Rating: 4 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Hephaestus is used to being alone. Rejected by his family and abandoned by any he has dared to love, Hephaestus keeps to his forge and away from the rest of the world. At least there he can create in peace and isolation. But the Titans are threatening gods and mortals alike, which means Olympus needs weapons and only one god can make them. Anteros, the god of requited love, is sent to beg Hephaestus for help. Gentle and kind, Ant comes out of duty to the Olympians, but finds himself attracted to the scarred and brooding Hephaestus. Ant realizes no one has every truly loved the forge god and he doesn’t understand why. Hephaestus is as beautiful inside as he is out to Ant’s eyes. Now, he just has to convince Hephaestus that love is worth the risk. But even if he manages it, Atlas, the feared general of the Titans, may kill them before before they can find their happily ever after.
Fireforged is the second in the Sons of Olympus series and I think to fully appreciate the backstory, these need to be read in order. There’s just enough world building that reading Wildfire first will help clarify things. I enjoy mythology, even when it’s of the reimagined variety, and the authors have done an excellent job of creating a relatable world in which mortals and gods share a common enemy in the reemergence of the Titans. The narrative moves at a strong pace and the action never felt laggy or muddled. The history between Hephaestus and his family and their slow reconnection is handled well and I appreciated that Hephaestus didn’t just welcome everyone back with open arms. There was too much damage done between them and, had all simply been forgiven, it would have read as disingenuous.
The relationship between Ant and Hephaestus is sweet, but I struggled to connect with them as a couple and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was because their romance moved a bit too quickly; it read as a forgone conclusion, rather than a true wooing or courtship. Or maybe because Hephaestus and Ant were both gods they lacked a certain connection to the mortal world. Whatever the reason, both characters felt somewhat distant and unapproachable. This doesn’t mean I disliked either of them or even that they didn’t have a rather sweet romance. It’s just that I didn’t quite connect with them the way I did the characters in Wildfire. Atlas as an antagonist is somewhat menacing, but he isn’t quite the threat I hoped for and ultimately he seemed as much a victim of the Titans as the mortals and gods he wanted to intimidate.
On the whole, I enjoyed Fireforged, especially the overall story, which was well paced and engaging. The main characters are sweet and work well together, though they lacked a certain spark in my opinion. This series continues to interest me and I’ll be curious to see how the authors continue to expand the mythological world they’ve created.
