Review: Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Wow!  Brigid Kemmerer takes us back to Shyl Shallow and Emberfall with this fantastic spin-off series with Tycho as the hero, but old friends readily at hand.

Picking up a few years from the end of the Cursebreakers series, Grey and LIa Mara are faced with groups threatening their reign, or Grey’s.  Tycho,  now the King’s Messenger travels between Rhen and Grey’s castles delivering messages about goings on.  But suddenly Tycho finds himself in the middle of the traitors’ plot and having to decide who he trust in the royal court.

I loved Tycho.  He’s already suffered much in the Cursebreakers, but he’s grown into a strong, kind, loyal man.  He suffers at the hand of the traitors’ machinations, but he ends up finding a similar soul in blacksmith Jax.  He gives Taycho something that is just his own and to fight for.  He may see Grey as his family, but it’s hard to leave up to the expectation he puts on himself to live up to Grey’s standard.  Jax allow him to be more himself and leave his duty at the door.  Taycho gave that same safety to Jax, helping him understand he is more than his missing limb and gaining the confidence to do more. I’m excited to see this relationship grow.

Callyn, Jax’s best friend, left me guessing (quite often) about what side she was actually on.  She flip-flopped quite a bit, which drove me insane.  I wanted her to have steadfast loyalty to Jax, but Callyn seemed to go with the ‘crowd’ before finally looking at all the evidence to make up her own mind.  The end of the book shows us Callyn has a big secret of her own, so I’m wondering how this is going to play out moving forward.  It definitely makes things interesting.