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casey_h's review against another edition
Thanks NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this arc
2/5 stars
Dnf at 35%. This had such potential to be good and interesting, but it was trying WAY too hard. Our main character and her sisters have powers, but they felt forced and too epic. And I LOVE the fox friends. That's all I loved about this lol.
2/5 stars
Dnf at 35%. This had such potential to be good and interesting, but it was trying WAY too hard. Our main character and her sisters have powers, but they felt forced and too epic. And I LOVE the fox friends. That's all I loved about this lol.
bookishblond's review against another edition
4.0
The Waking Forest is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Kind of. It’s creepy, melancholy, atmospheric, and I loved every page.
There are two stories in this book. In the first, eighteen-year-old Rhea Ravenna lives in a small town with her mom, dad, four sisters, and Gabrielle, her pet fox (!). Rhea is plagued by visions and nightmares – she sees a dark and menacing forest in their backyard, even though there’s nothing there, and she sees images of death in the attic. The nightmares are getting worse, and now Rhea is sleepwalking – her nightmares are drawing her upstairs to the attic. Desperate for the nightmares to stop, Rhea begins sleeping in the attic, where she begins to see a shadowy young man, who comes to her every night (and possibly watches her sleep, a la Edward Cullen). She can’t see his face, but he is familiar to her, somehow. And he wants to play a game – if Rhea can guess his name, he will break her “curse” (his word!) and free her from her nightmares and visions. But instead of breaking her curse, Rhea’s nightmare deepens: every day, one of her family members disappears, and no one remembers them ever having existed at all. What is a dream, and what is reality?
The second story is that of the Witch, who lives in the forest. She sits upon a throne shaped like a tooth, surrounded by foxes, and grants wishes to the children who visit her in their dreams each night. Her alter is made of scabs, baby teeth, and shadows: gifts from the children in exchange for granting their wishes. Now, the Witch has a new visitor: a young man who is sometimes a fox: the Fox Who Is No Fox. Each night, this young man tells the Witch a story about a magical world with manticores, nymphs, sphinxes, and humans who must hide their magic. The Witch is enchanted by his story.
At first, the alternating chapters about Rhea and the Witch seem completely separate, but the two storylines merge halfway through the book. The story shifts entirely; it’s a bit jarring because the shift is so sudden, and it took me a few chapters to adapt. I felt like the transition could have been a lot better; as is, it’s uncomfortable for the reader.
But I loved this book. This story is nightmarish and haunting, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
The Waking Forest is noticeably inspired by Strange the Dreamer, so if you’re like me, and need something really good to read after finishing Muse of Nightmares, you will love this book: it has magic that shapes dreams, blood or spirit that is filled with magic and can be extracted, and the characters have two hearts. Like Laini Taylor’s books, The Waking Forest celebrates the power of storytelling and the magic of dreams.
Alyssa Wees’ writing is just gorgeous. The imagery is lush and vivid; it’s delicious to read. This book is absolutely perfect for a dark and stormy night. It begs you to curl up with a mug of tea and read it in one sitting.
Release date March 12, 2019, available for pre-order now!
ARC provided by Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review.
The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Come to my blog!
There are two stories in this book. In the first, eighteen-year-old Rhea Ravenna lives in a small town with her mom, dad, four sisters, and Gabrielle, her pet fox (!). Rhea is plagued by visions and nightmares – she sees a dark and menacing forest in their backyard, even though there’s nothing there, and she sees images of death in the attic. The nightmares are getting worse, and now Rhea is sleepwalking – her nightmares are drawing her upstairs to the attic. Desperate for the nightmares to stop, Rhea begins sleeping in the attic, where she begins to see a shadowy young man, who comes to her every night (and possibly watches her sleep, a la Edward Cullen). She can’t see his face, but he is familiar to her, somehow. And he wants to play a game – if Rhea can guess his name, he will break her “curse” (his word!) and free her from her nightmares and visions. But instead of breaking her curse, Rhea’s nightmare deepens: every day, one of her family members disappears, and no one remembers them ever having existed at all. What is a dream, and what is reality?
It should not be this easy for people to vanish. Disappearing should be difficult, rough and bloody. They should have to claw, tear, rip their way out, enduring some of the torment felt by the person left behind. There should be firecrackers bursting in their eyes; and stars snagging in their skin; and lighting bolts tangling in their hair, thrust under their fingernails. Explosions, abrasions, shudders, and shouts. Disappearing forever should not just be the quick and quiet opening and closing of a door.
The second story is that of the Witch, who lives in the forest. She sits upon a throne shaped like a tooth, surrounded by foxes, and grants wishes to the children who visit her in their dreams each night. Her alter is made of scabs, baby teeth, and shadows: gifts from the children in exchange for granting their wishes. Now, the Witch has a new visitor: a young man who is sometimes a fox: the Fox Who Is No Fox. Each night, this young man tells the Witch a story about a magical world with manticores, nymphs, sphinxes, and humans who must hide their magic. The Witch is enchanted by his story.
All right. I’ll tell you. But be warned: fairy story is a misnomer. There aren’t any fairies in it, you see, but there is a princess, and a curse, and a king, and a prince, and a future queen, and a gray gorgon, and a nymph, and a bright girl with bright magic. There are foxes and sphinxes and manticores. There is darkness and sleeping and magic and light, lots of light. there’s an attic and a castle and screams that put together what has been torn apart. There’s foolishness and laughter and love. Speaking of love – there’s also a boy, a great necromancer. He has many names, some of which are long forgotten, and others that no one will ever dare to forget. Oh – and there’s a witch. Still want to hear my tale, a fairy story that is no fairy story at all?
At first, the alternating chapters about Rhea and the Witch seem completely separate, but the two storylines merge halfway through the book. The story shifts entirely; it’s a bit jarring because the shift is so sudden, and it took me a few chapters to adapt. I felt like the transition could have been a lot better; as is, it’s uncomfortable for the reader.
But I loved this book. This story is nightmarish and haunting, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
The Waking Forest is noticeably inspired by Strange the Dreamer, so if you’re like me, and need something really good to read after finishing Muse of Nightmares, you will love this book: it has magic that shapes dreams, blood or spirit that is filled with magic and can be extracted, and the characters have two hearts. Like Laini Taylor’s books, The Waking Forest celebrates the power of storytelling and the magic of dreams.
Alyssa Wees’ writing is just gorgeous. The imagery is lush and vivid; it’s delicious to read. This book is absolutely perfect for a dark and stormy night. It begs you to curl up with a mug of tea and read it in one sitting.
Release date March 12, 2019, available for pre-order now!
ARC provided by Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review.
The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Come to my blog!
starlightbooktales's review against another edition
3.0
3 stars
The Waking Forest had a beautiful start that left me dying for more. The concept of the book is somewhat similar to Pan’s Labyrinth and as I big fan, I knew it was going to have beautiful writing. Alyssa Wees did not disappoint with the writing, I found it beautiful and lyrical and would gladly read more from this author.
But the more I read, the more I lost interest. That sounds bad I know, but it has 3 different stories and eventually they connect. It took a while for the connection to happen and I just didn’t understand half of the things I was reading. I had to read several parts over to grasp what was happening. A dream within a dream is a hard thing to grasp but I wish it could have been explained better and was developed better.
What I did love was the mental illness rep, its nice to see the main character of a book who I can relate to! Plus, Rhea has a strong bond with her sisters and I appreciate seeing a strong sibling bond. Its good to focus on a good family instead of the usual evil family members.
Overall, the book won’t be for everyone, it wasn’t for me, but if you love books that have a unique concept then I say give this one a go.
The Waking Forest had a beautiful start that left me dying for more. The concept of the book is somewhat similar to Pan’s Labyrinth and as I big fan, I knew it was going to have beautiful writing. Alyssa Wees did not disappoint with the writing, I found it beautiful and lyrical and would gladly read more from this author.
But the more I read, the more I lost interest. That sounds bad I know, but it has 3 different stories and eventually they connect. It took a while for the connection to happen and I just didn’t understand half of the things I was reading. I had to read several parts over to grasp what was happening. A dream within a dream is a hard thing to grasp but I wish it could have been explained better and was developed better.
What I did love was the mental illness rep, its nice to see the main character of a book who I can relate to! Plus, Rhea has a strong bond with her sisters and I appreciate seeing a strong sibling bond. Its good to focus on a good family instead of the usual evil family members.
Overall, the book won’t be for everyone, it wasn’t for me, but if you love books that have a unique concept then I say give this one a go.
feralbookdragon's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley for an Audio ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
This book is told from the perspective of multiple characters and I was far more interested in the Witch's story than I was about Rhea's. The story was beautifully written and the author has created a beautiful, unique world with fantastic characters, but the story was a bit confusing and hard to follow at times.
This book is told from the perspective of multiple characters and I was far more interested in the Witch's story than I was about Rhea's. The story was beautifully written and the author has created a beautiful, unique world with fantastic characters, but the story was a bit confusing and hard to follow at times.
bookishtiff's review against another edition
1.0
Disclaimer I received this arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I didn't finish this book. I wasn't able to get into the world. I found the charcters confusing. The main character, Rhea has so many sisters that I dont know which is which. I hate when authors pick names that all start with the same letter. It makes it hard to remember who is who. The a has these weird dreams that she calls a vision so it makes me confuses if she's actually asleep or not. Her one little sister also has these weird dreams and believes these people to be real that aren't. The town seems to think the girls are odd and are witches. Which makes me wonder about the witch in the forest. This book switches point of views from Rhea to the witch. I actually don't like either of the point of views. So far it hasn't made me want to continue reading. I was never hooked into the story like I need to be.
I didn't finish this book. I wasn't able to get into the world. I found the charcters confusing. The main character, Rhea has so many sisters that I dont know which is which. I hate when authors pick names that all start with the same letter. It makes it hard to remember who is who. The a has these weird dreams that she calls a vision so it makes me confuses if she's actually asleep or not. Her one little sister also has these weird dreams and believes these people to be real that aren't. The town seems to think the girls are odd and are witches. Which makes me wonder about the witch in the forest. This book switches point of views from Rhea to the witch. I actually don't like either of the point of views. So far it hasn't made me want to continue reading. I was never hooked into the story like I need to be.
larosamorada's review against another edition
2.0
The Waking Forest is a YA fantasy novel that had all the right elements to grab me by the throat- unexplained visions, fairytale elements, and the collision of two simultaneously running stories. I'm sad to say that's where the excitement ended for me. This book had valiant goals and they all fell flat because of dense narration. Purple prose doesn't even begin to cover it- this book is technicolor prose. I feel like the author is better suited as a poet than a novelist- she knows how to weave a beautiful verse. But the in the context of a novel, it takes me out of the story. To be perfectly honest, I got lost so many times, I can barely describe the story's main points. I would have loved richer characterization too because I feel like the plot and how prettily everything sounded got in the way of me getting to know the characters.
andropupsi's review against another edition
I didn't realize this book was young adult, it just didn't draw my interests in any meaningful way
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.
sarag19's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 out of 5 stars - rounded up to 4 due to the strength of the first half and the writers beautiful writing.
***ARC received through NetGalley for review, much appreciated***
I'm having a hard time finding where to start on this review. It follows two main characters, Rhea and her family and the Witch of Wishes and her foxes. Rhea sees things, visions of a world of nightmares in the waking world. The Witch waits in dreams, casting wishes to children that can find their way to her.
The first half of the book switches between Rhea and the Witch, two characters that feel like they are on a collision course and the story of a third world. Of magic that is forbidden, mythical creatures that inhabit the woods and a princess that sleeps. Its not hard to pick out where the book is going, the author does a nice job of weaving a story that eventually all comes together. The writing is beautiful, there is a whole paragraph where Rhea speaks of Rose that I went back to read at least three times, I loved how well it was written.
Where the book stumbles for me is the second half of the book, where the three stories come together and we leave dreams within dreams for reality. The second half is not nearly as lush and mysterious as the first half of the book, sometimes I felt like I was reading a complete separate story that just happened to have the same characters. The revelation of what the king was up to actually did catch me by surprise, I had an idea but the author took it to a darker step than I had anticipated. The second half still feels like it is missing something and I think it falls back to the way the first part of written. A more modern day life and a mystical world of dream, such a lovely contrast between the two worlds that the third world of the second half just doesn't match up to.
Overall a really good first outing and I look forward to see more from Alyssa Wees.
***ARC received through NetGalley for review, much appreciated***
I'm having a hard time finding where to start on this review. It follows two main characters, Rhea and her family and the Witch of Wishes and her foxes. Rhea sees things, visions of a world of nightmares in the waking world. The Witch waits in dreams, casting wishes to children that can find their way to her.
The first half of the book switches between Rhea and the Witch, two characters that feel like they are on a collision course and the story of a third world. Of magic that is forbidden, mythical creatures that inhabit the woods and a princess that sleeps. Its not hard to pick out where the book is going, the author does a nice job of weaving a story that eventually all comes together. The writing is beautiful, there is a whole paragraph where Rhea speaks of Rose that I went back to read at least three times, I loved how well it was written.
Where the book stumbles for me is the second half of the book, where the three stories come together and we leave dreams within dreams for reality. The second half is not nearly as lush and mysterious as the first half of the book, sometimes I felt like I was reading a complete separate story that just happened to have the same characters. The revelation of what the king was up to actually did catch me by surprise, I had an idea but the author took it to a darker step than I had anticipated. The second half still feels like it is missing something and I think it falls back to the way the first part of written. A more modern day life and a mystical world of dream, such a lovely contrast between the two worlds that the third world of the second half just doesn't match up to.
Overall a really good first outing and I look forward to see more from Alyssa Wees.