Wow I could not stand our FMC. She alone is what caused me to DNF this book. She is insufferable. She makes the stupidest decisions and she thinks she’s all that and a bag of chips. The constant name dropping, the lackluster spice (no chemistry), the lack of decent world building, this just was not it for me.

It took me a bit to get used to the names of characters and cities but once I figured that out, the worldbuilding was wonderful. Aemyra is one of my favorite FMC, not too annoying and wonderfully ambitious. The MMC's initial intro was hard to understand since he changes personality almost a third into the book. The one thing that irked me the most was the random year-date drops. It's hard to understand WHEN in time we are in the story and therefore which ancestors are being spoken of or referenced. Other than this, I look forward to the book's release and the sequel!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review “A Fate Forged in Fire” ahead of its release.

The premise of the book is intriguing, featuring a magic system, dragons, and a young woman who has been usurped from her throne.

The beginning of the story is slow, and it took me a while to become invested. I didn’t fully engage with the plot until about 60% in, when the pace picked up considerably.

The world-building is extensive, drawing on a mix of Gaelic and Scottish clan culture, elements reminiscent of "House of the Dragon," and possibly some influences from Viking gods and goddesses, though I’m not entirely sure about that. There’s also a touch of political intrigue, but most of it is revealed towards the end.

The magic system seems quite simple at first, centered around a specific familial line with a gift for fire. However, there were references to other types of magic wielders towards the end that confused me.

The conclusion is exciting, especially with the "enemies to lovers to enemies" trope and a cliffhanger. I am curious to see how the story will unfold and what will happen next.

STORY: 🌟🌟🌟

SPICE: 🌶 mild

RECOMMEND: Yes, I believe there are readers who will thoroughly enjoy this story.

Unfortunately this one was just not for me. I liked the overall premise but the writing style and I did not click in a way that made me want to continue the story.

3-3.5*

I am conflicted on the rating of this one because there were aspects of this book that I really liked but overall when it ended I just felt that it could have been more fleshed out and structured better in order to have more impact. To me it never felt like the main character was 26 her decision making and attitude were very YA to me and I kept forgetting she was not 17. The beginning of this book was a bit slow and clunky with the magic system and world not explained in a very understandable way. Around 35-40% through it I got more invested in it but the FMC again made such questionable decisions that it made it hard to root for her a lot of times. The feel and style of the book reminded me a lot of House of Dragons and the action sequences and overall plot were interesting so I will likely continue with series but I do think that that for me it needed a bit more work to be more memorable.

I received an eARC thanks to Netgalley and Delacorte Press, all opinions are my own.

Dragons, a secret princess who is the rightful ruler, and enemies-to-lovers? All the makings of something I should love.

Unfortunately, I felt like I oscillated between loving and hating it throughout the entirety of the book. The world building was quite good and the enemies-to-lovers setup is done really well. But the execution of the lovers part of the relationship felt rushed and really surprising in terms of where it happened. There didn't feel like a natural progression to their relationship.

There are a number of plot points I didn't expect to happen (in a good way!) and the political intrigue execution was phenomenal.

Received as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 45%

I really, truly, wish I could say I enjoyed this. The premise was intriguing especially with the aspect of it being Celtic inspired but to make it as far as I did was a lot of effort.

I’m realizing maybe it’s not the 3rd person POV I don’t like but more so the way it’s utilized/written? Like with When Among Crows I didn’t mind but following that POV but with the way it was written here it seemed like I was following a bland monotone narrator that wasn’t even excited to tell me about the story.

A lot of my disappointment really stems from the FMC. The opening was freaking fantastic. Loved her being a helping with childbirth, showing her strength, the way she raced against the prince to bond with the last dragon. She had the makings of being such a great lead to follow but as the story continues she just becomes a pick-me girly that didn’t do anything to really deserve her position aside from being born. I was super excited for this matriarchy but she wasn’t a woman I’d want to follow. She’s entitled, unsupportive, and naive.

RATING: ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read ❤︎

I didn’t see that coming ! Readers beware , don’t read unless you’re ready for an epic and emotional cliffhanger ! In this book we follow our FMC fight to become queen and take the thrown. In doing so she must make an alliance with the current kings brother.
The FMC Aemyra has always known she was destined to be queen but she never knew how hard it would be when emotions get involved. Then we have the kings brother Fiorean, who is definitely my new top fantasy bad boy. This is the definition of enemies to lovers , with just the right heat. The plot is amzing, twists and turns are just the right amount and like I mentioned, the ending ! Wow !! I’ll give this four starts, the only reason I didn’t give it five is because I’m crushed I have to wait for book two. I need it now !

I read this as an ARC through NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing and Hazel McBride

Aemyra was born to be Queen. Unfortunately, she must wait for the King to die before she can claim the throne.
While waiting for that time to come, she is a blacksmith and Healer. She helps her people where she can.
According to rumors, she won't have to wait much longer.

This was a very easy read, I flew through it. However, that doesn't mean it was great. I enjoyed parts of the story, but Aemyra just did too many stupid things. Her bad decisions really grated on my nerves. That being said, the ending was really good, so I might still continue the series.

Unfortunately dnf’ed at 13%, really wanted to like this book and the plot sounded amazing but just felt like it wasn’t going anywhere

This book grabbed me by the throat with dragons, political scheming, and a wild enemies-to-lovers arc. Now, let’s talk about the scorched, unhinged battlefield of emotions this book delivers: Aemyra and Fiorean’s romance? This is enemies-to-lovers done right. They fight…like literally draw swords and try to end each other fight. It’s not “lust at first stab.” Their relationship is hard-won, messy, and all the more satisfying because of it.

Content warning: This book deals with heavy themes, including sexual assault. Please check trigger warnings before diving in. While the victim does get some revenge, the emotional toll could weigh heavy for some readers.

That said…Aemyra is a fascinatingly flawed protagonist. She’s strong-willed, sometimes reckless, and makes choices that made me want to scream into the void. Girl, I support you… but also, are you okay? (No. The answer is no). The story doesn’t always give us enough internal monologue to fully understand her decisions, but her growth is undeniable. And the politics? Deliciously twisty. Trust no one…not even the main characters. My trust issues were thriving.

McBride’s Scottish roots bleed through the worldbuilding in the best way. It feels authentic, not performative, and adds a lovely grounded layer to the magical chaos.

The beginning is lore-heavy and confusing, the first 20% felt like drowning in fantasy quicksand. But once I found my footing? Page-turning bliss. While the momentum picked up beautifully, I do wish we had more time to sit in certain emotional beats. At times it felt like we were sprinting past feelings to get to the next jaw-drop plot twist.

And yet… I couldn’t stop reading. The magic system, the beasts, the power plays…it all meshed together into a chaotic symphony of pain and passion.

And that ending? McBride said *cliffhanger* and YEETED me into the abyss.

Rude. Cruel. Brilliant.
I saw it coming. I still wasn’t ready.

I need book two like, yesterday.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the preview. All opinions are my own.

OMG! SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP OBSESSING!! This book had me in an absolute chokehold, and I’m already screaming for the sequel.
Truly, I can’t remember the last time my heart was racing so much while reading. This was an insane ride.

Aemyra is a FIREY FMC. She’s quick to temper, impetuous, a bit naive, and rushes into trouble. She’s not always the easiest to like, but she’s got a great heart at her core. Fiorean seems like a right bastard, but if villain, why so HOT?! These 2 hate each other, but also scorch the ink off the pages together. The slow burn enemies to enemies to lovers to enemies is CRAZY GOOD.

And then there’s dragons, and magic, and ragey feminism, and terrible patriarchy, and politics, and plotting, and betrayal, and angst, and heartbreak, and more rage. At times I could barely breathe with trying to read so fast to see what would happen next. I’m absolutely obsessed.

This is perfect for fans of House of the Dragon. Just be aware that like the show, the book is in a brutal world; there’s violence, especially against women. But several of those women know how to take revenge.

Thank you to NetGalley, Delacorte Press, and Hazel McBride for providing this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a struggle to get through. The world building in the beginning didn't feel fully fleshed out, so I as a reader was often left confused as to who was who and what was important. And the dialogue felt on the juvenile side, as if the characters were adolescents, when they were supposed to be adults.

This was an interesting premise and alternative to some other popular dragon-based fantasy novels, but overall the execution was lacking.

I enjoyed the world building in this, anything with dragons has my attention. Sometimes I felt a little lost with the name dropping. For me, it was hard to get past the FMC Aemyra. I don't like when a FMC is pretty childish, all rage and arrogance, with not much else going for her. She tears down other women and makes decisions that don't make a lot of sense to me.

There also wasn't much to the MMC, he felt cookie cutter, and the chemistry between him and Aemyra was not there for me. This isn't bad, it just didn't hold my attention for that long and I could not connect or care about the characters much unfortunately.

This book dragged for me for the first 75% but I did enjoy the last 25%. Really not sure how to rate it, cause I'm kinda interested in the next book buy also meh

As far as the story goes, it was good. I would really enjoy this book if it weren't for the romance.

I liked the dragon bonding and the magic. This is set up for Aemyra to take the crown once the King dies as she is an heir that no one knew about. In a land that worships multiple gods/goddesses in a matriarchal society, there have been no female descendants and so the monarchy has been handed down to the next male in line. Aemyra is the rightful Queen and I loved how adamant she was about trying to take her place to care for her people.

The beginning felt like a lot of info dump instead of a seamless introduction to the world. It made it slog through just a bit, but was still interesting to me.

There is also a lot of a religious war going on with the Covenanters trying to get everyone to worship their god. So this is very much a feminine rage filled book and I was here for it!

Now the romance...enemies to lovers, forced marriage.. sound like great tropes. HOWEVER. They are related. I messaged the author because I could not read any more until I had details and it wasn't very clear in the book. Apparently their great grandfathers were half brothers. So it IS a distant relation and according to the author "they are third half cousins which for medieval royalty in a fantasy world is barely related." To me, that's still too much. Mostly because their whole family line has red hair. This red hair is significantly only in their family line. Aemyra and Fiorean both have that red hair. So isn't that a significant RED FLAG (hehe) to say "hey, maybe I don't fall someone in my lineage?" I'm sure most people can get over it and I tried to tell myself I could, but as soon as I read a kissing scene, my mind immediately went NOPE!

However, the story was interesting and I wanted to know where it went so I finished the book. The ending did have a bit of a wild time and I am interested in knowing what happens next. But I won't read the second one since I skipped over every bit of romance scene in this book and I don't wish to read that nonsense again.

Thank you to Random House for the eARC. My thoughts are my own.
Finish date: 5/7/25, Release date: 5/27/25

ARC Review

Overall rating: DNF

At the end of the day I just don't think this book is for me, but I can definitely see how people love this. I unfortunately could not push myself to keep reading past 100 pages (about 30% through), so I just cut my losses and ended up DNFing.

I'll start off by saying that I was so incredibly excited for this book. After reading the premise and elements included, I thought it would be right up my ally. Dragons? I love them every time. Mythology inspiration? I eat it up. Slow burn romance with a badass FMC and broody MMC? One of my favorite tropes ever. In theory, this had pretty much everything I eat up in a book, but in the end, was poorly executed. For me the biggest reason which lead me to DNF was that I simply didn’t care about anything happening, and I feel like we weren’t given any incentive to in the first place. As a reader I feel like we were just thrown into the story with no context of what was going on with the plot or characters, so why would I care/root for them if I have no idea what I’m rooting for? To me it felt like I was walking in on a random family that was having an argument and I was expected to choose a side, even though I had no idea who these people are or what the argument was about.

The second main reason I chose to DNF was because of the extremely underdeveloped world building. Because we were just thrown into the story with no prior context, all of the terms, place names, etc. used within the world were being told to us as if we already knew what they meant. This made the book quite hard to follow and slow to read since I was continuously going back and rereading paragraphs to try and make sense of the world. Since I was having such a hard time simply understanding the setting we were in, I couldn’t picture what was going on at all, keeping me from getting sucking into the actual story.

Lastly, I just want to touch on the characters and pacing. First looking at the characters, I didn’t necessarily have a huge problem with any of them except for the fact that (like the world building) they felt underdeveloped. I didn’t connect or care for any of their problems, especially for our FMC. We’re told she’s this super badass women (26 of age), and I really thought that’s what we were getting from the first two chapters. But after that, she felt very childish (like she belonged in a ya not an adult) and was all bark, no bite. Despite what little we were being told about her past, none of it was reflected on her present character. Now looking at the pacing, it felt so incredibly slow to me, despite the fact the everything was happening within quite a short time frame. Even though things were going on and there were some action and fight scenes, it felt like everything was dragged out and at a standstill.

Overall, the best way I can summarize this is that I simply didn’t care about what was happening and I never felt excited to pick it up.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an early copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

I struggled to get into the book, I enjoyed the concepts, but I just couldn’t get into it and push through reading. I think I have so many options to read right now and this didn’t captivate me enough to push through. Does that mean I don’t think I’ll ever read it no! I just don’t think I’ll be able to read it anytime soon! I don’t like DNFIng books it’s just not something I do but for now that is this for me I hope to come back though!

Thank you, ballantine and @netgalley for the gifted ARC!
Aemyra has hidden in plain sight, waiting to claim the thrown and her birth right. She's blessed with fire magic and waiting for her chance to bond to one of the few dragons still in existence. While making her stand, she's captured and forced to work with her sworn enemy, Prince Fiorean, in order to survive.

Thoughts 💭
This was tough to get into. The story dragged right from the beginning with a lot of filler that wasn't needed. It made the book way longer than it should be. It did pick up by the end, so I'm glad I stuck with it. I loved the premise of a strong female claiming what was rightfully hers, but I didn't really love Aemyra, which made it hard to get behind the story. She was impulsive and immature, and she thought she knew everything. It was cool to have a world filled with dragons, and "The Terror" was a neat addition. She had decent banter with Fiorean, but I couldn't get past the point that they were distantly related. Much of the story was pretty predictable.

Such a good book, one that should appeal to anyone who is suffering from Empyrean withdrawal. I actually put off reading Onyx Storm to read this. And I was not disappointed.

While the dragons aren't as significant characters as in Fourth Wing, they are still a major part of the plot. There is similar enemies to lovers spice, plus a lot of political intrigue.

I loved that the conflict revolves around a matriarchal society and how the anti-magic teachings of the True Religion are almost a metaphor for women's rights. Because of this, there are content warnings, which (at least in the eARC) were specified upfront.

I basically binge read 350 of the 400 pages in one sitting, it was that compelling. My only complaint...it's a duology and no idea when the second book will release!