A Hero Forged In Blood By B.H. Preston

*Received a copy of A Hero Forged In Blood through BookSirens and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Kaden is a farm boy from the small town of Ashland. It’s boring, and Kaden wants to leave his farm and experience the thrill of an adventure.

He runs into goblins while picking bonberries in Brightshire Forest and they threaten to kill him, but his father saves Kaden, sacrificing himself in the process. In his last moments, he reveals Kaden is the late King Karatheas’s son and sets him on the path to uniting the tribes and kingdoms of Empyrea to finally defeat the evil Lucient and his dark hold across the lands. On his quest, he gathers friends that will teach him to become the ruler and fighter he is meant to be.

The best parts of the book are the character relationships and the world-building. I loved reading every character interaction, even between the ones we meet once and never see again. Like Kaden and Petey’s friendship, watching how they support each other in various circumstances is just one example of Preston’s ability to play off of his characters’ personalities. Petey and Chum’s bickering was a treat too, they got some laughs out of me. And with the characters we only meet once (Bardicus), they aren’t dull or flat, so I didn’t worry about one-dimensional personalities. Anyways, I just had a good time reading about everyone together because they felt real, natural, relatable. It’s the same with the world too, I was curious about every kingdom introduced, each one unique and memorable. I could easily imagine Empyrea.

Sometimes I felt like conflicts got resolved too quickly, especially with the Shroudscar arc at the end of the story.

¡Spoiler! When Petey died and Weylyn and Pepper tried to ease and soothe Kaden’s grief, they sounded like they were using this as a teaching moment for Kaden and I was like mm not now please, his best friend just died. Then Petey comes back to life in the next chapter–the last chapter–and I was happy, but he was resurrected immediately. ¡Spoiler!

I enjoyed the story though and I’m looking forward to reading the second book when it comes out!

3.5 stars from me!