#forging silver into stars

[theinquisitxor]

January 2025 Reading Wrap Up

I read 10 books in January, which is a very high number for me right now, but January always tends to be the month were I read the most books. I was super happy with what I read this month, and I enjoyed a lot of 5 star reads, but there were a few disappointments.

1.A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft, 3/5 stars. This was my first book of the year, and a bit of a let-down. I've read Saft's other books and liked them all, but this one was an outlier. I liked the folklore and magic, but didn't care much for the characters and themes.

2.Spindle's End by Robin McKinley, 4/5 stars. I want to read everything McKinley's written, and this was the next one I picked up. I loved the magic and worldbuilding, as well as the changes she made from the classic or disney story. I loved the focus on friendship and family love as well.

3.The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This is a new essay published by Kimmerer which I listened to on audio. Another thought provoking and necessary essay about how we live and interact with the world.

4.Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, 5/5 stars. This was my Random TBR pick for the month, and this book had been on my tbr since 2020. I had such a good time reading this sci-fi horror, and I did not want to put this down. I enjoyed the deep sea horror, our ensemble cast, and the plausibly mad biology.

5. A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett, 4/5 stars. This was my other Random TBR pick for the month, and has been on my tbr since 2018. This was a classic I never read growing up, but I was glad to read it as an adult. I didn't love this as much as The Secret Garden, but I can see why it's so beloved.

6.Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik, 5/5 stars. I don't typically gravitate towards short story collections, but I'm so glad I picked this up. This was a mix of short stories from her publishes series, plus original works. The sneak peak at her newest project was a treat, I recommend picking this up if you are interested!

7.Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid, 2/5 stars. This was another disappointment, but one I can't say I didn't see coming. I've liked all of Reid's other works, but this was not good. I do think Reid is a talented writer, and the writing is very strong, but the rest of this is just not good. Bad portrayal of the middle ages, xenophobic of scotland, butchered the characters from the original. :(

8.The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by HG Parry, 5/5 stars. A new favorite, and HG Parry keeps getting better and better. This is a dark academia magic school book about faeries, portals, 1920s England, classism, friendship, and trying to fix things. I loved this book from start to finish, and it's my favorite I read this month.

9. Melmoth by Sarah Perry, 3/5 stars. An interesting little gothic (horror-ish) novel set primarily in Prague. This was much more gothic and dark than I was anticipating, with a bit of a speculative twist. I can't say I enjoyed this book a whole lot, but rather appreciated the writing, the story, and craft of it.

10. Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer, 5/5 stars. A reread that I enjoyed just as much as the first time in 2022. This is one of the few YA series I'm still reading and loving, and I can't wait to pick up the second book which just released at the end of the month. I've been waiting years for it, and can finally see what happens next!

Overall, very strong month and a good way to start the new year! I hope the rest of my year stays as strong, and I'm hoping to pick up a new series to start in February!

[jessread-s]

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

✩⚔️⚜️Review:

This book is a pressure cooker and I could not put it down! 

Following the events of the previous installment, “Carving Shadows into Gold” picks up with Tycho, Jax, and Callyn as they learn to wield the magic that is dividing their kingdom. 

All three characters undergo significant growth as they navigate life outside of Briarlock and the challenges that come with being cast apart. Tycho’s unresolved trauma begins to haunt him now that he is beholden to both the king and to the magical scraver that came to his aid, Jax faces prejudice as he works in a kingdom that was once enemy to his own, and Callyn has a hard time discerning who to trust at the royal court. 

I kid you not when I say that the tension in this book escalates to reach a fever pitch! With all three characters spread across both kingdoms, their points-of-view allow the reader to learn more about how the brewing war surrounding magic has affected not only the populace, but also the royal family. There is a lot in the way of political maneuvering as Callyn and Lia Mara work to prevent Syhl Shallow and Emberfall from being pitted against each other by the Truthbringers. Having to watch some of my favorite characters from the “Cursebreakers” trilogy—in addition to Tycho, Jax, and Callyn—suffer under the weight of the pressure hit me with a wave of emotion, because I’m so deeply invested in the lives of all of Kemmerer’s characters!  

While perhaps not the main focus of the book, the romance made my heart ache. The looming conflict definitely serves as a source of tension for both Tycho and Jax’s as well as Callyn and Alek’s respective relationships. Their love is continuously put to the test, yet it remains steadfast. The intense yearning will definitely make you swoon!

I anxiously await book 3 in hopes that it will put my heart at ease!

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[halfhissandwich]

Hi I physically cannot wait for Carving Shadows Into Gold so I drew Tycho and Jax

I love them. Cutie pies.

[itachi86]

“What would you do, if the king were to show up on your doorstep?” “Faint from shock.” “Callyn.” “I would! What would you do?” “The king has shown up on my doorstep.”

-Forging Silver into Stars

[booksandfantasies]

I finished Carving Shadows into Gold, and I love it so much. It doesn't quite top Forging Silver into Stars, though, for me, but that book is one of my all-time favorites, so it's pretty hard to top.

[neverlearnedtoread]

Forging Silver Into Stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐; its genuinely really great to see an author get better and more subtle with their writing and characterization over time

Oh?? 👌😉😏

one of kemmerer's greatest strengths is the robustness of her worldbuilding - not only does emberfall feel distinct from karis luran, in culture and in setting, this alternate universe intersects with the 'real world' without losing its believability. i respect an author with the complexity to write about characters from another world with their own prejudices interacting with characters from the 'real world' without tripping over their own setting

lgbt romance that's sweet, heartfelt, not shortchanged, OR overplayed! in fact i did like all the romances in this story and the range they displayed. i have my favourites but they were all both distinct and at least passably interesting to me

women who get to be complex! i will forever mourn what lia mara could have been (viciously politically savvy with a moral core, usually a male character's archetype from fiction ive consumed) but i did like her interactions with the more cynical callyn

'side character gets a POV in the spinoff' book! i don't feel like it was a cash grab or because the author was too afraid to write something new, the plot AND the narrative voice was distinct from the original trilogy without feeling too removed from its events.

No.. ❌🤢🤮

another character from the original series continues on his era of becoming more annoying since bk1. grey...your character was way more fun when you didn't have as much responsibility. i liked you as an antagonising force / source of tension for tycho in his book but your bullheadedness is really not fun on its own merit. i definitely dont miss the days you were a POV character!

lots of travelling; not something i hate, personally, but it may feel a bit time-consuming to go back and forth like a pingpong ball. the travelling aspect feels enough a part of the narrative for me not to get frustrated by it, but given that only ONE character moves from place to place, while the other two stay in a relatively non-important setting for the most part, it might feel quite jarring to switch POVs

This is a spinoff from a trilogy (Cursebreaker Trilogy by Brigid Kemmerer, starting with A Curse So Dark and Lonely) - pretty unavoidable spoilers for the ending of that trilogy up ahead!

Summary: Some years have passed since Grey was crowned King of Emberfall and married Lia Mara, the Queen of Syhl Shallow. They now live in the Crystal Palace, trying to keep the peace with a populace that despises their king-by-marriage for his magic as much as they despair at their queen for her nonviolent diplomacy. Grey's young friend Tycho has been promoted to King's Courier, ferrying messages both public and secret between the royals to ferret out any rumblings of unrest before it can boil over. On one of his usual trips back and forth between the two kingdoms, he stops by a sleepy little village called Briarlock and meets two locals, Callyn and Jax. Syhl Shallow natives, they have different perspectives on how things have changed since King Grey and Queen Lia Mara took their thrones, and are suspicious and charmed in turns by the young lord in their midst.

Concept: 💭💭💭 I have decidedly mixed feelings about the Cursebreaker Trilogy - like a rollercoaster it took me up (bk1), then downnnn (bk2), then rolled flat (bk3)! So I was pretty cautious about reading this spinoff. Tycho was relatively interesting in the original trilogy, but mostly in relation to Grey, and I...did not leave the original trilogy loving Grey as a character. He got boring when they gave him responsibility.

Execution: 💥💥💥 I don't think what Kemmerer wants to explore with this fantasy world (fantasy politics through a modernist moral lens) is ever going to be what I want to explore, but I can appreciate that she's getting better at showcasing the conflict she wants to build in her stories. Having only non-royal POVs in this story really helped make the story feel more real to me - when you're not one of the big movers and shakers (even Tycho, for all his proximity to power, feels the limit of his influence when they strip him of his rings and Grey refuses to listen to his counsel), you're gonna feel resentment for the Big Guys making the choices. They're the ones holding your lives in their hands, and for all their best intentions, they may not treat you well all the time! I definitely felt like this was her best book I've read yet, because Kemmerer wasn't just telling me the conflict and how it was gonna go - she was able to show it to me through the character's actions and situations.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤ I will be honest, I skimmed Callyn's AND to a lesser extent Jax's POV until the end because I just really wanted to read about Rhen from an outside POV that wasn't Harper's. I would apologise but I promised myself when I started writing these book reviews not to say sorry for stuff I don't regret, and me picking favourites regardless of rational thought falls firmly under that. I did truly come to enjoy the final conflict AND tycho's POV for its own merit, tycho's personality in particular was really fun to see in action, but the middle section where callyn is living her 'maybe-this-shady-guy-isnt-manipulating-me' denial era didn't ever get easy to read.

Favourite Moment: Any Rhen moment but especially that part with him being gentle and sweet with Harper when Tycho first tells him about the tournament idea. Tycho's description of their relationship being quiet and sweet was SO CUTE in general - the idea that Tycho finds Rhen pretty difficult to be around at first, but admits you'd have to be blind not to see he's besotted with Harper - I sigh every time

Favourite Character: I'm a Rhen apologist through and through but Tycho actually went over so well with me in this book. That bit when he rounds on Grey to berate him for not thinking shit through and running off without a plan? SAY IT LOUDERRRRR. I have truly enjoyed seeing Kemmerer grow as a writer and write Tycho with this level of nuance - his eventual realisation that he gets along well with Rhen, despite their history, his cautious but earnest courtship with Jax, even his ever-shifting relationship with the Syhl Shallow royal family both in public and private settings, all of it felt like it fit together and informed Tycho's characterization as a whole without conflicting with any other part of it.

[wakingupnexttoyou]

I always do this to myself 😂 starting YET ANOTHER unfinished series.

[unhingedhyacinth]

Harper and Rhen from A Curse So Dark And Lonely (Brigid Kemmerer) forever will remain my favourite enemies to lovers couple.

[just0nemorepage]

Forging Silver into Stars || Brigid Kemmerer || Forging Silver into Stars #1 || 560 pages Top 3 Genres: Fantasy / Young Adult / Romance

Synopsis: When nineteen-year-old Tycho, the King's Courier, arrives in the remote village of Briarlock, he hopes to escape the demands of his new life in the royal court, where magic reigns for the first time in ages. He doesn't expect to fall for a handsome blacksmith with a bruised heart.

After years of cruelty in his father's forge, Jax never dared to dream of a better life -- until a magic-wielding young lord shows him an enticing alternative. But when rumors of a rebellion reach Briarlock, Jax wonders who he can trust -- and if he'll even survive.

Jax's best friend, Callyn, doesn't trust anyone -- especially not a handsome stranger with magic, which killed her parents years ago. When another royal emissary arrives, seeing a co-conspirator, Callyn finds herself embroiled in a plot that could lead them all to ruin. . .

As tensions flare throughout the kingdom, it won't be long before everyone must choose a side.

War is brewing. Passions are building. And magic may doom -- or save -- them all . . .

Publication Date: June 2022. / Average Rating: 4.15. / Number of Ratings: ~7670.

[ginerva-mollyweasley]

“i’m not taking anything you don’t want to give”

JAX → my top 50 fictional characters [27/50]

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Series: Forging Silver into Stars #1Author: Brigid KemmererPublisher: Bloomsbury YAReleased: June 7, 2022Received: Own Have you ever read a single book by an author and decided then and there that you would grab all their books when given a chance? That’s what happened to me with Brigid Kemmerer. I’m kind of behind on the game here since I have only read Defy the Night. However, she just started…

[jujus-bizarre-blog]

2024 Book Round up and Ranking!

This is gonna be a longgggggg one. I only just started getting back into reading this year and I've read 21 full length novels and 2 novella/short story collections and 3 middle grade novels (nostalgia). I have not read more than two full length novels in a single year in at least 5 years so while I know what I read is considered "not a lot" by some folks it was a tonnnnnn for me :)

First we'll start with my ranking. I'll only be ranking the full length YA/adult novels I read because I feel like it. I didn't dislike any of the books on this list because if I disliked a book I would have just DNFd it. Luckily I didn't have to do that this year! Also I pretty much only read fantasy books with a healthy dose of romance :3

Forging Silver into Stars (Forging Silver into Stars #1, Brigid Kemmerer)

Legendary (Caraval #2, Stephanie Garber)

The Queen of Nothing (TFOA #3, Holly Black)

Caraval (Caraval #1, Stephanie Garber)

The Wicked King (TFOA #2, Holly Black)

A Day of Fallen Night (Roots of Chaos #0, Samantha Shannon)

The Cruel Prince (TFOA #1, Holly Black)

Finale (Caraval #3, Stephanie Garber)

A Heart so Fierce and Broken (Cursebreakers #2, Brigid Kemmerer)

A Vow so Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers #3, Brigid Kemmerer)

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2, Leigh Bardugo)

A Curse so Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1, Brigid Kemmerer)

The Prisoner's Throne (The Stolen Heir #2, Holly Black)

The Stolen Heir (The Stolen Heir #1, Holly Black)

A Curse for True Love (OUABH #3, Stephanie Garber)

The Ballad of Never After (OUABH #2, Stephanie Garber)

Once Upon a Broken Heart (OUABH #1, Stephanie Garber)

Priory of the Orange Tree (Roots of Chaos #1, Samantha Shannon)

Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1, Leigh Bardugo)

Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth #1, Kristen Ciccarelli)

Morgan is my Name (Morgan le Fay #1, Sophie Keetch)

There's a few factors that determine which books I liked more, but the big one for me is simply how much I enjoyed reading the book. Of course good characters, good writing, and unique ideas matter, that's what adds to enjoyment usually, but at the end of the day if you hand me a book full of classic, overdone tropes written up in a fun, enjoyable way, I'll probably enjoy it.

Now on to me yelling about some of the books/series that left me with more thoughts than others (aka the real reason this post exists)

Forging Silver into Stars

Oh my god I cannot stop thinking about this book. I read it in May and anyone who will listen to me yell about books has probably heard me yell about this one and it's been months. My friends tell me it is a very "me" book and I could not agree more. If there were any book (other than my own) written for me, it would be this one. Dumb boys who can't communicate is one of my favourite things and this does a great job at it. Not to mention the friendship at risk because the characters fall in love with men on the opposite sides of a rebellion. Andddddd the aforementioned rebellion. This book simply brought me so much joy to read and it lives in my head rent free and I am dying waiting for Carving Shadows into Gold.

Caraval Trilogy

I think this trilogy did so many things right. The dynamic of the sister's and their wildly different personalities were super fun for me. And I loved the world so much. The whimsy and magic within this book are far beyond what I've encountered in most media I've consumed and it was absolutely delightful to read. I feel like I can't say much else because everything in this book feels like a spoiler haha. Also Jacks. I love him so much and for what?

The Folk of Air Trilogy

Oh my goddddddddddd. Jude and Cardan are everything. Absolutely everything. I loved this trilogy because it's just shitty people making each other worse and what's more fun than that? Jude is a really compelling protagonist and you're like "yeah she's awful but she literally could not have turned out any other way." AND CARDAN. The petulant boy king of Elfhame how I love you so. Every single thing about him is delightful from his silly tail to his tilted crown to the way he is absolutely useless in comparison to Jude. This man consumes many of my thoughts. I really loved that both characters went "they suck, I'll be worse" and committed to it. Super fun concept and a super fun world made for a delightful read.

A Day of Fallen Night

I know for the others I've covered them in their series, but honestly I just want to talk about ADOFN. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Priory, I liked it enough to read ADOFN after. But I loved ADOFN so much more. The characters in this one were just more compelling to me as were their story arcs. I thought the Sabradaz burn was slow but that was nothing compared to Wulf and Thrit or Nikeya and Dumai. And I lived for every second of these slow burning wicks. Not to mention how much I enjoyed seeing an older queer couple written with just as much energy, life, and drama as all the younger ones. I really loved seeing Glorian grow up too, seeing all the choices she made for her people and her kingdom was just really great. Andddd seeing how the world state in Priory came to be was really cool and I am very glad I read ADOFN after Priory.

Six of Crows Duology

SOC and CK fall at wildly different spots on my ranking, but ultimately they had the same successes and pitfall to me. Let's start with the pitfall, the main plot. Frankly I did not care about it at all in either book. It's largely just get rich, get revenge and that to me wasn't very compelling. In fact I got bored at times when the main plot was happening. Now that that's out of the way let's talk about what I loved. The characters and their relationships. Oh my god the characters. These have got to be some of the most enjoyable and colourful characters I have read this year. The reason CK ranks higher is largely because I loved the characters even more in CK, they just feel like they each get way more time to shine (since it's longer that makes sense though haha). I cannot express how much I love some of these characters. Wylan is my baby and deserves none of the awful shit that happens. I love him so much but if I don't cut myself off I will just talk about how much I love him for 3 paragraphs. So let's move on. Jesper is a fantastic comic relief character with a healthy dose of genuine character struggles. And Nina is amazing, I want to be her istg. Jesper and Nina are so incredibly relatable to me that every time I read their parts I was like "man, this is such a mood." AND THE RELATIONSHIPSSSS. Not just the romantic ones (but those were good and half my motivation for reading CK was to know if Wylan and Jesper kiss) but the friendships and found family of this novel absolutely got me.

Special Mention: The Night Circus

This is the novel that got me back into reading and the only reason it isn't on this list is because I read it at the tail end of 2023, I read it around Christmas time. This book is a great read though and I needed to talk about it. It takes the perfect amount of magic mixed with the real world and gives us characters you can't help but fall in love with and a storyline that keeps you engaged until the end. While I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, everything else was so wonderful that I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

[halfhissandwich]

FSIS character tier list:

Jax tier: Jax, Nora, Rhen, Sinna

Tycho tier: Tycho, Alek, Harper, Malin

Everyone else tier: Everyone else

Callyn tier: Callyn, Grey

Ellis tier: Ellis, Sephran

[itachi86]

“Jax,” Tycho says, and a spark of dark intrigue slides into his voice. “How is Jax?” I bite at the edge of my lip, chagrined. “Well, it’s been several days since he last yelled at the King’s Courier, so …” “So perhaps I’m due?”

-Forging Silver into Stars

[booksandfantasies]

One of my copies of Carving Shadows into Gold arrived, and I was so excited to open it only to discover it was literally glued to the box. Technically, only the cover is glued to the box, the book itself is okay.

I'm going to try to see if I can get the cover out without ripping it, so wish me luck.

[scion-of-kings]

//Tag drop