A review by saraha19
The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd

4.0

A fine piece of historical fiction, following the history and timeline of six (fictional) families over a period of about 900 years, from the year 1100 to the year 2000, living in the forest of southern England. Rutherford's description of the Forest would make anyone reading it long to live there. It's fantastic how each section of the book intertwines with the others, how things seemingly left unresolved become clear much later in the book, which is sometimes hundreds of years later in the story's timeline. The relationships between the families, their evolution over time and how their lines drift apart and come crashing back together later is beyond interesting, and sometimes exciting. I found myself surprised and thrilled at times, flipping back to previous pages to remind myself of certain events that had become relevant again much later.

The main theme through out is "In the Forest, all is not always as it seems". Think of that theme as not simply applying to the subject of the story, but the actual story itself.

Two thumbs up! The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because I felt like the first half of the book wasn't as good as the second. It felt a little wordy and cumbersome at times. The last three chapters really make the rest of the book worth every second.