The Blacksmith's Son

How it reads

The Blacksmith's Son is fantasy (epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are coming of age, power and politics and redemption. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It opens a series. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. At 386 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a hidden gem — known to relatively few readers.