Carving Shadows into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Carving Shadows into Gold is the 2nd-book in Brigid Kemmerer’s Forging Silver into Stars series. If you’re unaware, this is a companion to Kemmerer’s popular Cursebreakers series, which began with A Curse So Dark and Lonely.
This immersive YA-Fantasy world started off as a loose reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, but oh baby, has it come a long way since then!
I really enjoyed my time with the entire Cursebreakers trilogy, but I gotta say, I feel like these books in the Forging Silver into Stars series feel much more substantial and mature.
Personally, I feel like it’s Kemmerer’s writing. It just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Every time I pick up a book by her, I’m instantly reminded what an insane talent she is.
For example, picking this up, I was concerned I wouldn’t remember enough from the 1st-book, because it had been months and months since I had read it. I shouldn’t have worried. I was immediately invested and it felt as if I had never left. I remembered everything.
As with the 1st-book, we are following Jax, Tycho and Callyn. In this one however, the three are sort of thrust into different parts of the kingdom, all set on different paths. Though apart, their connections to one another feel as strong as ever.
As dangerous events begin to strike the kingdom with increasing frequency, our cast is forced to make difficult choices fighting for their lives and the ones they love.
The debate over the use of magic gets put to the ultimate test as war looms forever closer.
I have been anxiously awaiting this continuation and it was everything I wanted it to be. I’m so pleased with everything that unfolded over the course of this 2nd-book.
I love this world and these three main characters. I’m truly attached to them and was surprised how easily I found myself completely re-immersed in this story. I feel like I’m a part of this world when I’m reading it.
I already cannot wait for whatever Kemmerer has in store for us next. It feels like everything is coming to a head. I’m scared and excited and all the other emotions.
While you can certainly read this series on its own, I would recommend reading Cursebreakers prior to picking this up. This is written in such a way that you wouldn’t feel lost without that background, but it definitely adds to the experience if you have read that trilogy.
Thank you to the publisher, Bloomsbury YA, for providing me with a copy to read and review. You know where to find me when the third book drops!!!