The Forgemaster Cycle – Baskerville Book Reviews

Review: A City in Blue

Danger, action, and magic come together to bring an epic conclusion to the Forgemaster cycle.

The unthinkable has happened. Everything that William Reis had worked so hard for, undone by one of his closest friends. Amder was gone, Duncan was gone, and even Regin was gone. Thrust into a strange city where magic and machinery come together in wonders undreamed of, Will soon finds himself once again doing the one thing he hates: being important.

Myriam is torn. She made a choice, and now finds her life in tatters because of it. Regin is dead, and William hates her. Betrayed, she ends up in the hands of those of a less than savory reputation, and must join them or die.

But evil lives in this city, an evil that Will and Myriam know well. The evil of those in love with power, and what they will do to keep it. But out there, beyond the walls that everyone things can never fall, something else stirs. The Unnamed God is coming and will never stop until he gets what he wants: the utter destruction of the City in Blue.

Review: The Anvil of Souls

Gods are hard to beat, even dead ones.

Victory!

Hard-fought, and a close thing, but victory all the same. But why did William feel so horrible about it all?

He had Amder back to the world. He, William Reis, was made the new forgemaster of Amder by the God himself. Valnijz’s return ended, and even the near-immortal High Priest Zalkiniv is gone. The Valni were almost totally decimated, assuring safe passage for years to come.

But the cost was high. Scores of innocent Reachers dead to the Valni. And Duncan Reis, William’s last family, was dead. Duncan was the one who stopped the blood god, trading his own life for that feat. Given a new task by the God Amder, William and his friends embark to set things in order, joined by Captain Vin Tolin, an old soldier and now de facto protector of the newly minted Forgemaster William.

Soon, Will discovers that not all is as he believed, and Duncan may yet still live. Dropping everything, William sets out to save his cousin one last time. Things are not always as they appear, however. For, secrets abound in this group of friends. One secret will hurt the heart, one will terrify them, and one could undo everything they have worked and sacrificed for.

From the dark depths of the world of Alos, to the last refuge of true magic, William and his allies will scour the world for the truth. It just may not be the truth they want to find.

The last act of the Gods’ fall is still to come, and the hidden past will remake everything.

Review: Blood of a Fallen God

Stealing a shard of a dead god’s blood should have been enough adventure for a lifetime. For William Reis, it was just the beginning.

William has a single goal in his life, to succeed where generations of others have failed, and gain admittance to the Smithing Guild of Palnor. Men and women from the Reach have tried for years, but all have failed. They have failed for a single reason, a commandment from the Church of Amder. No one from the Reach can ever gain entrance to the Guild. A decree that remains unknown all but the Masters of the Guild, and even they don’t know why.

Williams’s efforts make him a target and unleashes a violent and insane evil that needs one thing to claim the world, the end of the Reis bloodline. From the heights of the city of Ture, to the depths of the dungeons of the Temple of Amder, William must find a way to survive.

As he faces his own wavering resolve and long held grief, William must vanquish all who oppose him. To release those who have been corrupted, to stop the return of an ancient and sadistic evil, and to heal the world of Alos, William Reis must accept a fate he never wanted.