Book Review: The Silversmith by LJ Claren
The Silversmith by LJ Claren
Publishing Date: July 13, 2025
Series: The Selvaren #1
Genres: Adult // Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating: 🌶️ (Glimpses & Kisses)
Quick Thoughts: I can see why people are talking about The Silversmith. If you are an experienced romantasy reader, you’ll be familiar with many of the tropes present in this debut. This book had all the right pieces and I enjoyed it overall, but some structural and storytelling choices didn't quite work for me.
Amazon (Available on Kindle Unlimited)
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Betrayal
Violence/Blood
Description of Wounds
Attempted Rape
Death of Parent/Sibling
Parental Abandonment
Eating Disorder (Minor)
Animal Death
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Prophecies
Hidden/Secret Identities
Memory Loss
"Touch her and die"
Possessive MMC
One horse
One bed
Betrayals
Found Family
Backpack Fantasy
What is The Silversmith About? (Spoiler Free Summary)
Power is awakening. Love is a liability.
And the fate of the world rests in the hands of a grieving girl who never asked to be chosen.
Still reeling from the deaths of her father and brother, Ary Gold survives only by sheer will in the icy wilds of the North. But when friends arrive with stories of long-lost magic and a power buried in her newly discovered royal blood, Ary is thrust into a fate far larger than her sorrow.
The realm of Nyrida is under threat. An ancient shadow wielder is determined to claim Ary’s power and plunge the world into corrupted darkness. To stop him, Ary must marry the commander she’s been promised to—a man whose army could help them win the war—and train to fight alongside him.
But her fiercest challenge may not be on the battlefield.
Assigned to shape her into a warrior is a man cloaked in violence and secrets. Cold, commanding, and maddeningly unreadable, he isn’t her betrothed… but he may be her undoing. As sparks fly and loyalties are tested, Ary must decide whether to follow the path laid out for her—or risk everything for a love as wild and dangerous as the power awakening inside her.
The Silversmith Review
I've been seeing The Silversmith by LJ Claren everywhere and I can see why people are talking about this romantasy debut. It has all the elements that typically keep me hooked, like hidden royalty, a prophecy, interesting lore, and an insane betrayal. Overall, this book had all the right pieces and I enjoyed it, but some structural and storytelling choices didn't quite work for me.
What I liked
Hands down, my favorite aspects of the story were the side characters and the heartwarming found family. The side characters bring so much warmth and levity to Aryella's life and we see her experience what it's like to have friends for the first time. I really hope we'll see more of them in future books because they added so much joy to this story.
The romance was also really sweet and the tension was 10/10 perfection. I teared up multiple times because some of the scenes were so heartaching. Admittedly, I could see where the romance was heading pretty early on, but I still felt every heart flutter and gut punch along with Aryella and Gavin.
What I didn't like
The characters spend most of the book traveling from point A to point B. If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I live for this exact type of story. The relationship growth that comes from being stuck on a long, grueling journey with someone is unmatched. However, I felt like Gavin and Aryella's relationship developed to a point and then completely stagnated until the very end. This left the middle section feeling like a montage of the same forest scenes, village stops, and romantic tension on repeat. Personally, I think the author could have taken some of the twists packed into the ending and scattered those reveals throughout their journey instead. This would have created more opportunities for relationship building in the middle of the book.
I also didn’t feel like the author put attention or emphasis on the right things, which I think resulted in the lack of world-building. For example, the book spends considerable page space highlighting the size difference between Gavin and Aryella (this information ends up serving no purpose) while keeping core details like the magic system pretty light. This is just one example, but I found it strange how often we'd breeze through scenes that felt significant while lingering on random, unimportant details.
The Verdict
Despite the issues I had with this book, I plan to continue with this series. I did enjoy it overall and I'm optimistic future books will address some of the world-building gaps. I also need to see how the romance between Gavin and Aryella shakes out.
So, should you read The Silversmith?
Definitely read The Silversmith if you like strong found family, intense romantic yearning, and don't mind a character-driven story that's light on plot. If you’re looking for in depth world-building or satisfying character growth, I’d skip this one.
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
The Silversmith FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
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The Silversmith is not a standalone. It’s the first book of The Selvaren series. As of this post, the second book has not been announced yet.
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Romance.io rates The Silversmith a 1 🌶️, which means yearning, tension, and kisses. There is one kissing scene, but there are no spice scenes.
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The story does not end on a cliffhanger, but it does leave things, like the romance and Ary’s journey to the caves, unresolved.