Any time I pick up one of Elizabeth Lim’s books, I am transported to immersive worlds that are whimsical and treacherous. Where making deals with the wrong person could end up with your life entwined with another’s. Worlds where deception and illusion can sometimes be more honest than the truth. You can tell that each character has been crafted with care, and creates such an incredible experience for the reader. I own each one of her books as well as special edition copies, so I’m obviously not biased when I tell you that I think you need to add this book to your TBR, like, yesterday. Not only is the book already out, but if this is your first venture into her books, you have so many you can pick up and read as well.
When I first read the synopsis for A Forgery of Fate, I came across one of Lim’s posts calling it Howl’s Moving Castle but with dragons. Anyone who knows me well, and honestly, even strangers at this point…know how much I LOVE that film. Any time I get Howl’s Moving Castle vibes from anything, I have to have a copy of it on my shelves.
This story is about a young woman who’s forced to become a con artist after her father is lost at sea. In order to pay off her mother’s gambling debts before she and her sisters are sold off, she enters a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. In order to save her family though, she must join him in a plan to overthrow the Dragon King. The only problem is that their failure could upend the lives of both immortals and mortals alike.
Lim is an incredible writer and had me hooked from the first chapter, capturing both the beauty of family and the treacherous time that befalls Truyan and her sisters. This story is imbued with colour, tantalising descriptions of food that make your mouth water, and a vivid setting. Truyan is a survivor, and since her father’s disappearance, has fought to make ends meet. Truyan’s relationship with her mother is beautiful and we often portray fictional mothers in a villainous light where they are hated and abusive, but in this book, her mother is painted in shades of gray. Two things can be true at the same time, like her poor life choices and the love she has for her daughters. The same can be true for most of Lim’s characters, there are no one-dimensional characters with only one personality trait. Everyone that is introduced feels unique and has a specific role to play in this book.
Her love interest Elang is enigmatic and secretive, but secretly a simp. I enjoyed the blossoming of the romance between Truyan and Elang, simply because it carried an element of Beauty and the Beast. I can’t get into too much because of spoilers, but their growing relationship and the development of it propelled me to continue reading this book. The ending was everything I had hoped for and more. On top of that, there was a call back to a character that has featured in her other books, and I loved seeing that little nugget come across my page.
Now, there was something that needled me about the ending of the book. There was a plot point that felt a bit unresolved to me, and maybe it’s just me, but going back and reading it a few times, I still had some confusion about something that happens within the story. This doesn’t detract enough for readers to be completely thrown, but it might make you double back to see if you can figure it out.
Definitely pick this up for your shelves, and there are a few special editions around if you’re interested in having a unique copy for yourself.
A Forgery of Fate is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up A Forgery of Fate? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A breathtaking romantic fantasy inspired by Beauty and the Beast about a girl who paints the future and a cursed dragon lord, bound by love and deception in a plot to bring down the gods.
Truyan Saigas didn’t choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.
Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father’s disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms. . . .
