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A review by alyssaarch
The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees
4.0
*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
The Waking Forest is an experience! I had no idea what was going on for the first half of the book, but I had my guesses and trusted the author to get me to where I needed to go for the story to make sense. I really enjoyed how strange and dark everything was; the mood was absolutely perfect for what was going on and the writing is absolutely GORGEOUS. It is expertly crafted language and I would read it just for the beautiful lines, to be honest. Luckily, the plot is pretty interesting too.
We follow two characters: Rhea, a girl who has living nightmares and the Witch: a girl who grants children wishes. They are each struggling with a strange visitor into their world and try to figure out what he wants and how to get rid of him so they can keep living their lives. I really enjoyed the mystery surrounding both these stories and had a fun time guessing what was going on.
However, the story itself fell apart a little once we find out what’s going on, unfortunately. Up until then, the world building and characterization were fantastic, but the pacing started to feel rushed and things didn’t seem as fleshed as they were in the beginning part of the book. I kept getting lost as to what was happening and how everything was connected. However, the beginning of the book did such a good job in establishing the characters that I was still satisfied by the ending and pulled in enough by them to make it through to the end.
I would not give this book to a reluctant reader; things are very confusing for most of the book and you have to trust the story and author that it will work out and start making sense; I can see this being very frustrating for someone just starting out reading. Fans of weirder sort of stories or dark fantasy will enjoy this, I think.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
The Waking Forest is an experience! I had no idea what was going on for the first half of the book, but I had my guesses and trusted the author to get me to where I needed to go for the story to make sense. I really enjoyed how strange and dark everything was; the mood was absolutely perfect for what was going on and the writing is absolutely GORGEOUS. It is expertly crafted language and I would read it just for the beautiful lines, to be honest. Luckily, the plot is pretty interesting too.
We follow two characters: Rhea, a girl who has living nightmares and the Witch: a girl who grants children wishes. They are each struggling with a strange visitor into their world and try to figure out what he wants and how to get rid of him so they can keep living their lives. I really enjoyed the mystery surrounding both these stories and had a fun time guessing what was going on.
However, the story itself fell apart a little once we find out what’s going on, unfortunately. Up until then, the world building and characterization were fantastic, but the pacing started to feel rushed and things didn’t seem as fleshed as they were in the beginning part of the book. I kept getting lost as to what was happening and how everything was connected. However, the beginning of the book did such a good job in establishing the characters that I was still satisfied by the ending and pulled in enough by them to make it through to the end.
I would not give this book to a reluctant reader; things are very confusing for most of the book and you have to trust the story and author that it will work out and start making sense; I can see this being very frustrating for someone just starting out reading. Fans of weirder sort of stories or dark fantasy will enjoy this, I think.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.