Book Review: The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga #1)

The Blacksmith Queen
G.A. Aiken
5/5

This book was so good! There was just something about it that I really loved. I think it was probably that the main protagonist, Keeley, was strong without it being a huge deal. Like, the premise of the book is that the Old King died without leaving a legitimate heir, and now there's a war for the throne. The witches predicted that a random peasant girl would take the throne, and the world thinks that it's Keeley's sister, Beatrix. That enters their entire family into a major political battle for power featuring dwarves, elves, dragons, and centaurs of course.

I feel like authors can so easily miss the strong-woman target. Like they make it way too annoying for me, like Aelin in ToG, when she just has to go on and on about loving dresses and how tough girls can love pretty things. I need it to feel more natural than that. I think this book is about as natural as it comes with strong female characters. We have evil women and good women, smart and stupid, but all of them are strong women who could exist without any male counterparts.

Keeley especially, she bashes stuff with her giant hammer, like so strong that she can literally crush rocks. But she also saves animals and has a sensitivity that people would call weak. Aiken does a great job balancing what could be considered weakness, like crying and hugging, with the strength of her female characters. I absolutely loved it.

The relationships were also amazing. Keeley's parents? Great. Caid's parents? Also great. Keeley and Caid? So great. It wasn't like the central plot line either, it's definitely important to the story line but it doesn't take the story over. I don't know how I feel about the whole centaur thing, but like it's fine for now and I'm excited to see where it all goes.

Overall, I'm super excited for a whole saga of these books. Aiken did a great job setting up a world that I want to know more about, a war that doesn't feel too heavy or too unrealistic. I would totally recommend this series to anyone who's a fan of high fantasy or just great characters.