morag's review
I asked for this for Christmas because it sounded interesting. A cursed forest? An ancient kingdom? A cursed female protagonist with a fox sidekick? It sounded cool, classic, and engaging.
I was so wrong. First, lackluster world-building and characters. I know nothing about this world or it's culture. I know there's a spooky forest and a classical vaguely-European kingdom, but that's it. You could get the same amount of information from a postcard illustration. The same goes for the characters. They have no personality or unique traits. The protagonist is a blank slate, and we barely get to know her best friend before she gets cursed. This curse sweeping the kingdom is supposed to be the inciting incident, the emotional launching pad for the story, but it all happened to people as well-rounded as a piece of paper.
All of this makes it impossible to get invested in the story. Why should I care that this kingdom is in trouble? That these people are cursed? I know barely anything about either of them. How much I care about these things is proportional to how much effort the author put into fleshing them out, so we're at a zero. On that note, this novel does nothing new or original with the fantasy genre, either. I've read a dozen other books with these same tropes, settings, and romances. It bores me to tears.
The final nail in the coffin for me was the love interest. In order to have romance in this book, they turned the protagonist's fox sidekick into a human man. A giant, hunky, naked man. It's so stupid it hurts. Why does there always have to be a love interest? I mean, I know why. Romance sells. It wouldn't be a commercial fantasy without a romance. But like this? Did no one sit down and think for two seconds about how creepy it would be to have a romance between a human girl and A LITERAL ANIMAL?
Once I saw where this was going, I couldn't stand to finish it. What a massive disappointment.
I was so wrong. First, lackluster world-building and characters. I know nothing about this world or it's culture. I know there's a spooky forest and a classical vaguely-European kingdom, but that's it. You could get the same amount of information from a postcard illustration. The same goes for the characters. They have no personality or unique traits. The protagonist is a blank slate, and we barely get to know her best friend before she gets cursed. This curse sweeping the kingdom is supposed to be the inciting incident, the emotional launching pad for the story, but it all happened to people as well-rounded as a piece of paper.
All of this makes it impossible to get invested in the story. Why should I care that this kingdom is in trouble? That these people are cursed? I know barely anything about either of them. How much I care about these things is proportional to how much effort the author put into fleshing them out, so we're at a zero. On that note, this novel does nothing new or original with the fantasy genre, either. I've read a dozen other books with these same tropes, settings, and romances. It bores me to tears.
The final nail in the coffin for me was the love interest. In order to have romance in this book, they turned the protagonist's fox sidekick into a human man. A giant, hunky, naked man. It's so stupid it hurts. Why does there always have to be a love interest? I mean, I know why. Romance sells. It wouldn't be a commercial fantasy without a romance. But like this? Did no one sit down and think for two seconds about how creepy it would be to have a romance between a human girl and A LITERAL ANIMAL?
Once I saw where this was going, I couldn't stand to finish it. What a massive disappointment.
kaytay35235's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
elliemaiblogs's review
5.0
It's no secret that I've been loving a lot of fantasy and YA books recently and Among the Beasts and Briars is definitely one of my new favourites. As soon as I started reading, I instantly became hooked to the magical and cursed world. This made it incredibly hard not to read this in one sitting. However, I really enjoyed discussing each section with my buddy group and to be honest, the anticipation of waiting to read the next section was really exciting. I loved following Cery's, fox and bear intense adventure through the dark, deathly Forrest. It makes the story really fast-paced and impossible to put down. Among Cery's beautiful wild magic and terrifying cursed zombies, this book is the perfect sweet fairytale that I'm sure will be just as enjoyable when reading again! Which I definitely am going to do!!
libraryoflei's review
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jensen1's review
2.0
It was a fun concept but I really found it a bit predictable and the writing wasn't up to par... pretty disappointing.
talapowis's review
2.0
I wanted to like this book. In the end, it was readable, but barely.
The story is a bit slow starting, but not terribly. Throughout, the characters are decent, but they don’t have much depth plus sometimes a few of the side characters do/say things that probably wouldn’t actually happen irl.
At the beginning of the story it’s obvious that fox is the prince but not until the very end does he realize. Plus, the main character is constantly saying how she can’t save everyone because she’s just the gardener’s daughter, which get’s real tiring when she mentions it every instance possible and up until the very end.
I could live with ^ but what really bothered me was the lack of explanation throughout the story. There’s a random bear that supposably is the only ancient to not become crazy/tainted by the forest. Why??? Never explained. And, worst of all, at the crux of the storyline when the crown is destroyed, instead of explaining WHY and the backstory of how the lady of the forest was stuck in it etc etc etc the author simply ends the chapter and then picks up the story SIX MONTHS LATER. And barely explains things then. Plus some characters that were killed off (bear and the rest of the town who were bone eaters) or fox who was returned to a fox body or the guy who was a corpse are all a-okay and more or less alive/back to normal. It was just super confusing and disappointing, and I felt like I’d somehow missed an entire chapter.
Wish I’d liked it better, but oh well.
The story is a bit slow starting, but not terribly. Throughout, the characters are decent, but they don’t have much depth plus sometimes a few of the side characters do/say things that probably wouldn’t actually happen irl.
At the beginning of the story it’s obvious that fox is the prince but not until the very end does he realize. Plus, the main character is constantly saying how she can’t save everyone because she’s just the gardener’s daughter, which get’s real tiring when she mentions it every instance possible and up until the very end.
I could live with ^ but what really bothered me was the lack of explanation throughout the story. There’s a random bear that supposably is the only ancient to not become crazy/tainted by the forest. Why??? Never explained. And, worst of all, at the crux of the storyline when the crown is destroyed, instead of explaining WHY and the backstory of how the lady of the forest was stuck in it etc etc etc the author simply ends the chapter and then picks up the story SIX MONTHS LATER. And barely explains things then. Plus some characters that were killed off (bear and the rest of the town who were bone eaters) or fox who was returned to a fox body or the guy who was a corpse are all a-okay and more or less alive/back to normal. It was just super confusing and disappointing, and I felt like I’d somehow missed an entire chapter.
Wish I’d liked it better, but oh well.
marimoose's review
4.0
3.5/5 stars.
Initial thoughts: For all intents and purposes, this book scratched a fairy tale itch I haven't had in a long while. And I read it in roughly two sittings. It was a fast-paced, fairy-tale traipse through the Wildwood and really just light-hearted fun...even when everyone around Cerys was just decaying into zombie tree demons. Ahem. ANYWAY. I do have lingering questions and things seemed rushed at the end...but ya know.
Initial thoughts: For all intents and purposes, this book scratched a fairy tale itch I haven't had in a long while. And I read it in roughly two sittings. It was a fast-paced, fairy-tale traipse through the Wildwood and really just light-hearted fun...even when everyone around Cerys was just decaying into zombie tree demons. Ahem. ANYWAY. I do have lingering questions and things seemed rushed at the end...but ya know.