Once Upon a Bibliophile

This post contains spoilers. Do not read on if you haven’t read the book. You have been warned…

BOOK- Sparking Fire out of Fate

AUTHOR- Brigid Kemmerer

GENRE- Romance, Fantasy

SERIES- Forging Silver into Stars #3 (A Curse so Dark and Lonely spin off)

RATING- 5/5

*A quick note on acronyms: ACSDAL- A Curse so Dark and Lonely, AHSFAB- A Heart so Fierce and Broken, AVSBAD- A Vow so Bold and Deadly, FSIS- Forging Silver into Stars, CSIG- Carving Shadows into Gold, SFOOF- Sparking Fire out of Fate*

I don’t normally write spoiler reviews, but I’m tired of trying to write posts without revealing anything. It’s pretty hard to talk about things in detail when you’re also trying to hide said details. So, if you have read Sparking Fire out of Fate or don’t mind spoilers, read on.

I was super excited for this book to come out. What with the last novel ending very inconclusively (thanks Brigid) I was desperate for the last installment. I pre-ordered online and by the time it arrived I could hardly wait any longer. I finished it in a day. I love this book. I love anything A Curse so Dark and Lonely related. I love the characters (even Alek). I love the story line. I love Jax and Tycho. As you can probably guess, there is almost nothing I disliked about this book.

PLOT

As you know, the Forging Silver into Stars trilogy takes place four years after the end of AVSBAD. For a quick recap, Forging Silver into Stars sees Tycho, Callyn and Jax grappling with love, duty, loyalty and dangerous alliances as an anti-magic group know as the Truthbringers protest against King Grey’s rule. Callyn, a poor baker, works with the mysterious Lord Alek, passing messages between Truthbringer factions. Tycho, the King’s Courier, travels between Emberfall and Syhl Shallow on secret missions, but something about Briarlock stops him every time. Is it simply the whispers of rebellion that stir the air, or might something blooming between him and Jax, a handsome blacksmith with a bruised heart? (SPOILER ALERT! SOMETHING DOES!) When the Truthbringers attack the Queen, these young people will have to work together to protect not just themselves, but their kingdoms as well. In Carving Shadows into Gold, Callyn, Jax and Tycho are cast apart, divided by their loyalties. Tension is growing in Syhl Shallow and Emberfall as the Truthbringers threaten attack once again, but as the scravers attack from the north and conflict tears them apart from within, magic may be the only thing that can save them. The book ends with Callyn staying in Syhl Shallow with the heartbroken Queen as Tycho and Grey travel home to Emberfall in the hope that they can divert the Truthbringers’ attention away from the King’s family.

In SFOOF, Callyn grows closer to Lia Mara as they bond over the hidden magic they share. But their powers can’t stay a secret forever, and Callyn must find real evidence against the Truthbringers to stop them once and for all, even if it means working with the man who betrayed her. Back in Emberfall, Tycho and Jax are struggling to rebuild their connection after months apart. When they’re sent to investigate scraver attacks on the border, they discover that the leader of the Truthbringers has made a devil’s bargain with Xovaar, the ruler of the scravers and the leader of the magsmith targeted attacks on Syhl Shallow, in order to destroy human magic forever. When their missions collide, Tycho, Jax and Callyn find themselves facing threats from all sides. They have one last chance to save their magic and their kingdoms or they will lose everything.

Sparking Fire out of Fate didn’t have the best plot imaginable, I have to admit. In terms of worldbuilding, it was fine. Great, even. Emberfall is still a world I never want to and never will forget. It was whimsical and beautiful, and it’s totally on my bucket list to go there should I ever discover I have magic. However, the climax was a tiny bit…disappointing? I hate to be criticizing Brigid and any of her work, especially since I just said at the start of this post that there’s almost nothing I disliked about this book. Count this as the ‘almost’ part. I kinda was expecting something a little more from the climax. To be completely honest, what with the whole thing in the blurb about ‘sacrifice’, I was expecting Tycho and Jax to die for each other in some dramatic Romeo and Juliet kind of way. Not that I wanted this to happen, but I felt as if the climax were missing something, perhaps. I kind of got reminded a little of when I read the Lord of the Rings for the first time a few Christmases ago (sorry if I’m going off on a bit of a tangent here) and thought, after reaching the climax, ‘I read all these books for… that?’ The Lord of the Rings is, nevertheless, one of my favorite high fantasies, yet I got the same sense of -for want of a better word- disappointment, when Xovaar killed Lady Karyl at the end of the novel. It felt very sudden. There was a huge build up of ‘OMG we’re all gonna die’ and ‘for the good of Emberfall, for the good of all’, but in the end, apart from a Battle Briarlock 2.0, nothing really happened. Considering that this book was the end of the story, the ending felt a little…hurried.

That said, though, Brigid is my favorite romantasy author that I have yet to read. She creates these beautiful romances that would be magical even on their own, and combines them with a thrilling fantasy element. I’ve encountered too many novels that advertise themselves as romantasies but are really just a romance in a fantasy setting. All too often, these ‘romantasies’ fall flat on the ‘fantasy’ part of the combo. Brigid, however, has found the perfect balance between whimsical romance and compelling fantasy. I find romatasies clever in that way- one wrong move could tip the scales to one or the other, but when a balance is found it can be brilliant. Brigid was walking on a knife’s edge with this book. Too much romance and the book would be boring, too much fantasy and it would defy the purpose of ‘romantasy’. I feel strangely as if I’m judging a meal on a cooking show now. The balance of ingredients needs to be just right so that one does not overpower the other, and Brigid achieved this wonderfully.

I thought the balance between the two aspects of romantasy was spot on in SFOOF. In ACSDAL in general as well. I never felt like there was too much romance, but never got starved of swoon. The fantasy elements were compelling, with just enough darker parts not to feel too much like a children’s fairy tale. I felt all the excitement of a high fantasy page turner, and all the swoon and slow-burn of the perfect romance, all in one book.

Going back to what I said earlier about SFOOF not having the best plot imaginable, things did move quite slowly in the sense of an overall story, though not in a terrible way. It was quite a quiet story. Obviously there were things going on, but it wasn’t jam-packed with action. Things happened in natural time, nothing felt overly rushed. I know I mentioned that the ending felt hurried, but apart from that, it had quite a slow, sedate pace in terms of plot twists. You could see your destination, if not clearly, on the horizon. If I could change one thing about this book, it would be to add a few more twists and turns before we reached the end. However, this is just me being picky and I can assure you that it’s well worth the read.

I don’t really have all that much to say about the plot, because the plot isn’t why I like this series so much- though it is a part of the reason. I return again and again for the characters. Characters, who, by now, feel like family to me.

CHARACTERS

Tycho has been my favorite ACSDAL character since his A Heart so Fierce and Broken. So many people say that AHSFAB ruined the Cursebreakers series, but I think it was as good as, if not better than, any of Brigid’s other books. When I realized that he had an entire spin-off trilogy to himself, I was immediately hooked. Before I’d even read it, I knew that Forging Silver into Stars was going to be my favorite ACSDAL installment. I loved how Brigid incorporated the whole storyline about the scravers, who are obviously the best characters (rip Iisak). Like, who wants an entire story about boring humans and their petty problems anyway? I loved how the scravers got developed in this series, because they’re so unique and interesting. Iisak was an amazing character, and I always wished there were more of him. Now, I get a swoony romance, cameos from old characters (which I love) and scravers. What more can I want?

As we know, the main romance of this romantasy is between Tycho and Jax (more on Callyn and Alek later). Tycho has grown up (though he’ll still always be a baby to me) and he’s playing King’s Courier, carrying state secrets and top secret letters between Syhl Shallow and Emberfall. Which, by the way, seems like a pretty bad idea. No offence meant to Lord Tycho, but he might get distracted by a kitten or something on the way. I mean, just a possibility. Jax is a poor blacksmith from the tiny village of Briarlock, who, even though he’s not a kitten, Tycho falls in love with. Jax and Tycho make the cutest couple ever. Full stop. It’s such a magical relationship, and this is mostly because they barely ever see each other in FSIS and CSIG. Each moment they share with each other (and, of course, Mercy the horse) is super special and amazingly romantic, before Tycho disappears for months, only to return again… and then leave…. and then return…. and then, well, you get the idea.

“Be well, Tycho”

Forging Silver into Stars was one of the first romantaises I read with a main romance that was LGBTQ+ . I honestly regret not actively looking for more of them now, because Tycho and Jax were the cutest couple I have ever read about. I mean, for one thing, “be well, Tycho” is a much better thing to say then calling your boyfriend a stupid man. Just putting it out there. I was honestly furious when Jax kissed Sephran in Carving Shadows into Gold, but I have to appreciate the conflict and romantic tension Tycho and Jax’s long separation brings. There was a tightness about them at the beginning of the book that made me want to cry. I’m so glad they managed to make up, otherwise I would have thrown the book across the room or something. The T/J relationship was developed really well in SFOOF. They talked to each other and worked out all their problems (which mainly were that Tycho kept leaving), and it was so amazing to see how much the two had changed from Forging Silver into Stars to Sparking Fire out of Fate. I loved watching Jax grow as a character across the series. Only traces of Jax the scared blacksmith remain now. He’s grown into Jax the soldier. Jax the fighter. Jax the hero. I know this is a really odd thing to say, especially since this is a fictional character we’re talking about, but I’m really proud of how far he’s has come and all the challenges he managed to overcome.

“While I was gone, you learned to ride, to shoot, to speak Emberish. To walk Jax. No one can leave you behind. No one. Never again. “

Tycho, on the other hand, seemed pretty much the same throughout the entire series. But he has definitely not the same kid who raced Grey through Rillisk for steamed crabs in AHSFAB.

He’s still kind, caring, compassionate. He’s still a fighter. But all through the Forging Silver into Stars trilogy, he fights so much more than physical enemies. He confronts his past, his loyalties, his feelings. He really grows into himself throughout the trilogy, and by SFOOF he’s barely recognizable as Tycho the stable boy, Tycho the shadow. I could always relate so much more to him than any of the other characters in the ACSDAL trilogy, and I think this might be because he was the closest to my own age than any of the other characters when I first read the books. I liked his personality and sense of humor, and I was intrigued by his backstory. In the Forging Silver into Stars trilogy, his self confidence has grown massively, but he still has doubts. I think this may be one of the reasons why he’s my favorite FSIS character. On the outside, he seems like a confident, strong, heroic hero that swings a sword and has a head full of only himself. But inside, there’s some serious internal conflict going on. I liked how he was torn between love and loyalty, on more than one occasion. In fact, Grey’s part in the Forging Silver into Stars trilogy made him go from one of my favorite characters to one of my least favorite.

Callyn and Alek also make a great couple, but you can probably tell their relationship takes second place in my romantasy priorities. Still, I’m glad that everything worked out for them and they got to be together in the end.

Personally, Callyn wasn’t my favorite character in this book. I just wasn’t as interested in her story as some of the others. Still, Callyn is a fantastic character. She’s stubborn, strong, caring. I was amazed at how well she adapted not just to a new life at court but to having magic as well. I think I would have spent at least two more books denying that I had magic and then another five coming to terms with it and maybe even another being totally over the moon about it. She’s a force to be reckoned with. Alek, of course, annoyed me, especially at the start of the series. However, I think he was written that way. Especially in SFOOF, I felt like all of his sarcasm and general rudeness was just a front, a face to hide the real Lord Alek, who is grieving and afraid. Of course, it could just that he’s annoying, sarcastic and rude, but we saw too much of his soft side in SFOOF to truly believe this. I liked how we had Alek the villain at the start of FSIS, then he was slowly revealed to be the person he is by SFOOF. One writing trope that I love is when the antihero becomes the hero. (Though you could argue that Alek isn’t a true antihero because he isn’t a main protagonist, especially during FSIS, he still possesses all the typical antiheroic qualities, so we’re just gonna call him one.) At the beginning of the series, Alek was an antihero, acting for selfish reasons of revenge. To him, this might seem totally logical. Grey is responsible for his sister’s death and magic -translated in Alek-grief to ‘Grey’- is responsible for his mother’s death. His motives are clouded by anger and grief. Throughout the next couple of books, he kinda bounces back and forth between a misguided hero and an antihero, but in the end, his love for Callyn and Lia Mara win out against his hatred for magic and Grey and he ends up fighting alongside his former nemeses (nemesises? nemesi?) for the good of Emberfall and the good of all.

I think the anti hero is my favorite character type. You’ll probably know by now that typical heroic heroes annoy me. Like, I understand that most of the epic fantasies that I read would have completely and utterly failed in a miserable way without these heroes, but I get tired of reading about characters who do things for ‘the greater good’ and ‘what’s right’. Antiheroes feel much more real and relatable because they’re doing things for themselves, mostly out of selfish motivations. They have really complex personalities and I like reading about characters who might have a darker side – I mean, who doesn’t? Alek annoyed me in FSIS because he was portrayed as a villain, and he was a bit, well, annoying. But once he got more of his own POV and I began to understand him more, I became more interested in him, I started rooting for him, even though he still annoyed me.

Another thing I loved about the characters in Sparking Fire out of Fate was the side characters. The dynamic between the main POVs and the side characters was brilliant. I really liked the relationship that Malin and Tycho had with each other- how the army camaraderie evolved into something more, but not in a romantic way. The deep trust they found in each other that Tycho never really found in anyone else. The way they were just friends, never demanding anything from the other person. Malin became a pretty large part of Tycho’s life and their friendship was written really well in SFOOF. I also thought it was really clever of Brigid to incorporate the conflict between Malin, Tycho and Sephran into the story. It added some depth to the scenes where they would just have been riding for hours, and it totally felt like Sephran as well, if you get my meaning. It felt very natural and within him to feel animosity towards Tycho- his feelings for Jax would always shed a negative light on Tycho because of simple jealousy, and these feelings changed into outright hostility once he saw the rift between Tycho and Jax appear at the start of the book- who else would be blame for their problems other than Tycho? It also felt very natural for him to act the way he did around Malin too. Again, jealousy evolved into more hostile feelings over time.

I also loved the fact that all the old heroes were still part of the story. I mean, it would be impossible to have SFOOF without these characters, but it would be all too easy for the author to forget about them a little. I’m very glad to say that all our old favorites had cameos across the trilogy, from Harper and Rhen and Grey and Lia Mara to Freya and Zo. And, of course, we can’t forget Nakiis. Again, these characters feel more like family than fiction to me, so to see them again after all their adventures just made an already brilliant book almost perfect.

CONCLUSION

Like I mentioned before, Sparking Fire out of Fate was lacking a tiny bit in plot twists and the climax felt like it was missing something, but this doesn’t at all lessen how much I enjoyed this book. The characters were wonderfully developed and the romance was perfect- whimsical and swoony. Five stars out of five.