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anaya13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Maybe just not the book for me. Once the reveal happened at the end of part 1, I lost all interest in the characters. It didn’t fit everything that had been building up and erased the mystique around the witch. Plus all the characters are unlikeable.
zeldasayre's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
This is a strange little book. Not in a bad way, no, but it will definitely not be everyone’s cup of tea. I am one of the few who actually enjoyed the purple prose but I must admit that there were times where I had to reread a passage or page because I was slightly confused as to what was going on. The ending seemed to wrap up pretty quickly which is why I rated this 3 stars instead of rounding up to 4. I think it would’ve been great as a duology! I enjoyed Rhea and the other girls a lot so to have them more fleshed out would have been fantastic and I think a second book could’ve done that. However, I did enjoy The Waking Forest and I can’t wait to see what the author has in store for us in her next book.
Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a strange little book. Not in a bad way, no, but it will definitely not be everyone’s cup of tea. I am one of the few who actually enjoyed the purple prose but I must admit that there were times where I had to reread a passage or page because I was slightly confused as to what was going on. The ending seemed to wrap up pretty quickly which is why I rated this 3 stars instead of rounding up to 4. I think it would’ve been great as a duology! I enjoyed Rhea and the other girls a lot so to have them more fleshed out would have been fantastic and I think a second book could’ve done that. However, I did enjoy The Waking Forest and I can’t wait to see what the author has in store for us in her next book.
Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
bgilvaja's review against another edition
4.0
The Waking Forrest was one of my top reads of 2019 so far!
I loved the back and forth between the “fabled” dream world the Witch lives in and Rhea— our main heroine’s POV.
I figured out earlier on in the book who Rhea was, but it didn’t diminish the over all story for me!
Wees weaves a magical tell of family, mystery, love and fable into an easy read with a satisfying ending.
Huge shout out to Net Galley for providing me an advanced copy for review. I’ve already preordered the official copy of this bad boy!
I loved the back and forth between the “fabled” dream world the Witch lives in and Rhea— our main heroine’s POV.
I figured out earlier on in the book who Rhea was, but it didn’t diminish the over all story for me!
Wees weaves a magical tell of family, mystery, love and fable into an easy read with a satisfying ending.
Huge shout out to Net Galley for providing me an advanced copy for review. I’ve already preordered the official copy of this bad boy!
scent_of_the_rain's review against another edition
4.0
When I started this book I didn’t like it very much. I was intrigued by the synopsis when I first stumbled upon it but I recently read another book which story had a lot to do with a forest and that one was a disappointment.
Luckily this is book is not that one, there are some things I have issue with (I will explain in later on) but overall the story is quite interesting and for the first time I didn’t got bored as soon as the magic was revealed. What I mean by that is that up till this point whenever in a book the story took place in the real world and there were hints of magic and then it was revealed that there is a magic world, and then the story moves to that world I always find the “magical” world so boring that I want to DNF the book. This was not the case with this book, I actually quite enjoyed that part of it.
I liked the characters and how were they written and the world building is pretty solid too. It wasn’t ground breaking and I can’t say that I loved the characters, not even one of them but they didn’t annoy me too much.
The story itself made me want to read which with the reading year I had up till now is quite an accomplishment. This book joined the small group of books I read, that wasn’t a sequel to book I love, that I thought about when I wasn’t reading it.
The only thing that put me off a little bit, specially at the beginning, it that if you take out the magic and twist at the near end then the story is about four sisters that each have some mental issue (sometimes is quite severe sometimes is less so) and parents that doesn’t seem to find the need to help them (apart from giving them self grown calming medicine).
If I stumble upon another book from this author I will consider reading it but I won’t add them to “my favourite authors” list.
Luckily this is book is not that one, there are some things I have issue with (I will explain in later on) but overall the story is quite interesting and for the first time I didn’t got bored as soon as the magic was revealed. What I mean by that is that up till this point whenever in a book the story took place in the real world and there were hints of magic and then it was revealed that there is a magic world, and then the story moves to that world I always find the “magical” world so boring that I want to DNF the book. This was not the case with this book, I actually quite enjoyed that part of it.
I liked the characters and how were they written and the world building is pretty solid too. It wasn’t ground breaking and I can’t say that I loved the characters, not even one of them but they didn’t annoy me too much.
The story itself made me want to read which with the reading year I had up till now is quite an accomplishment. This book joined the small group of books I read, that wasn’t a sequel to book I love, that I thought about when I wasn’t reading it.
The only thing that put me off a little bit, specially at the beginning, it that if you take out the magic and twist at the near end then the story is about four sisters that each have some mental issue (sometimes is quite severe sometimes is less so) and parents that doesn’t seem to find the need to help them (apart from giving them self grown calming medicine).
If I stumble upon another book from this author I will consider reading it but I won’t add them to “my favourite authors” list.
perpetually_reading_'s review against another edition
2.0
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
What to say here… I really wanted to love this book. Honestly, the idea is amazing and it’s executed well enough but it just falls short for me. The writing is very smart and it reads like a nightmare fairytale but once the “truth” was revealed it felt like the dialogue (which had been so realistic) became very young quickly. The writing is beautiful but the lyrical nature, at times, made it feel like there was filler which could have been taken out to be more concise with the language. I also felt that there wasn’t enough depth for the characters for me to really hold onto.
What to say here… I really wanted to love this book. Honestly, the idea is amazing and it’s executed well enough but it just falls short for me. The writing is very smart and it reads like a nightmare fairytale but once the “truth” was revealed it felt like the dialogue (which had been so realistic) became very young quickly. The writing is beautiful but the lyrical nature, at times, made it feel like there was filler which could have been taken out to be more concise with the language. I also felt that there wasn’t enough depth for the characters for me to really hold onto.
krejdar's review against another edition
4.0
Surprisingly clever and incredibly unique. Female dominant story (all with diverse personalities!) that does have a love element but it is not in any way the focal point of the overarching plot. I'd actually really love to see more stories from the Maculae universe - there seems to be so much more the author can touch on without actually needing to return to this specific group of characters.
I do want to add a little trigger warning: the way this story is written and how MCs POV is described in the first half of the book, it might be triggering to those who are intimately linked to someone with schizophrenia. I cant say anything more without spoiling the story, but I felt it necessary to post a warning.
I do want to add a little trigger warning: the way this story is written and how MCs POV is described in the first half of the book, it might be triggering to those who are intimately linked to someone with schizophrenia. I cant say anything more without spoiling the story, but I felt it necessary to post a warning.
womanon's review against another edition
3.0
This book was super promising for the first part! The second part I sadly didn't enjoy as much. It was confusing and a little boring, and I lost interest in the story rather quickly.
ryleighmcg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5