Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Once again there were far too many characters making the story very difficult to follow.
Although it was fast paced with plenty of action I found the story confusing.
Managed to complete it though and left me thinking about whether to read the next on.

Review:

Miles Cameron burst onto the fantasy scene in 2012 and quickly established himself as one of the best writers in the genre, not a huge surprise given that he is also Christian Cameron arguably the best writer in Historical Fiction genre. In both genres he takes all his knowledge as a soldier, intelligencer, historian and re-enactor and couples that with a writing ability that is the envy of many established writers.

The big worry for any reader and writer in a new genre is that when a series is as good as The Traitor Son cycle, then what comes next is it possible to reach that same heady heights as series one? and TSC is one of the best epic fantasy series you can find so that’s a tough ask.

But Miles/ Christian gave us Master and Mages: Cold Iron, somehow he managed to create yet another world, yet another world structure, magic ethos and more and made it new and original and even better than TSC.

Dark Forge progresses that high skill level of writing and that extraordinary world building. But more than the world building you have layers and layers of politics, magic, friendship, honour and all written through the eyes of such real and honest characters. people you can read and love and shed blood with. Thats the true power of his writing, the characters that while they live in another time and a place of magic, you feel totally connected to them, and so feel pulled ever deeper into the plots and the intrigues.

Be prepared for all out action and intrigue in Dark Forge, this book follows the further growth of Aranthur, The battles get bigger and more desperate, the magic deeper and more complex and the intentions of the dark forces more obscure…. can Aranthur unravel the mad schemes of the pure? can you the reader keep up with all the spy craft? the layers of mystery and misdirection? the huge scale battles and city sieges? Can you keep up with the one on one swashbuckling sword scenes? and the utter scale of adventure that’s both hugely complex and yet so simply and elegantly written.

I loved this book, it was my first read for a few months, having taken time out… and what a way to return. Easily a contender for book of the year.

Parm.

*** I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***



Dark Forge follows on from Cold Iron and sees the hero, Aranthur, travelling through the desert-lands battling against "The Pure", a group of magikal fundamentalists that believe access to the world's magik should be restricted to those of noble birth.

As a rare treat, the book starts with a lengthy prologue telling of a group of mercenaries working for the Pure attempting to storm an ancient site and gain ownership of a magical artefact. A few dozen pages break from Aranthur was welcome and this was an exciting part of the story. As with the first book, the narrative style is something of a barrier to me, all the mundane details of clothing, horses, weapons are expounded ad nauseum, but when something important happens, or some new magik is used suddenly it's all very vague and hand-wavey.

That brings us back to Aranthur. We pick up with him and his crew acting as messengers for the General's army, relaying messages back and forth across the divisions of the forces. At times this changes to acting as advance scouts, other times running messages through the middle of battles. Given the rest of the story is told from Aranthur's PoV alone, this means we can see a great deal of the action through his eyes.

At long last we are treated to something of an inventory from Aranthur, as he goes over the magik he currently knows and their purpose. This felt like a brilliant improvement over book 1, where he just did a magik thing somehow. However this is short lived as over the course of the book odd words are used, with little explanation (and always in italics, suggesting they are important words but for the life of me I couldn't remember what most of them were).

A major failing for this book for me was that despite all being from one character's PoV, and we hear plenty of his thoughts and feelings, we are not privy to his experimentation with magik or some of his suspicions and theories (he suddenly in the heat of battle tries something he had been thinking about and it works - would have been so much more effective if there had been any hint of this previously). Similarly, so much of it is all metaphysical nonsense which I can't stand and can only see it as a cheap way out for an author as you don't have to explain things if they're all mystical.

The book reads like maybe the 5th in a series, where all the magical aspects and parts and peoples of the world have been solidly embedded, rather than book 2 where the world-building is being done almost real-time and there is something of a making-it-up-as-he-goes-along feel.

The overarching plot of the book is solid, and while I would have liked to see more traditional combat like the first book, and less magical/mystical stuff the action was plentiful and reasonably well told.

As with the first book, its only about 400 pages but felt like so much more to me, and it really was a bit of a slog at times.

I will finish this series with the conclusion when it is released but have enjoyed other series a lot more.

I loved the first book in this trilogy and I loved this one.
The first book did a great job in describing the characters and the world around them, this one is more action and fast paced.
It starts with a bang and keeps you reading, never slowing the pace or being boring. It's exciting and enthralling.
This is a great fantasy series and I look forward to reading the final installment.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Orion Publishing Group (Gollancz) and Netgalley for this arc.

A more detailed review will be published on my Tumblr.

It’s not very often that a sequel has a very different feel to the first book, and it’s rarer still to find a sequel that actually pulls this off.

Whereas Miles Cameron’s Cold Iron was a bit of a Kingkiller-esque story with some flintlock flavourings, I found Dark Forge to be a bit more of a serious, military book. If anything, it reminded me of a fantastical version of Bernard Cornwell’s “Sharpe” books, which I suppose is Cameron’s historical fiction expertise showing through.

While Aranthur spends most of his time in the first book at the Academy — learning magik, swordplay (of more than one variety), and building some relationships — in the second book he spends the majority of his time at war.

As a result, Dark Forge has a faster pace and a much heavier focus on the plot. This is great for those readers who prefer lots of battles and magical showmanship, but I have to admit that I missed the intimacy of the previous book. There are still some really emotional scenes, but there isn’t the same time spent exploring the relationships between the characters.

Aranthur is disgusted to find that he’s a natural at war, or “murdering”, as he prefers to think of it. He acknowledges that it’s “necessary”, but there’s some inner-conflict there which Cameron touches on over the course of the story. I enjoyed that some of his magikal-geekery managed to shine through at times, despite the bleakness of his situation, and it’s interesting to watch how his experiences at war change him as a character.

To sum up my feelings on this one… I liked it, but I’m not sure that it’s as much “my kind of book” as the first one was. It took me a while to grow into the story and re-familiarise myself with everything, despite how quickly it burst out of the gates, but I imagine this will be very well suited to binging the series as a whole.

Dark Forge is not the kind of book that I was expecting, but I found myself enjoying it anyway. If you enjoyed Cold Iron and you’re a fan of military style fantasy… then you’re gonna love this one.

Book 2 In Miles Cameron's ' Masters & Mages' series is yet another cracking read.

Its a very different book from the first in the series, yet still reads just as well. Book 1; 'Cold Iron' was slower paced, with in depth world and character building. It had a more urban feel, set in a university, an inn, small workshops and farms and apartments. It felt more... cosy. Dark Forge explodes out of page 1 and doesnt let up. This book is more vast, fast paced, more free. Its always moving, be it location or story. This book is out in the wilds, speeding across continents and plains, showing us the wider world the Cameron has masterfully created.

I really cant wait to see where the closing chapter in this trilogy leads us. Things are balanced on a knife edge, with a chaotic storm of events swirling around our main character Aranthur. Whatever happens, its bound to be thrilling and exciting.