Reviews

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

lpkbooks's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 but doesn’t quite rise to 4.

maryquitecontrary_22's review against another edition

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

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

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 against another edition

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

5.0

So Unique Amazing! Loved it!!

ceciliasrose's review against another edition

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.

annabelleclawson's review against another edition

4.0

4.5 - I stayed up late to read this book over two nights, and for that alone it deserves my praise (it's hard to keep me awake past 11 pm). I loved the different angle it took on historical fiction about the Holocaust - it was also well researched, capturing the weight of the atrocities of World War II. There were some hiccups with pacing, character development, and believability, but they really didn't bother me much because I was so wrapped up in the story.

kirstengoode's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book is absolutely breathtaking. My favorite read of the year so far. I’ve read a lot of WWII historical fiction but this one is so different, and yet amazingly captivating. Loved it, absolutely loved it. 

jlk64's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense 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

4.0