Review: Interesting premise and plot
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
Favorite Quote(s):“He’d been open and brutally honest about who he was, more what he was. All his actions showed he had her best interest in heart, to the point that he was downright bossy and controlling. Sure, it pissed her off a little, but mostly…it felt good. Someone totally dedicated to her, focused on her well-being. For so many years she’d had to take care of herself–the only one she’d ever been able to depend on.”Favorite Character: Sadie.First Line:“‘Just because you can’t find a girl and have sex doesn’t mean I have to live an abstinent life.’ Justin slid his shirt over his head.”My Musings: Forged by Fate is a new novel in Entangled’s new adult imprint, Embrace. When I first read the synopsis, I was intrigued. I hadn’t read anything like it before, and I was excited to dive in.“’I’m the Gatekeeper of Hades.’ He bowed his head. ‘And you…are my Mate.’”Forged by Fate is a mix between mythology and angels and demons. It builds a world where Guardians guard the gates to Hell, preventing demons from running a muck. However, Guardians can’t come into their full powers until they find their mate. Young genius Sadie discovers that she is destined to be the mate of Gate Keeper, Theo, no matter how much she tries to resist it. Throw in a demon who keeps coming back and an evil master plan, and you should have a great story.Unfortunately, Forged by Fate did not live up to my expectations. The plot was rather slow for most of the novel, so it was hard to be actively engaged in the reading. In addition to that, the writing was a bit too simplistic for me. I wasn’t expecting philosophical writing, but the prose was repetitive at times, decreasing the effectiveness of the plot.“‘You are mine. I am yours. There’s nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice for you.’”Theo and Sadie were the main characters. Theo was stuck in the past, seeing as he was a 900 year old guardian, and that really was reflected through his dialogue and actions. Although his archaic and protective ways were annoying at first, I came to become used to it. Sadie was a very strong character. She was an 18 year old college graduate with a great job lined up upon graduation. If that wasn’t impressive enough, she was an orphan from not-so-good-beginnings and was also a black belt. So when she finds out that she’s Theo’s mate and her dreams are about to shatter, she resists the pull between her and Theo. Unfortunately, that didn’t last as long as I would have liked. She gave up a bit too easily for my taste, given how much she resisted it at first.The idea of this novel was unlike many that I’ve seen, and the world building was okay–not bad but not superb either. It was an interesting concept, but needs to be a bit more developed in the future novels.Forged by Fate was saved by its interesting premise and plot, and I can only hope that along with the sequel comes a more mature writing style. Definitely worth giving a shot though.