A woman named Mauve is the protagonist of Fate Forged. Once a homeless teen, she has pieced together a new life by working hard at under-the-table at restaurants and volunteering at the homeless shelter that took her in. When nightmares of torture take over her dreams, she loses sleep because of them, then starts to miss shifts at work. Her life begins to fall apart; she’s no longer sure she made enough that month to make her rent. Her life undergoes a quantum shift when, desperate to get rid of the horrific scenes, she follows these visions to a fortune cookie factory in Boston, the scene of the torture she’d dreamt about which ended in the death of the victim. Instead of answers, she discovers she has previously unknown magical abilities, but in wholly unable to control her magic. Her magic soon makes her the target of two powerful groups of magical beings, the Council and the Brotherhood, both of which want access to the magic locked inside Maeve. She strikes a deal with the Council’s Guardian, Silas Valeron. She is suspicious of his motives, finds his arrogance is frustrating, but is drawn to him sexually. More visions send her deeper into the world of magic. She must learn to control her power, or the magic that ties all life forms to the Earth itself, could fall into evil hands.
The writing flowed well and had few grammatical errors. What bothered me were multiple instances where a paragraph combined two characters’ actions/thoughts/dialogue. For example, Silas has a line of dialogue followed by Maeve’s internal response to that dialogue. I was pulled out of the story momentarily trying to re-orient myself.
Overall, an interesting premise with a page-turning plot with multiple twists, superb world-building, an compelling protagonist who often acts in her own best interest because she’s a bit of a smart aleck, and a love interest who is as emotionally tormented as the protagonist all make this a good read.
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