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bionicsarah's review
4.0
To begin with my first impressions of this book was mild confusion , I didn’t really know what was happening in the story. There appeared to have been a dystopian episode, leaving the population, decimated, and resulting in ghosts, forming from electronic media, which roamed the world interacting with people left behind
I was expecting a more straightforward dystopian novel and I was not expecting what was special about this book. I was glad however, that I persevered as ultimately I ended up enjoying the novel
A third of the way through the story, starts to make a bit more sense I started to to enjoy it more.
There are moments within this novel of startling poetic beauty which I particularly enjoyed. The author has a beautiful way of describing physical and emotional worlds of the story.
I would recommend this book to readers, who like a dystopian novel however, if you are more of a fan of magical reality, you might also like this book
I read an , early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK, the book is published in the UK on the 7th of November 2024 by Solaris.
This review will appear on NetGalley, UK, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahS books.wordpress.com. After publication, it will also appear on Amazon, UK.
I was expecting a more straightforward dystopian novel and I was not expecting what was special about this book. I was glad however, that I persevered as ultimately I ended up enjoying the novel
A third of the way through the story, starts to make a bit more sense I started to to enjoy it more.
There are moments within this novel of startling poetic beauty which I particularly enjoyed. The author has a beautiful way of describing physical and emotional worlds of the story.
I would recommend this book to readers, who like a dystopian novel however, if you are more of a fan of magical reality, you might also like this book
I read an , early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK, the book is published in the UK on the 7th of November 2024 by Solaris.
This review will appear on NetGalley, UK, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahS books.wordpress.com. After publication, it will also appear on Amazon, UK.
adancewithbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Solaris and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from We're All Ghost in the Forest when I picked it up. I have never read anything by the author before and I didn't look too closely at the synopsis. So I went in very blind. I think that worked out fine.
One of my biggest gripes often can be when books don't do much world building. I'm sure some will complain about the book not explaining how the internet broke and how it is possible that there are internet ghosts. But that isn't really what this book is about. And it takes a strong writer to not make me question about that. And beyond just that question, there is plenty of world building going around. I have a very good idea what the world is like at that moment and what the world was like before it happened.
It is not an easy world. They've reverted back to mostly rural and farming. There doesn't seem to be much technology, just whatever survived the breakdown, like the motor. But not only that reverted. Being different gets you marked as an outside. And not just her herbal skills make Katherina stand out. She is also (partial) Indian. She doesn't adapt to the town's way of things but prefers her own way. Which is strike 3 as far as they are concerned.
It took a little for me to get invested. I needed a little to get my bearings on the setting and our main character Katherina. But by the end I did truly feel for her and I loved her bond with Stefan. Also her bond with the autistic town girl. Katherina accepts her for who she is and it is only mentioned once that she is autistic.
A lot of the book is about finding a place to belong and about trusting others. About being able to let others in. About letting your prejudice fall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, and Abandonment
tamarant4's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
They were not ghosts, but the forest was not just a forest anymore and people had written far too many stories about wolves for them to be unchanged. You tell a thing it is hungry enough times, can you blame it for hunting? [loc. 2388]
Katerina, formerly a photojournalist, lives in her dead grandmother's house, near a small village in Estonia. The villagers think she's a witch (they're right) because she has a knack for herbalism, a talent for talking to bees, a coat whose pockets nearly always give her what she needs, and a ghost cat named Orlando. The forest is semi-sentient, and full of ghosts from the Crash -- when the internet collapsed in on itself, spawning infectious digital ghosts that might be fragments of birdsong, or a galloping horse, or sentient fungus. Or wolves out of fairytales, more intelligent and malevolent than their natural cousins.
The novel begins with Katerina returning to her village with a young boy in tow. His name is Stefan, and he's mute: he gave Katerina a note from his father (a man she doesn't know) asking her to take care of his son. Katerina teaches him to manage the basic tasks of the farm, and tries to find out what became of his father. Could he be somehow linked to the new and terrible illness that's killing travellers? And can Katerina -- with the help of the forest, and the bees, and even the ghosts -- find a cure for it?
This is a slow, dreamy novel, beautifully written and suffused with loneliness and mystery: it reveals its secrets only gradually. The characters seem defined as much as by what they've lost (Katerina mourning her sister, Jaakob trying to 'fish' for the ghost of his husband, Stefan missing his father) as by what they do. There is prejudice (Katerina, as well as being a witch and a traveller, is mixed-race) and xenophobia. The post-technological society that Wilson depicts is as mystical as it's practical. There is great power in stories, and in the ways those stories are told.
Pragmatic and practical, Katerina's inner conflict between her compassion and her fear of emotional connection is vividly depicted: I liked her interactions with the (sometimes prickly) villagers, and she won me over by sprinkling salt on Orlando the Ghost Cat, who turns black to soak up the heat of a stray sunbeam. 'Salt strengthens the signal... Or the current, if that’s how it works. Electricity, either way. Copper powder works better but it also lasts longer and then he starts shredding the rugs'. Definite pandemic vibes here, too, with the isolation and the constant threat of infection... A slow read, but a beautiful one.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 07 NOV 2024.
bookswithlydscl's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I will caveat right from the start that I don't think I'm in the right headspace or mindset right now to fully appreciate this novel so keep that in mind with my review and rating.
Two factors drew me to this book, its beautiful cover and the first two lines from its description:
"A quiet, haunting post-apocalyptic novel for fans of The Last of Us and Station Eleven from British Fantasy Award-winning author Lorraine Wilson.
The internet is dead, and its ghosts haunt us all."
Amazing sounding concept, I love dystopian novels and I love TLOU and Station Eleven. This should have been a slam dunk win for me unfortunately, potentially due to current personal circumstances and my reading mood right now it just didn't click for me.
This is a slow, character driven novel, and normally that is something I love to delve into and savour but the narrative voice on this occasion didn't capture my attention and I found it difficult to get into.
There is fantastic messaging around the nature of prejudice and acceptance through this book and the notion of a dystopian digital apocalypse is an intriguing and unique plotline. There is some beautiful and descriptive writing and well realised characters and so, whilst I couldn't engage with it and appreciate it fully now, it is one that I will pick up again in future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for a digital review copy of "We Are All Ghosts in the Forest" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.
Two factors drew me to this book, its beautiful cover and the first two lines from its description:
"A quiet, haunting post-apocalyptic novel for fans of The Last of Us and Station Eleven from British Fantasy Award-winning author Lorraine Wilson.
The internet is dead, and its ghosts haunt us all."
Amazing sounding concept, I love dystopian novels and I love TLOU and Station Eleven. This should have been a slam dunk win for me unfortunately, potentially due to current personal circumstances and my reading mood right now it just didn't click for me.
This is a slow, character driven novel, and normally that is something I love to delve into and savour but the narrative voice on this occasion didn't capture my attention and I found it difficult to get into.
There is fantastic messaging around the nature of prejudice and acceptance through this book and the notion of a dystopian digital apocalypse is an intriguing and unique plotline. There is some beautiful and descriptive writing and well realised characters and so, whilst I couldn't engage with it and appreciate it fully now, it is one that I will pick up again in future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for a digital review copy of "We Are All Ghosts in the Forest" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.
annettenis's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
gintonic95's review
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thanks to NetGalley and Solaris for this ARC.
This book made me feel comforted and despondent at the same time. The apocalypse came and stripped away all pretentiousness from people, revealing the true ugliness of prejudice beneath.
The story starts in medias res, with Katerina, a former photojournalist living on her late grandmother's farm in Estonia, meeting a strange boy in a market in a world where the collapse of the internet has thrown society back a few hundred years, and dangerous digital remnants roam the lands. She takes Stefan in and teaches him the art of herbal medicine, all the while trying to find out what happened to his father and how they can stop a new mysterious type of digital sickness.
Throughout the book, I often felt that the science behind the digital ghosts, along with the apparent magic of sentient objects and forests, as well as talking to bees, blended together to create a mystical background that feels both outlandish and realistic at the same time.
The hazy details of the science and the cause of the apocalypse did not diminish the book's enjoyability. It deliberately shifted the focus to the human element, and there was plenty of that! The main character is still trying to process an old trauma, which is brought to the forefront of her mind by the awful way her community treats her. Being a recluse herbalist of Indian descent is apparently one odd thing too many for the average Baltic apocalypse survivor.
The strange connection between Katerina and Stefan's father is beautifully portrayed and provides a solid foundation for a hopeful ending.
I feel like I made a new friend in this book. Thank you!
aieshab's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Lorraine Wilson’s We Are All Ghosts in the Forest is a beautifully haunting tale that brings to life a world where digital ghosts linger in the aftermath of a collapsed internet.
It took me a moment to ease into the slower rhythm of the story, which is deeply rooted in nature and the quiet moments of daily life. Yet, as I settled in, I became captivated by the layers of society and secrets that Wilson gradually reveals. The setting felt vivid and alive, with the forest almost becoming a character in its own right, filled with folklore, fear, and beauty.
This book is a slow burn, but it’s rich with emotional depth and atmosphere. It had me chuckling at the joy in adversity, wiping away a few tears, and getting goosebumps. If you’re looking for a story that will gently but deeply immerse you in its world, then this quiet post-apocalyptic novel is worth every page. It’s a story of resilience, trust, and the delicate interplay between the remnants of technology and the simplicity of human connection.
It took me a moment to ease into the slower rhythm of the story, which is deeply rooted in nature and the quiet moments of daily life. Yet, as I settled in, I became captivated by the layers of society and secrets that Wilson gradually reveals. The setting felt vivid and alive, with the forest almost becoming a character in its own right, filled with folklore, fear, and beauty.
This book is a slow burn, but it’s rich with emotional depth and atmosphere. It had me chuckling at the joy in adversity, wiping away a few tears, and getting goosebumps. If you’re looking for a story that will gently but deeply immerse you in its world, then this quiet post-apocalyptic novel is worth every page. It’s a story of resilience, trust, and the delicate interplay between the remnants of technology and the simplicity of human connection.
wheezyfridge's review against another edition
5.0
This was a BOOK like it had a whole thing going on!!! It was a rich world with loads of melancholy and it’s a thinker for sure! Helluva book to have an arc for honestly, it’s a special one for sure!
niallharrison's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5