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Reforging #3
The Blacksmith
How is the king like a blacksmith? He has a hammer as well as a sword.Duncan Archer has heard that riddle many times, but he doesn’t know what it means. No one does, not even the members of the Royal Guild of Swordsmiths. It isn’t Duncan’s business anyway. Good sense tells him to stick to beating iron into shape for the residents of his backwater town, and not worry about the king and his nobles pounding Frankland into the ground.But good sense never stopped Duncan from poking his nose into everyone else’s business. If it had, he might not be a fugitive, the subject of the biggest manhunt in the country’s history.With a charge of murder hanging over his head like a sword, understanding that riddle becomes much more urgent…
- GenresFantasy
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 13, 2019
34 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Howe
9 books11 followersOriginally from the USA, Barbara has called New Zealand home since 2009. She lives in Wellington, where she works as a software developer in the movie industry and resides in a house overflowing with books, games, and jigsaw puzzles. After a long hiatus from creative writing, she took up writing fiction again several years ago to indulge her love of books with appealing, intelligent female characters. The Reforging series of epic fantasy novels is the result.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 25, 2019
Most of this book’s timeline overlaps part of the previous book in the series, but it is told from the point of view of Duncan Archer, not that of the Locksmith, and gives a close up view of the riots etc from a commoner’s perspective. The ending was satisfying, and there’s a fourth book promised that I look forward to reading.
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August 10, 2019The titular character of the blacksmith largely recounts the events of the previous book from his point of view. In doing so, we see more of the day-to-day reality of Frankland. The late entrance of the main characters in the series - with their established status and power - casts more of an emphasis on the struggles of the normal citizens, such as the blacksmith.
June 22, 2019
This, the third book in Barbara Howe's already excellent Reforging series, shows that Ms. Howe has matured into one of the best authors that I have had the pleasure to read.
The land of Frankland, with its guild structure and nobility, has a rich culture with depth not usually found in fantasy. The characters come alive on the page. Yet, the the land of Frankland itself must be considered one of the more interesting characters in the story.
As the plot thickens, much of what first appears to be window dressing early in the book becomes important later. I found the story so compelling that I first read through the book more quickly than I knew I should. I knew I missed some of these details and I quickly realized that my only solution was to finish and reread the book. When I reread the book, I enjoyed the read even more than the first time through.
Although this book could be read without having read the earlier two books, "The Locksmith" and "Engine of Lies", I would not recommend doing so. First, many of the characters who were important in the first two books appear in "The Blacksmith" with no further introduction. Second, you would miss reading two more excellent books. So, if you haven't read the first two books, then you should start at the beginning and enjoy all three of them. Then you can join me in awaiting the next installment in the Reforging.
The land of Frankland, with its guild structure and nobility, has a rich culture with depth not usually found in fantasy. The characters come alive on the page. Yet, the the land of Frankland itself must be considered one of the more interesting characters in the story.
As the plot thickens, much of what first appears to be window dressing early in the book becomes important later. I found the story so compelling that I first read through the book more quickly than I knew I should. I knew I missed some of these details and I quickly realized that my only solution was to finish and reread the book. When I reread the book, I enjoyed the read even more than the first time through.
Although this book could be read without having read the earlier two books, "The Locksmith" and "Engine of Lies", I would not recommend doing so. First, many of the characters who were important in the first two books appear in "The Blacksmith" with no further introduction. Second, you would miss reading two more excellent books. So, if you haven't read the first two books, then you should start at the beginning and enjoy all three of them. Then you can join me in awaiting the next installment in the Reforging.
May 24, 2019
Yet another great book from this author ! I love this series. This book is my favorite book so far, the plot moves along like a plot from a thriller, but you have all the touches that remind you that you're reading a fantasy. One example of a fantasy touch, she has developed a complete alternate method for "cussing" in this fantasy world, related apparently to the scariness of the "Water Guild" in this fantasy culture: "drown you" is one example. Also, I got quite fond of her main character, Duncan. I feel like I know him quite well, like someone I would see regularly.
You don't have to read the earlier books in the series to enjoy this book, but it would add some depth to the main happenings to have the back story.
You don't have to read the earlier books in the series to enjoy this book, but it would add some depth to the main happenings to have the back story.
July 20, 2019
This joins a small number of books that I reread. There is a tiny spoiler revealed in book 2, but I find none of the advance information can really spoil it. There is so much more to the story than telling who the blacksmith is, and what he does, and what the results are; it is more about what made the blacksmith who he is, what drove him to do what he does, and how he affects his world.
This is a fantasy story set in a made-up world, but, truth be told, it is a story about our world, the world the reader lives in, and the people we live with, and the institutions of our society. Magic pervades the world of the blacksmith and he uses it every day, but the story makes no effort to describe how he uses his own magic in his life; there is much too much to tell about how he struggles to be an honest and courageous man, how the laws seem to be set against him, what price he puts on his own life, and how he comes to terms with his world -- just as any of us might in our own world.
This is a fantasy story set in a made-up world, but, truth be told, it is a story about our world, the world the reader lives in, and the people we live with, and the institutions of our society. Magic pervades the world of the blacksmith and he uses it every day, but the story makes no effort to describe how he uses his own magic in his life; there is much too much to tell about how he struggles to be an honest and courageous man, how the laws seem to be set against him, what price he puts on his own life, and how he comes to terms with his world -- just as any of us might in our own world.
June 6, 2020
(Disclaimer: I read this without reading book 2, so I may not be getting everything from it that I could).
A refreshing fantasy story told from the perspective of one of the common folk for once, and dealing with themes of class and oppression and what a geas-bound magical monarchy might actually mean.
Its a pretty good story, and it kept me interested enough to burn through it in a single day. But great parts of its setting are left unexplained until very late in the piece - there's initially no explanation for why the protagonist (and it turns out, all commoners) hate and fear the Water Office - and there's a very awkward continuity error in the final chapters where someone's son magically turns into their brother. Overall: interesting, but flawed.
A refreshing fantasy story told from the perspective of one of the common folk for once, and dealing with themes of class and oppression and what a geas-bound magical monarchy might actually mean.
Its a pretty good story, and it kept me interested enough to burn through it in a single day. But great parts of its setting are left unexplained until very late in the piece - there's initially no explanation for why the protagonist (and it turns out, all commoners) hate and fear the Water Office - and there's a very awkward continuity error in the final chapters where someone's son magically turns into their brother. Overall: interesting, but flawed.
August 17, 2025
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/ventiforms-by-sean-monaghan-and-the-blacksmith-by-barbara-howe/
I found it very clunky; a world with placenames partly borrowed from Britain and partly made up, with apparently normal Christianity and magic coexisting, and leaden exposition.
I found it very clunky; a world with placenames partly borrowed from Britain and partly made up, with apparently normal Christianity and magic coexisting, and leaden exposition.
August 25, 2019
What a good book! An entertaining fantasy novel that's also a deep examination of questions of protest, justice and law. A new protagonist opens up new perspectives on Frankland and its feuding Guilds.
December 30, 2019
Another title edited for IFWG One of my favorites of the year.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews