroine, but in this instance I felt like a lot of Dèmi's reactions and choices didn't fully make sense in the context of what we got in her POV. Because so much of the worldbuilding and explanation of the oppression and darkness of the world took place within her thoughts, it was very jarring when we would get a well-rounded explanation from the character of why X was the way it was, but then after taking the time to "think" through the ramifications for the reader, she reacts in a way that is completely contradictory to everything she had just explained. It was very jarring at times, and it kept pulling me from the story. I feel like this issue could have been alleviated if the worldbuilding was handled differently, or if it was part of the narration in a third person POV - because then it would just feel like an impulsive and brash main character rather than a character who just consistently made really poor choices. I also wasn't fully invested in the secondary characters. I feel like this is usually pretty common for me in first person POVs - it takes a while to fully develop the other characters since we only have one perspective, but because Dèmi never felt fully fleshed out, the secondary characters also remained somewhat flat for me.

- One of the major tropes in this is fated mates. However, I really disliked the way that this played out because it involved a love triangle, and as love triangles go, it was a pretty bad one. Our main character seemed to not want a relationship at all but was still making out with both boys in front of the other with no real regard for people's feelings, and it just read very oddly to me.

Overall, there were pieces that I really enjoyed but others that brought my overall experience down. I am interested by the world and by the ending, but what I consider to be the most interesting parts of the story were the ones that we dealt with the least. There was no true indication of whether these threads will be picked up again in the sequel. I assume they will be, but I will probably wait to commit to continuing the series until we get more info on the second book.

I received an ARC of Forged by Blood from Harper Voyager and Netgalley. All opinions are my own. Forged by Blood releases on August 8, 2023.