Book Review: A Forgery of Fate

I’ve had A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim on my bookshelf since last summer and I finally read it last week. I’m a big fan of all the books I’ve read by Elizabeth Lim and I’ve probably mentioned this every time I post about one of her books, but I met her years ago at an event I was invited to to celebrate her novel Spin the Dawn. She was so nice and I’m still in awe that I was invited to the event in the city all those years ago.

A Forgery of Fate follows Truyan Saigas and Elang, a half human half dragon prince who has been banished from his underwater palace by his grandfather the dragon king.

In the novel, Tru, is the eldest daughter of 3 and is trying to keep her family afloat and keep food on the table. After her father, a merchant and captain of a ship, was lost at sea a few years ago her family has relied mainly on her make money. A talented artist, Tru has been able to make money by forging artwork. But, Tru also has another talent. She has the gift of sight and can paint the future. When Tru finds herself in bad spot after her mother’s gambling debts catch up to them, Elang, the half human half dragon prince, says he can help her and her family if she does something for him. In exchange for his help, she has to marry him and pretend to be his heavenly match. Elang has been banished, but he can return only if he finds his heavenly match (sort of like a soulmate) and marries her. He needs Tru to do this for him so that they can go back to his underwater palace and he can enact his plan to overthrow his grandfather, which includes her ability to paint the future. Will they be able to overthrow the tyrant dragon king? Will their marriage remain a business arrangement or will they start to fall for one another?

I really enjoyed this book and loved Tru and Elang. I had been waiting for a book featuring him since The Dragon’s Promise. In fact, I wrote in my book review blog post for The Dragon’s Promise that I was hoping for an Elang book and that I had dm’d Elizabeth Lim to ask her about it and she responded that she couldn’t reveal anything yet! The imagery was beautiful and I loved the storyline. The beginning immediately captured my attention, but then I did feel like it started to move a little too slowly like it was dragging without a lot going on. But, then the ending was fantastic and really beautiful which made up for some of the slow moving parts.

Read this if you want a Chinese fantasy romance inspired by Beauty & the Beast with the marriage of convenience trope.

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