Reforged

By: Seth Haddon

Narrated by: Gary Furlong

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Since time immemorial the warriors of the Paladin Order have harnessed arcane powers to protect their rulers. For Balen, who has given up his chance at love and fought his way to the top of the Paladin Order, there can be no greater honor than to serve his king. But when assassins annihilate the royal family, Balen suddenly finds himself sworn to serve the very man he abandoned.

Now with their nation threatened by enemies both within and outside the kingdom, Balen must fight hidden traitors and unnatural assassins, while also contending with the biting wit and dangerous charm of young King Zavrius. To save themselves and their nation they will have to put aside their past and reforge that trust they lost so long ago.

Contains mature themes.

©2022 Seth Haddon (P)2023 Tantor

Looking forward to more from this author

I'm surprised that this doesn't have more ratings and reviews, honestly, but I see that the audiobook is relatively recent, so I must contribute.
I really enjoyed this book and the narration, and I hope to read more from this author and the voice actor. Zavrius in particular was such a fun character to hear, though I did wish for Balen to get his head out of his ass because he seemed to be dreadfully clueless in several respects, despite supposedly being such a powerful and "well-trained" warrior. Also, one other note: I absolutely love the cover art, and I hope that artist was very well compensated since the gorgeous combination of passion and softness really catches the eye in a sea of very much less appealing (i.e. boring) m/m fiction covers.
I see that there's another book coming out following Oren on a mission in the neighboring country, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Not what I expected

But I enjoyed this. The mystery, action, adventure . . . the angst . . . and the heat. It was all good.

4 stars

A great book with a fantastic narrator.

I really loved this book. It has everything I want in a fantasy romance - a good magic system, an intriguing plot line, and a relationship that MAKES SENSE. I found it refreshing the two main characters gayness was never really questioned and presented as totally normal - sometimes LGBT books get really caught up in the coming out stories so I really liked that it wasn't like that.

I found the plot interesting, but it did give the feel of kind of point A to point B. I also felt like Balin needed a bit more agency in the Paladin order to really make sense - I would have loved if he had a little band of paladins to help him and back his king politically. I also loved the magic system and how it was nearly religious, loved the extra politics outside of the domestic sphere too. The romance was great, gave me some good butterflies. This book is also rather explicit, for those who are unsure.

I am excited to see what else this author has to offer! I was looking for some other works and was disappointed to see this was the only other one. I hope he has some stuff planned for us!

An absolute joy to read!

I was online looking for another title by Seth the minute I finished. Hoping there will be many more to come!

Good Story

This wasn't my absolute favorite, but I did enjoy it and don't regret purchasing it. The story was intriguing, but I did have a hard time connecting with Zav.

Excellent

The narrator of this story was so good. He made the characters come alive. This story also has fantastic world building and detailed fight seems. The author did a good job of building up the tension between our two main characters. They even fit the "comic relief" characters into the story and made them feel more genuine. I would listen again.

Gem of an lgbtq fantasy

I'm a big fan of fantasy. I'm also a fan of mm romance. Rarely do a find a really well written combination of both. The character building and world building were well done, with an innovative approach to the magic using. The romance aspect was also excellent, not too spicy, not non existent, and not the overall focus of the book. Narration was excellent. I look forward to more books by this author!

Idk how to put this

The writing is fine. The story is good. I just couldn’t quite get the feel of Zav’s character. I’m certain that was intentional. Keeping a secret, being distant… however… the longing and distance we experienced was what we were introduced to. We don’t have a frame of reference for how he was and what we should be missing. I do think a flashback or two would’ve helped drive the nail in at the climax for the relationship aspect. The magic system is great. The political aspect was decent. Zav is complex and the best part of the whole book, easily.

great listen

Found this author on Instagram and came over to listen, definitely worth the credit.

It was pretty good

The sheer number of characters and the rules of this universe made it hard to follow at first. The main characters were likable, but I didn’t feel the chemistry between them as I would’ve wanted.

The story was interesting and involved much more than the romance itself, but the extremely slow burn was a little frustrating.

The reason I listened was because when I see a M/M romance narrated by Gary Furlong, I click, and he was as good here as I expected.

I enjoyed the book, but it’s not something I would listen to again, which I often do with my favorites.