Forging Silver Into Stars By Brigid Kemmerer

I have been in a pretty serious reading slump. I finished the Throne of Glass series (for the 10th time!), and I’m always left feeling a little hung over after. Finding something to re-capture my interest is hard.

BUT!

Brigid Kemmerer’s Curserbreaker and Forging Silver into Stars series have officially broken my reading slump. I seriously don’t understand why they don’t get more hype.

I read the Cursebreaker series as it came out and immediately snagged Forging Silver into Stars, then read the Defy the Night series while I waited patiently for Carving Shadows into Gold. I just finished Carving Shadows, and I can’t believe it’s not all over social media. After reading all six books in that world so far, I can’t stop repeating, “Oh, Grey.”

I’ve loved him from the first pages, and his story (and Tyco’s!) are the reason I can’t put the series down.

Brigid Kemmerer is such an amazing author!

All the characters in each of her books are multi-faceted, and the situations they face are well written. Many times I have to set the books aside to think about the choices they are facing. Many more times, I get angry because she sets up the conflict SO WELL, there are no good choices for either side, and this is where this author really shines: showing the full picture.

The saying is there are two sides to every story, but she busts that by showing that there are often far more than that, especially when portraying political decisions, forbidden love, and justice. Every side of a conflict has a story, from the hero, to the antagonist, to the love interest, to the rulers, and all the way down to the innocent towns people just trying to survive. She is a master at showing all of that! She clearly shows that the villain may very well have justified reasons for why they do what they do, actions that, once brought to light make the hero seem the villain instead. Then there are the citizens and the victims who have no voice or choice in the decisions that are being made for them.

This author does a great job of giving agency to every angle in a conflict. It forces the reader to assess and reassess what they think the characters should do.

And then there are the characters themselves. She does an excellent job of not only creating trauma and hardship for them, but keeping their responses to the trauma front and center. You FEEL what they feel when they are making decisions. You are able to completely understand and empathize with their choices, especially when they are forced to take agency. When I say forced to take agency, I mean, they are forced to chose between what THEY believe to be the right choice, what they are TOLD is the right choice, and what actually IS the right choice.

Sometimes, many times, whatever choice they make comes with consequences that aren’t a surprise. What I love is even when the characters make a wrong choice, or when they do the right thing in defiance of leadership, they don’t back down from their decisions. They OWN them, right or wrong. And when they do make a wrong choice, they also own the responsibility for the outcome.

I could go on for pages and pages. But honestly, you’d be better served by reading the books yourself.

I’ve not read any of her contemporary books. Yet. Maybe I’ll branch out from my fantasy era sooner or later, but I just can’t seem to make myself do it. If they are half as well written as her fantasy stories, I’m sure I’m missing out.