Review: Reforged, by Seth Haddon

 

Since time immemorial the warriors of the Paladin Order have harnessed arcane powers to protect their rulers. For Balen, who has given up his chance at love and fought his way to the top of the Paladin Order, there can be no greater honor than to serve his king. But when assassins annihilate the royal family, Balen suddenly finds himself sworn to serve the very man he abandoned.
Now with their nation threatened by enemies both within and outside the kingdom, Balen must fight hidden traitors and unnatural assassins, while also contending with the biting wit and dangerous charm of young King Zavrius. To save themselves and their nation they will have to put aside their past and reforge that trust they lost so long ago.

This was a treat! Seth Haddon's Reforged is a lovely stand-alone fantasy novel with a tight plot and a steamy romance. Balen is a sympathetic protagonist and his past relationship with his King makes for a good conflict in the first half of the novel. Zavrius is irritating at first, and the way he treats his ex-lover in the beginning is kind of appalling, but he does magic by making music with his instruments and I fully admit that I'm biased towards that kind of thing. As the novel goes on he also opens up about a terrible trauma to Balen, so one can see where the previous behavior was coming from.

The supporting cast is pretty good, varied and fleshed out. I often think that's the supporting cast that makes this kind of novel, because the central relationship is obviously well-developed, but a cast made up of walking cliches ruins everything. This one had two friend-types with surprising hidden depths and two really good characters, the King's aunt and the King's uncle, the both of them with important roles in the palace.

The world is well-developed, with mysterious carcasses of creatures granting magical powers, but not without a price; I liked that the consequences weren't brushed off, but that they had a meaning in the plot. One scene especially, with this gigantic body on the ground, was most lyrical and evocative.

Now, not every decision of the characters makes perfect sense, especially in the second half, where our heroes have to fight against an overthrow of the government. The resolution is pretty abrupt. But the narration manages to tie up everything, which is difficult with this kind of stand-alone novels.

Reforged is a solid fantasy adventure with a good central relationship.

✨ 4 stars