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"Forged from Fate: Ashes"
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“She was now both life and death.”
Alexandria is a reclusive college student who moves to Farmington(ME), not only for her education but also to distance herself from a troubled past. Getting away from her estranged family was easy enough, but escaping trouble proves to be a pipedream that taunts her while she sleeps. Since her youth, Lexi has experienced prophetic nightmares about people dying in tragic or horrific ways. When a student at Alexandria’s college turns up dead near campus, it becomes clear that trouble has followed her to Maine. Alex fears that she may be losing touch with reality, but when she meets the mysterious man of her dreams - in real life, the secrets behind her divine perception soon become unveiled.
Alexandria is a reclusive college student who moves to Farmington(ME), not only for her education but also to distance herself from a troubled past. Getting away from her estranged family was easy enough, but escaping trouble proves to be a pipedream that taunts her while she sleeps. Since her youth, Lexi has experienced prophetic nightmares about people dying in tragic or horrific ways. When a student at Alexandria’s college turns up dead near campus, it becomes clear that trouble has followed her to Maine. Alex fears that she may be losing touch with reality, but when she meets the mysterious man of her dreams - in real life, the secrets behind her divine perception soon become unveiled.
Readability
“Forged from Fate: Ashes” starts off with an intriguing prologue to establish some backstory about the main character, Alexandria. After that, chapter one opens with Alexandria (Lexi) reliving a horrific nightmare that drew me into the story (for its fantasy elements). The dream sequences become more and more redundant, because there’s a clear pattern of “surreal dreaming” followed by expositions - as the primary means for progressing the story and/or divulging info to the reader. With that said, there actually isn’t much to be said in terms of narrative, because the story is seriously lacking in structure. I felt like there were way too many insignificant fantastical elements (albeit interesting), and the story took way too long to develop. I think I was about three hundred pages in when a definitive antagonist was revealed, but a motive remained unclear to me and there was no inciting incident to truly set the stakes. Until I was able to realize that Cade’s character was the inciting incident, there was just this vague ongoing theme about balancing good/evil, life/death, protecting the “veil”, and other stuff (like finding a soulmate), which more or less left me wondering when substantial conflict was going to come into the story.
The story is delivered through Lexi in the first person perspective, and chapters often read like long diary entries. Anything that is relevant about the overall fantasy narrative is filtered through the mythical characters that Lexi comes in contact with. This often left me wishing that I could have got the story from another character’s perspective (like Cade Drake, Lexi’s main squeeze in this book), because he seemed to be the character making all the moves and was the one that everyone else deferred to. However, getting the story delivered from a female perspective left an insightful impression upon me in regard to the romance genre.
Creativity
It is very easy to get lost in all the layers of high fantasy that get shoehorned into the story during every little turn of event that transpires. Randi Liz Drake displays no shortage of imagination in “Forged from Fate: Ashes”. From theological/supernatural entities to mythological creatures and legendary monsters, a very broad stroke brush was used to paint a story that covers so many different metaphysical concepts. In the background of a blossoming young romance, there’s an ongoing spiritual theme which constantly alludes to life on earth at odds with existential pressures between an actual heaven and a hell that lies beyond the veil. Aside from angels and daemons, there are references made to Greek gods and immortals (the Reaper). There are also many other mythological references through characters known as “Mythics”, which make up a secret society of sorts (on earth) that live among the humans. Every Mythic takes on a human appearance but their true forms vary. When Lexi’s character turns twenty one she gains the ability to see auras around different human beings, which leaves her perplexed (unless we’re referencing eastern religion, because this book has it all). The auras are actually called “glimmers”, and they indicate what kind of Mythic a person becomes when in their true form. If you’re wondering, there are many kinds of Mythic:
Minotaur – Sphinx – Wendigo – Hippogriff – Mermaids – Elves – Trolls – Werewolves – Centaur – Gnomes – Phoenix – and Fae, just to name a few (and yes… there be dragons too!)
Every Mythic has their own set of special abilities and varying levels of power, with the dragons being among the rarest and most powerful in the Mythological caste system (on earth). On her twenty first birthday, Lexi’s gifts are awakened and she is thrust into the secret society, when she encounters another Mythic by the name of Elijah (her classmate from philosophy) - who aides in the revelation of her true form.
Delivery
I think many of the elements incorporated in the story to make it more “fantastic” only served to further convolute the narrative, which I think was lacking an overall direction. Every time new lore was introduced I was thinking to myself, how are all these concepts going to amalgamate, and where is this story going with all this stuff? The long drawn out character expositions and info dumps that take place throughout the book never seem to have much effect on the overall story. For instance, the “glimmers” that Lexi can see after turning twenty one is a concept that gets written off about a week later in the story, as a means of putting a blatant plot device to rest. The glimmer allowed Lexi’s character to cross the supernatural threshold, which allowed other characters to prattle on about supernatural concepts. I could go into detail about so many things that really just made this story feel bloated, but I really just want to sum up my assessment of what I think the book delivered.
I think “Forged from Fate: Ashes” is a story about a plain Jane character who is struggling to fit in with “normal” society. The real fantasy lies in the romantic narrative of the story. All the mythological/supernatural aspects that the story is seasoned with are mostly just distractions that fill the pages and give the characters something to talk about while the real fantasy plays out, which is Lexi’s love interest. This is a story about a troubled young woman who is “average” according to “normal” society, becoming a woman who is considered better than extraordinary and literally a divine being. In fact according to the meta, Lexi’s character is the most important being on earth, and that’s where Cade’s character comes in to play. I think Lexi’s romance with Cade was the overall narrative. “Forged from Fate: Ashes” was a story about an average girl who goes from struggling to make it on her own (coping with psychological issues), to being admired/respected by the most significant characters on earth while landing a love affair with the highest status alpha male within their secret society… from living in a little fixer upper to being waited on in a mansion and living the high life. When I viewed the book through that lens, suddenly all the chapters where Lexi was just kind of hanging out watching big screen t.v. while snacking, browsing through big walk-in closets and admiring huge bathrooms, started to make more sense to me (because that’s where the fantasy truly came to life in this book). As far as Lexi’s love interest goes, it was easy to see it forming from a mile away, however there was a short moment of suspense near the end where I will admit that Drake caught me off guard, but in a good way (not like overpowered magic out of nowhere kind of way).
“Forged from Fate: Ashes” starts off with an intriguing prologue to establish some backstory about the main character, Alexandria. After that, chapter one opens with Alexandria (Lexi) reliving a horrific nightmare that drew me into the story (for its fantasy elements). The dream sequences become more and more redundant, because there’s a clear pattern of “surreal dreaming” followed by expositions - as the primary means for progressing the story and/or divulging info to the reader. With that said, there actually isn’t much to be said in terms of narrative, because the story is seriously lacking in structure. I felt like there were way too many insignificant fantastical elements (albeit interesting), and the story took way too long to develop. I think I was about three hundred pages in when a definitive antagonist was revealed, but a motive remained unclear to me and there was no inciting incident to truly set the stakes. Until I was able to realize that Cade’s character was the inciting incident, there was just this vague ongoing theme about balancing good/evil, life/death, protecting the “veil”, and other stuff (like finding a soulmate), which more or less left me wondering when substantial conflict was going to come into the story.
The story is delivered through Lexi in the first person perspective, and chapters often read like long diary entries. Anything that is relevant about the overall fantasy narrative is filtered through the mythical characters that Lexi comes in contact with. This often left me wishing that I could have got the story from another character’s perspective (like Cade Drake, Lexi’s main squeeze in this book), because he seemed to be the character making all the moves and was the one that everyone else deferred to. However, getting the story delivered from a female perspective left an insightful impression upon me in regard to the romance genre.
Creativity
It is very easy to get lost in all the layers of high fantasy that get shoehorned into the story during every little turn of event that transpires. Randi Liz Drake displays no shortage of imagination in “Forged from Fate: Ashes”. From theological/supernatural entities to mythological creatures and legendary monsters, a very broad stroke brush was used to paint a story that covers so many different metaphysical concepts. In the background of a blossoming young romance, there’s an ongoing spiritual theme which constantly alludes to life on earth at odds with existential pressures between an actual heaven and a hell that lies beyond the veil. Aside from angels and daemons, there are references made to Greek gods and immortals (the Reaper). There are also many other mythological references through characters known as “Mythics”, which make up a secret society of sorts (on earth) that live among the humans. Every Mythic takes on a human appearance but their true forms vary. When Lexi’s character turns twenty one she gains the ability to see auras around different human beings, which leaves her perplexed (unless we’re referencing eastern religion, because this book has it all). The auras are actually called “glimmers”, and they indicate what kind of Mythic a person becomes when in their true form. If you’re wondering, there are many kinds of Mythic:
Minotaur – Sphinx – Wendigo – Hippogriff – Mermaids – Elves – Trolls – Werewolves – Centaur – Gnomes – Phoenix – and Fae, just to name a few (and yes… there be dragons too!)
Every Mythic has their own set of special abilities and varying levels of power, with the dragons being among the rarest and most powerful in the Mythological caste system (on earth). On her twenty first birthday, Lexi’s gifts are awakened and she is thrust into the secret society, when she encounters another Mythic by the name of Elijah (her classmate from philosophy) - who aides in the revelation of her true form.
Delivery
I think many of the elements incorporated in the story to make it more “fantastic” only served to further convolute the narrative, which I think was lacking an overall direction. Every time new lore was introduced I was thinking to myself, how are all these concepts going to amalgamate, and where is this story going with all this stuff? The long drawn out character expositions and info dumps that take place throughout the book never seem to have much effect on the overall story. For instance, the “glimmers” that Lexi can see after turning twenty one is a concept that gets written off about a week later in the story, as a means of putting a blatant plot device to rest. The glimmer allowed Lexi’s character to cross the supernatural threshold, which allowed other characters to prattle on about supernatural concepts. I could go into detail about so many things that really just made this story feel bloated, but I really just want to sum up my assessment of what I think the book delivered.
I think “Forged from Fate: Ashes” is a story about a plain Jane character who is struggling to fit in with “normal” society. The real fantasy lies in the romantic narrative of the story. All the mythological/supernatural aspects that the story is seasoned with are mostly just distractions that fill the pages and give the characters something to talk about while the real fantasy plays out, which is Lexi’s love interest. This is a story about a troubled young woman who is “average” according to “normal” society, becoming a woman who is considered better than extraordinary and literally a divine being. In fact according to the meta, Lexi’s character is the most important being on earth, and that’s where Cade’s character comes in to play. I think Lexi’s romance with Cade was the overall narrative. “Forged from Fate: Ashes” was a story about an average girl who goes from struggling to make it on her own (coping with psychological issues), to being admired/respected by the most significant characters on earth while landing a love affair with the highest status alpha male within their secret society… from living in a little fixer upper to being waited on in a mansion and living the high life. When I viewed the book through that lens, suddenly all the chapters where Lexi was just kind of hanging out watching big screen t.v. while snacking, browsing through big walk-in closets and admiring huge bathrooms, started to make more sense to me (because that’s where the fantasy truly came to life in this book). As far as Lexi’s love interest goes, it was easy to see it forming from a mile away, however there was a short moment of suspense near the end where I will admit that Drake caught me off guard, but in a good way (not like overpowered magic out of nowhere kind of way).
#LFLR Indie Rating: 4.5/10
The first book from the “Forged from Fate” series is a difficult novel to classify, because there isn’t much of a plot, however there is a lot to be distracted by. I would say for the most part “Ashes” is essentially a coming of age romance, but it does feature high fantasy elements set in an urban (more rural, but contemporary nonetheless) environment with a surreal/supernatural thematic backdrop. I liked the mythological references, but I would have liked them better if they had actually been implemented in the story in some meaningful way. I found the romance cringe worthy (albeit kinda funny), and I was embarrassed for the support characters. The magic was confusing and I think if a system was established then that would have helped sort out the plot devices and offer some clarity in regard to how the universe creates balance within the story (under the hood). Randi Liz Drake has self-published four novels in the "Forged from Fate" series and also a novel entitled “Caged”, which is advertised as a standalone read that will be a part of her “Holland Broken Pack” series/collection.
The first book from the “Forged from Fate” series is a difficult novel to classify, because there isn’t much of a plot, however there is a lot to be distracted by. I would say for the most part “Ashes” is essentially a coming of age romance, but it does feature high fantasy elements set in an urban (more rural, but contemporary nonetheless) environment with a surreal/supernatural thematic backdrop. I liked the mythological references, but I would have liked them better if they had actually been implemented in the story in some meaningful way. I found the romance cringe worthy (albeit kinda funny), and I was embarrassed for the support characters. The magic was confusing and I think if a system was established then that would have helped sort out the plot devices and offer some clarity in regard to how the universe creates balance within the story (under the hood). Randi Liz Drake has self-published four novels in the "Forged from Fate" series and also a novel entitled “Caged”, which is advertised as a standalone read that will be a part of her “Holland Broken Pack” series/collection.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
