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bookishtiff's review
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
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.
bluealliecat's review against another edition
4.0
What a whimsical fairy tale read! I very much enjoyed this!
ashleykwbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I received a ARC audiobook copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.
The writing in this book is beautiful but unfortunately the story fell short around the 60% mark for me.
This story has two storylines. One timeline is of a girl living in our world with her sisters. They all seem a little odd, having interesting dreams. When Rhea opens a door in her dream things start to unravel in her life. Her family members disappear one at a time and she makes a friend with a boy made of darkness.
The second timeline is the story of a witch in the woods who grants wishes. She is told a story by a boy who keeps coming to visit her.
Essentially this book was a story inside a story inside a story. Unfortunately when the stories come together it began to fall apart. The story became hard to follow and the ending just fell a little flat.
I think that people will still enjoy reading it and the audiobook was good. The narrator did a good job.
The writing in this book is beautiful but unfortunately the story fell short around the 60% mark for me.
This story has two storylines. One timeline is of a girl living in our world with her sisters. They all seem a little odd, having interesting dreams. When Rhea opens a door in her dream things start to unravel in her life. Her family members disappear one at a time and she makes a friend with a boy made of darkness.
The second timeline is the story of a witch in the woods who grants wishes. She is told a story by a boy who keeps coming to visit her.
Essentially this book was a story inside a story inside a story. Unfortunately when the stories come together it began to fall apart. The story became hard to follow and the ending just fell a little flat.
I think that people will still enjoy reading it and the audiobook was good. The narrator did a good job.
catevillain's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0