Every once in a while a book comes along that feels like it was written specifically for the part of you that still believes in magic. Not the sparkly, effortless kind, but the kind that costs something. The kind that is tied to who you are and where you come from and what you are willing to sacrifice for the people you love. That is exactly what Forgotten Magic delivers.
Krysten Coldsmith built something genuinely special with this book. The world she created is rooted in Romani culture and tradition, and it is handled with a care and specificity that makes it feel alive rather than decorative. The elemental affinities, fire, air, earth, water, and spirit, are not just powers. They are identity. They awaken at sixteen and mark themselves on the body, and the way each character relates to their affinity tells you everything about who they are.
Ana’s fire is the rarest of all. And watching it stir to life over the course of the book, from a shelf of candles igniting as she walks past to the full terrifying beauty of it at the bonfire, is one of the quiet pleasures of reading Forgotten Magic. You feel like you are watching someone discover themselves in real time.
But this book is not just Ana’s story. It belongs equally to Tigan, to Merival, to Kezia, to little Kizzy who is three years old and somehow the wisest person in every room she enters. The supporting characters in this book are not background. They are fully drawn and deeply felt, and the losses among them hit harder because of it.
The villain, Lady Aurania, deserves a special mention. She is not a villain you will enjoy hating. She is a villain you will understand, and that is so much more unsettling. Her backstory, revealed slowly across the second half of the book, reframes everything you thought you knew about the curse and the centuries of damage it has caused. It is one of the most quietly devastating pieces of character writing in recent memory.
And the ending. If you have made it this far without spoilers, good, keep it that way. What we will say is this: Krysten Coldsmith is not afraid to break your heart. She does it with intention and with grace, and she leaves you with just enough hope to make the wait for Book 2 feel like its own kind of curse.
Forgotten Magic is romantic and fierce and emotionally honest in a way that good fantasy rarely manages to be. It is a series opener that does everything right, builds a world you want to live in, introduces characters you genuinely care about, and ends in a way that makes the next book feel absolutely necessary.
Do not wait on this one. Forgotten Magic is available now on Amazon and on Krysten Coldsmith’s official website. Go get your copy and find out why Ana and Tigan’s story is one you will not stop thinking about.