A Wizard’s Forge by A.M. Justice | Review

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I only managed to get through 81 pages of A Wizard’s Forge before having to admit defeat and give up. Normally I wouldn’t post a review for a book that I hadn’t managed to finish, but since this was an ARC I felt compelled to. When I saw the amazing cover on NetGalley and read the description, I was so excited to read it and requested it straight away. It follows a young girl who is sold into slavery and is kept as a mistress until she manages to escape and joins a rebellion. I thought this was going to be an exciting, original book about an amazing heroine overcoming and escaping her abuse. Unfortunately, A Wizard’s Forge ended up being a great idea that was poorly executed. Everything about the book just felt rushed; the character development, relationships and world building.

Like I said, I had to give up 26% in and it had taken me 3 days to make it that far. I didn’t feel any connection to any of the characters, or have any interest with what happened to them. We were introduced to Vic, the main character, and then she was immediately kidnapped. There was no time to get to know her so I really didn’t care about her. I felt like I knew nothing about Vic’s personality and that she was a really one dimensional, standard Mary Sue heroine.

The timeline of the book was also confusing, it seemed to jump around a lot and half the time I had no idea what was going on. One minute Vic was an outsider, then the next months had passed and she’s friends with everyone. The biggest problem for me was how Vic’s relationship with her abuser was rushed. She obviously hates him when they first meet, but by the next chapter she is in love with him. If the author had taken the time to explore Vic’s feelings and her Stockholm Syndrome it could have been really interesting, but instead we were just meant to accept that she was obsessed with him after a couple of pages. All of the abuse and slavery in the book was very poorly handled in my opinion, how can I root for characters when they think it’s perfectly normal and acceptable to keep men and women as sex slaves? It was seriously frustrating me and put me off reading more.

I also didn’t really understand the world that A Wizard’s Forge took place in. They live on a planet in space that is split into different countries(?). I couldn’t tell you what the differences between the countries were or why they were fighting. Like I said, it was an interesting idea with really poor execution.

Have any of you managed to get an ARC of A Wizard’s Forge or will you pick a copy of the book up when it’s available in the shops?