Published: September 17, 2019
Publisher: Orbit Books
Series: Masters & Mages #2
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 432 (Paperback)
My Rating: 4.0/5.0
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
Only fools think war is simple.
Or glorious.
Some are warriors, some captains; others tend to the fallen or feed the living.
But on the magic-drenched battlefield, information is the lifeblood of victory, and Aranthur is about to discover that carrying messages, scouting the enemy, keeping his nerve, and passing on orders is more dangerous, and more essential, then an inexperienced soldier could imagine . . . especially when everything starts to go wrong.
Battle has been joined – on the field, in the magical sphere, and in the ever-shifting political arena . . .
Dark Forge was a mighty fine sequel. I could honestly leave it at that, but I should really explain to you how fine of a sequel it was and why you should read it too. First of all though, I’d suggest starting with Cold Iron and then maybe just waiting until December when the last book is released and just binge read everything at once.
I loved this book but I’ll be real honest, I wish I had the patience to wait for the final book to come out. Then I could have re-read the first book and followed up with the next two in short order because I forgot about 50% of the plot and it took me awhile to catch back up on the subtleties. Aside from this (and honestly, it’s just me) this was a great middle book with plenty of action, heartfelt character moments, and intensely bad juju. I could hardly ask for more.
Aranthur is really coming into his own as a mage and soldier and he always finds himself in fortuitous locations. This kid has superb timing in so many things. Events are further heating up plot-wise, what with the baddies performing rituals to release evil into the world and all and they’ve essentially salted and burned much of the land.
This was a pretty stellar sequel, lacking any signs of middle-book syndrome and I found it to be quite enjoyable. This series is definitely not as dense as the Traitor Son Cycle books, though they are written with the same evident care.
