Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee

2 reviews

katerinovaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

1st POV, 1 POV, long chapters

After years of training, Sirscha wants to be acknowledged for her hard work to prove to everyone (including herself) that she is worthy of becoming the Queen's Shadow. However, as she tries to beat her competitors, she starts to uncover her origins and realizes that her true journey leads through deadly forests and poisonous politics. Is she going to discover who stands behind the slow decay of the empire and the truth behind her power? Read and find out!

🕷️ high fantasy with glossary
🕷️ badass warrior FMC trained to be a royal spy
🕷️ different types and subtypes of magic – not everyone has powers
🕷️ beasts, spirits, and souls
🕷️ self-discovery, personal growth
🕷️ close friendships, bullies, cute friends, and snarky allies

The world-building is very complex, but I didn't get lost, and usually knew what was going on. There is a long glossary at the beginning, which helps a lot. I wish there were a map as well, though. I feel like there's gonna be loads more information in the sequels. 😮‍💨

I loved Sirscha and her determination and confidence. She is extremely skillful; however, I love that she got injured frequently and acknowledged the pain (even for a few days). It made it much more realistic without being annoying.
✨ Dual swords, knives, climbing walls, and merciless bone-breaking are definitely my cup of tea. ✨

❓Romance/spice:
No

❓Cliff-hanger:
Yes


Trigger warnings: spiders, death of a loved one, blood/gore/violence, terminal illness

"Children are meant to obey those who raise them, but how can respect be born of abuse?"
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tinysierra's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book contains:

  • spiders and spiderwebs
  • dark creepy forest with faces and souls
  • Nice worldbuilding
  • A badass blind side character
  • threats of war between kingdoms, political intrigue
  • strong main character who knows how to fight, who turns out to have the rarest magical powers
  • a focus on friendships
  • Asian coded characters

I like that the +600 year old Spider King was not a mysterious sexy love interest preying on a teenager. There is no romance plot. The story focuses on the main character trying to figure out her powers and how to stop a war.  

This book was decent but it didn’t really “wow” me. I liked the pieces of lore that we got, and I thought the characters were nice but they didn’t amaze me. I didn’t really feel the bond between Saengo and Sirscha. It was described that they cared for each other and they were clearly close but I wish we got to see more of their friendship on page before the start of the book.

I enjoyed Theyen and Sirscha’s sassy banter. They could have turned into a kind of rivals to lovers type romance but I liked that they stayed friends/allies.

I think this is a good book for anyone looking for a fantasy book with magic and politics but without the romance.

I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw this book in a recommendation list for Aro or Ace rep. However, unless I missed something, there are no explicitly stated asexual or aromantic characters. I don’t believe Sirscha states a sexual or romantic preference. But, if you are aro or ace, you’ll probably enjoy the lack of romance whether the characters themselves are aro / ace or not.
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