I received a free review copy from Angry Robot in exchange for my honest, unedited feedback.

FBI Agent, Michael Childs is trying to catch a serial killer targeting people born with 12 fingers and toes. During his investigations, he meets Anaba, a marine killed in action but soon finds himself under attack by a group of angels intent on killing him too. He soon finds himself in a world he has only read about with angels, horsemen, and the Grigori. The Grigori want to kill all Nephilim which unfortunately includes Michael who has discovered his true nature. But luckily, he has Anaba by his side, who is not just a marine but a powerful Nightmare.

This amazing cover caught my eye when I was browsing through titles on NetGalley and I just had to read the book.
The book features a diverse cast of characters - the main characters were black, and a lot of the secondary characters were people of colour. I liked the fact that this was seen as ordinary with no long backstory as to why people of colour were in positions of power and authority which I have seen in so many books.
Michael isn’t your typical hero- he is an FBI agent with an academic background, who enjoys jousting and we first encounter him at a crime scene dressed as a medieval knight (or at least that is how imagined it). This would definitely be on my list of most dramatic entrances in a book. Michael not only finds himself fighting in a world he has only read about but also discovers he is a Nephilim too- half-angel and half-human. His reaction to his new reality is realistic and well described- I don’t think anyone would deal with this rationally. So it makes sense when he learns about his true nature, he does something silly!
While I found Michael interesting, Anaba is the character I was most drawn to one of the most complex female characters I have read in a while. Her story is truly tragic and as I read more about how she was ‘forged’ from her human soul, her all rage makes all the more sense. But despite this, she is still loyal to her cause and to Micheal even though he doesn’t always treat her with the respect she deserves at the start of the book. I would happily read any book with her as the lead.
The plot is fast-paced with lots of action and moments of peril. There are plenty of characters in this book and fascinating in their own right. If this is part of a series, I hope we see more of Lucifer, Loki, Wyrmwood, Raijin, and of course EJ.
The world-building is intricate and well-described bringing to life the underworld and Hell.
I did feel uncomfortable when Anaba is in horse form and sometimes made to do what her rider tells her to do given her fierce and independent nature.
Content warning
Descriptions of violence and torture
Perfect for fans of
The television shows Supernatural and Lucifer.

I chose this book because of the impressive illustration on the cover and because the synopsis promised a lot. In a way it's not a disappointing book, but I didn't love it the way I thought it would.
The writing is quite agile, but it feels a bit stiff, the dialogue is forced to give information to the reader and the narrative goes too fast. As this changes, the characters feel more genuine and the storytelling improves.
The story also has many points that distinguish it from the rest, for example, the racial and cultural representation, the different mythologies that are combined with Christianity, the Nephilims, the demons and the horses! I loved the way it was incorporated into the story, giving the book its own style.
However, although everything is very attractive to read, I think the book would be much better without a little more work on the narrative.
This is probably a matter of experience, probably the next books of the author can compensate this aspect considering how she improved throughout the novel. But personally, the writing of the first chapters made it take a long time to connect with the story and the characters. I'm giving it 3.5 out of 5 because it's actually an interesting book.

Forging a Nightmare was one of my most-anticipated reads of the year, but it is, to put it mildly, a trainwreck.

It starts out pretty strong – the prologue was a bit gruesome for me, but showcasing your serial killer in the prologue is pretty standard. Chapter one introduces Michael, our MC, who arrives at the crime scene in a full-on suit of armour after coming from jousting practice – cool hobby, I approve. I was a bit uneasy – the dialogue seemed very forced, the characters speaking in a way that didn’t feel natural so as to give the reader information we needed, but okay, it’s the first chapter, that kind of bump in the road isn’t too big a deal. But then the jump from chapter one to two left me dizzy – I thought at first my ARC might be missing a chapter, the transition was so sudden and apparently random, only explained later – and chapter three? Reveals the identity and motivations of the bad guys. From their POV, as well.

I mean…what? Cool, I now have almost no incentive to keep reading. And double-cool, the reason the bad guys aren’t going after Michael? Is Because Reasons. It’s literally ‘because I said so’ from the in-charge bad guy.

Yeah, that doesn’t fly with me. You’ve revealed the bad guys, and also the Big Secret behind Michael’s heritage (via Very Heavy Hint, one the reader can’t possibly miss) within the first 60 pages. I mean…what do I have to care about now?

It rapidly goes downhill from there. Angels attack Michael, but they’re basically just humans with wings – a take I hate wherever I find it. He’s saved by a very bad-tempered lady who shapeshifts into a demon horse (the eponymous Nightmare), because apparently demon horses are designed to kill angels. Then Michael is whisked away to a church, where the priest there reveals that a) the priest is an angel, b) Michael’s a Nephilim (which we already knew, see the Heavy Hint from earlier) c) not only is Michael a Nephilim, he’s some kind of Nephilim Chosen One, and d) not only is Michael a Nephilim, his dad is the Archangel Michael.

Because of course he is.

I probably would have had an easier time with all this if Nephilim!Michael had had a less easy time with it – he asks almost no questions, doesn’t seem to have any trouble believing all of this, and is totally fine with being told he needs to take a trip to Hell immediately to find a weapon capable of fighting off the Bad Angels. Literally his only response is ‘give me a sec, I’ll grab my jousting gear from the car’. Um??? Why do you not have a gazillion questions (like why the angel Michael, the angel priest, and/or, you know, GOD, can’t handle the Bad Angels themselves)? Why do you not need convincing? Why aren’t you freaking out?

Why are you taking your practice sword – which is presumably blunt, since it’s a practice sword – to Hell? I DON’T THINK BLUNT OBJECTS WILL GET YOU VERY FAR, MICHAEL. Except that they do, because – despite it being repeatedly referred to as a practice sword, underscoring the idea that it must be blunt – Reasons, I guess. I know a fair bit about Ren Faires and looked it up just to be certain, and no, those kinds of swords should not be sharp. They’re called ‘stage combat swords’, meant specifically for things like LARPing and Ren Faire displays and movie fight scenes – and they’re blunt. As in, they will definitely not take a demon’s head off.

Don’t even get me started on the trip to Hell and the completely random pronouncement that Michael is now the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse. At that point, I couldn’t take it any more and called it.

THIS IS ALL IN ONE DAY, BTW. Which makes it even worse. I get the appeal of a plot that keeps moving, but there are so many revelations here that it’s just unbelievable that Michael gets no time for introspection or questioning; nor is there any time for the reader to make sense of anything before the book leaps to the next thing.

The dialogue is a disaster – cringey action-movie lines combined with everyone using everyone else’s name all the time, despite the fact that no one addresses their conversation partner by name more than once (at most). So, so much telling instead of showing – quite a few times it graduated from telling to full-on lecturing the reader. Lectures that tell us facts but don’t explain them, which are the worst kind.

I can’t swear that the book doesn’t improve immensely after the first third of the story, of course, but I seriously doubt it. I do think there might be some appeal here for urban fantasy fans who like fast-paced books that don’t make the reader work too hard – especially if you want something different from the usual werewolves and vampires. But personally, I hated it.

Thanks, Netgalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review!
It was a fantastic experience! I love books that actually paint both evil and good in the shades of gray!
It's an interesting reimagining of biblical mythology - with angels and demons living in the real, contemporary world. The story takes interesting twists when you least expect it and presents rich and complex characters. I loved the read!