Reviews

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

pam2375's review against another edition

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5.0

I loved this book! This is Where The Crawdads Sing set during WWII and a bit of the same kind of magic that you would find in an Alice Hoffman novel! This book is filled with suspense, thrills, romance (maybe a bit too much for my taste) and so very much more.

You will spend almost the entire book surviving in the forests with Yona. You will learn how to survive the harshest of winter trying to evade the Germans and trying to stockpile enough to eat. But, we will know that the forest always provides. Then, you get to the passage of the title reveal, always my favorite jaw dropping part of any book and this one is spectacular!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for this advanced readers copy. This book is scheduled to release in July 2021.

ajones12379's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring

4.0

jwinsberg's review

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emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

lpkbooks's review

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3.0

3.5 but doesn’t quite rise to 4.

maryquitecontrary_22's review

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3.0

If the movie Defiance and the book Where the Crawdads Sing made a baby… you’d get The Forest of Vanishing Stars


Harmel bases her novel on the remarkable feat of human history in which Jewish refugees fled the Nazi takeover and survived in the forests of Poland during World War II. The group of Jewish people in the story are led by Yona, a young woman who has spent nearly her entire life as a nomad of the forest. The story is cleverly researched and quite an original take on WWII literature, especially considering how much of it is out there.

Read It if You Like…
-A strong female lead/heroine
-Issues of faith front-and-center, rather than swept under the rug (in this case, Judaism)
-Details of nature and survival skills
Skip It if You Don’t Like…
-Dialogue that may feel contrived at times
-A protagonist without any flaws

I received this book in a GoodReads giveaway (my first one, yay!). My thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy.

canadagirl1008's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

staceyjl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

missywhidden's review

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challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

bhookjunkhie's review against another edition

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5.0

So Unique Amazing! Loved it!!

ceciliasrose's review

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challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This story was so unique and sooo good. I was worried about it being slow towards the beginning but after 50 pages I literally ate it up. I can’t wait to read more of Kristin Harmel’s books. So good.