I won this book in an exchange for an honest review.

The Forging is Tim Rose's debut novel into the fantasy genre. This novel contains the usual elements of dwarves, orcs, orgres, elves, magicians...you get the idea. The writing could be a bit more polished and I did find several type-o's.

Overall the story is quite simple; 4 friends on a quest. There's plenty of adventure and fighting with our protagonist getting their share of bumps and bruises.

I think what sets this story apart from typical fantasy novels is the fact that there are 4 of them working together. No one is stronger or smarter. Each brings his and her own strengths to the group. For a new writer in the field, Mr. Rose did an admirable job of meshing these 4 characters to make a cohesive and daunting adversary. On the flip side I would have liked to see more depth given to the characters, especially Breanna; perhaps have entire chapters devoted to just one character at a time. Mr. Rose does incorporate this concept but very fleetingly when he gives each character their moment of retrospection after a battle.

No Lord of the Rings or Hobbit, but a decent adventure story for someone who is trying his hand in a very hot genre right now.