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cindyc's review against another edition
3.0
Actual rating: 3,5 stars.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading this novel. I requested it because I love stories that are set in Victorian England and this one in particular seemed mysterious and intriguing.
After reading the first halve of the book, I was a little confused and stuck. This book is so beautifully written, something I’ve been missing in a lot of YA books lately, but the story seemed to drag on. We got little bits of information about what happened before Nathan disappeared by means of flashbacks. But we also know there’s still a lot of the truth hidden, that Jane is keeping something from us, readers.
The second halve of this book was just an explosion of action. All the secrets that lay hidden for the first halve of the book were now revealed and they give an amazing spin to the story. Jane goes through such a transformation and begins to see all the things I noticed in the first half. She awoke, and boy, she's awesome!
The Heath makes a haunting, beautiful setting for a story that explores the boundaries of human knowledge and gives an appealing explanation for the unknown, that goes beyond the things we can wrap our heads around. (Was there anything before the universe came to exist? Is there something else beyond this universe? Do gods exist?). It’s a breath of fresh air amongst the tidal wave of paranormal YA novels overwhelming us lately.
This is an imaginative and original story and it certainly deserves 3,5 stars, even though the first halve was rather slow. This is a story that will stay with me for a long long time.
This is the debut novel from Adam McOmber and I see a very bright future for this author. He has a beautiful writing style and knows how to create an amazing story. I'm already looking forward to his next book!
Visit my Fantasy bookblog http://draumrkpa.blogspot.be/ for more reviews, new releases,...
Thanks to the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book. This book was provided to me through NetGalley.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading this novel. I requested it because I love stories that are set in Victorian England and this one in particular seemed mysterious and intriguing.
After reading the first halve of the book, I was a little confused and stuck. This book is so beautifully written, something I’ve been missing in a lot of YA books lately, but the story seemed to drag on. We got little bits of information about what happened before Nathan disappeared by means of flashbacks. But we also know there’s still a lot of the truth hidden, that Jane is keeping something from us, readers.
The second halve of this book was just an explosion of action. All the secrets that lay hidden for the first halve of the book were now revealed and they give an amazing spin to the story. Jane goes through such a transformation and begins to see all the things I noticed in the first half. She awoke, and boy, she's awesome!
The Heath makes a haunting, beautiful setting for a story that explores the boundaries of human knowledge and gives an appealing explanation for the unknown, that goes beyond the things we can wrap our heads around. (Was there anything before the universe came to exist? Is there something else beyond this universe? Do gods exist?). It’s a breath of fresh air amongst the tidal wave of paranormal YA novels overwhelming us lately.
This is an imaginative and original story and it certainly deserves 3,5 stars, even though the first halve was rather slow. This is a story that will stay with me for a long long time.
This is the debut novel from Adam McOmber and I see a very bright future for this author. He has a beautiful writing style and knows how to create an amazing story. I'm already looking forward to his next book!
Visit my Fantasy bookblog http://draumrkpa.blogspot.be/ for more reviews, new releases,...
Thanks to the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book. This book was provided to me through NetGalley.
kacelaface's review against another edition
3.0
Really loved the first 2/3 of this book - I thought I was reading a five star book, for sure. Gothic, beautiful and atmospheric with interesting, complex relationships and a great little mystery brewing.
Then the story began to get muddled, and the book eventually ventured into the ridiculous. Still, there is a lot to like here and I consider it a worthwhile read.
Then the story began to get muddled, and the book eventually ventured into the ridiculous. Still, there is a lot to like here and I consider it a worthwhile read.
cathyatratedreads's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe 3.5 stars, but not quite 4. I enjoyed it but expected the book to be rather more gothic and mysterious but mostly based in the natural world, but it turned out to hinge quite a bit more on the supernatural, which got a little creepy sometimes, in my mind. But interesting and well written.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/white-forest-clean-fiction-book-review/
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/white-forest-clean-fiction-book-review/
marden's review against another edition
5.0
This book is so good in many ways. It has a mix of Mystery, Psychological Thriller and Dark Fantasy. I really loved and enjoyed the story. One of my favorites things of this novel was the attitude of Jane Silverlake, so determined.
Adam knows well the gothic storytelling without falling into monotony.
Adam knows well the gothic storytelling without falling into monotony.
bawright1987's review against another edition
2.0
I forced myself to finish this because I really wanted to like it, but in the end, I thought it was weird and really didn't understand what happened or what the point of the story was supposed to be. I kept plugging away at it, hoping that the gothic aspects would continue to suck me in deeper, but it never happened and before I knew it I was at page 300 going what-just-happened? Don't recommend this book.
sabregirl's review against another edition
3.0
RHL Classifications:
Time and Setting: Victorian England
Genre: Historical/Paranormal Romance
Heat Level: 1
Reviewer Rating: 3 stars
Review by Lizzie English
Jane has a terrible secret and only her two best friends know the truth about her. She’s not a witch, she’s not a magician, but she’s something else, something of the Earth, almost, and she can see the souls of objects. It’s a promising start – an odd power, and it takes a lot of explaining through the novel. It’s pretty much in this very point that the author had lost me. Something new and unheard of, hearing the souls of man made objects? What could that lead to? How does it manifest? That questions that I kept having didn’t really get answered through the book. It never really gives an orgin for her powers.
Everything that Jane is involved in leads to disaster. She’s isolated and living in a house where her only family is barely around and the servants are scared of her; she’s even isolated from her friends. Her best friend Madeline is scared of her and unfortunately Madeline can’t stand to touch her. When someone touches Jane they experience seeing the world as Jane does where everything has a soul and it’s not pleasant. That leads to some awkward moments: how can you have a friendship of that nature when you can’t even touch?! This is in the time of Victorian London where aristocratic girls and women are each others bosom companions, often lacing arms and hugging. Her other best friend, Nathan, is the opposite; he craves her touches and experiences. It’s Nathan that story centers around, Nathan’s obsession with Jane’s power and finding out the answers that she can’t give him.
At the start of the novel, Nathan has gone missing. He had just returned from war and joined a cult that promised that he would understand Jane’s power even more. There are a number of twists and turns in the story, involving him and what exactly happened when he went off to war, because he wasn’t involved in the fighting. He gets stuck in a monastery that just happens to worship a long lost Earth goddess. The White Forest was easy to picture, but it reminded me a lot of The Time Machine by HG Wells as Nathan goes into the future complete with subhuman primates. But what is never explained is Why? Primates? What is this place? How was it suddenly inaccessible one minute, and then all the characters are there the next? The description of the White Forest though is lovely, it’s one of the few things that’s a saving point. It’s not what you would expect but it holds a certain beauty that makes the reader realize why it was so wanted.
The romance in the book is pretty straightforward. Jane thinks that because Nathan is so attracted to her power that he is in fact in love with her, but it’s not like that at all and eventually gets thrown in her face in the worst way. That was pretty hard to read, even though the author has foreshadowed it, especially with how Jane is treated, but to read her actually going through it is heartbreaking. But this shows Jane’s naiveté in relation to her secluded life. Any slight form of affection shown toward her is almost guaranteed to be seen on her part as love. It makes you feel sorry for Jane and what she has to do in order to finally be accepted towards the end of the book. There are a lot of awkward moments in the novel, especially revolving anything involving potential love and Jane. It makes the reader wonder if the goal of the author was to show that Jane was unlovable and how no one understood her. It makes the reader feel sorry for her more than anything, but frustrated at the same time.
The White Forest is really captivating as it has an interesting plot and it’s very unique. Taking into account my misgivings I could only give it a three star rating, but that doesn’t mean that others won’t enjoy it more.
Time and Setting: Victorian England
Genre: Historical/Paranormal Romance
Heat Level: 1
Reviewer Rating: 3 stars
Review by Lizzie English
Jane has a terrible secret and only her two best friends know the truth about her. She’s not a witch, she’s not a magician, but she’s something else, something of the Earth, almost, and she can see the souls of objects. It’s a promising start – an odd power, and it takes a lot of explaining through the novel. It’s pretty much in this very point that the author had lost me. Something new and unheard of, hearing the souls of man made objects? What could that lead to? How does it manifest? That questions that I kept having didn’t really get answered through the book. It never really gives an orgin for her powers.
Everything that Jane is involved in leads to disaster. She’s isolated and living in a house where her only family is barely around and the servants are scared of her; she’s even isolated from her friends. Her best friend Madeline is scared of her and unfortunately Madeline can’t stand to touch her. When someone touches Jane they experience seeing the world as Jane does where everything has a soul and it’s not pleasant. That leads to some awkward moments: how can you have a friendship of that nature when you can’t even touch?! This is in the time of Victorian London where aristocratic girls and women are each others bosom companions, often lacing arms and hugging. Her other best friend, Nathan, is the opposite; he craves her touches and experiences. It’s Nathan that story centers around, Nathan’s obsession with Jane’s power and finding out the answers that she can’t give him.
At the start of the novel, Nathan has gone missing. He had just returned from war and joined a cult that promised that he would understand Jane’s power even more. There are a number of twists and turns in the story, involving him and what exactly happened when he went off to war, because he wasn’t involved in the fighting. He gets stuck in a monastery that just happens to worship a long lost Earth goddess. The White Forest was easy to picture, but it reminded me a lot of The Time Machine by HG Wells as Nathan goes into the future complete with subhuman primates. But what is never explained is Why? Primates? What is this place? How was it suddenly inaccessible one minute, and then all the characters are there the next? The description of the White Forest though is lovely, it’s one of the few things that’s a saving point. It’s not what you would expect but it holds a certain beauty that makes the reader realize why it was so wanted.
The romance in the book is pretty straightforward. Jane thinks that because Nathan is so attracted to her power that he is in fact in love with her, but it’s not like that at all and eventually gets thrown in her face in the worst way. That was pretty hard to read, even though the author has foreshadowed it, especially with how Jane is treated, but to read her actually going through it is heartbreaking. But this shows Jane’s naiveté in relation to her secluded life. Any slight form of affection shown toward her is almost guaranteed to be seen on her part as love. It makes you feel sorry for Jane and what she has to do in order to finally be accepted towards the end of the book. There are a lot of awkward moments in the novel, especially revolving anything involving potential love and Jane. It makes the reader wonder if the goal of the author was to show that Jane was unlovable and how no one understood her. It makes the reader feel sorry for her more than anything, but frustrated at the same time.
The White Forest is really captivating as it has an interesting plot and it’s very unique. Taking into account my misgivings I could only give it a three star rating, but that doesn’t mean that others won’t enjoy it more.
linguana's review against another edition
2.0
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review
This book started out very interesting. The setting and style took me in immediately and the protagonist's strange gift - she can hear and fell the "souls" of inanimate objects - was intriguing enough to keep me going for a while. Additionally, Jane's best friend, Nathan Ashe, has disappeared, so she and her other friend Maddy set out to investigate and bring Nathan back... if he's still alive, that is.
What sounds intriguing turned into one of the most tedious novels I've read lately. The intricate prose kept me going long after I was already annoyed with the plot. The heroine constantly loses herself in memories instead of acting. We are fed the tiniest bits of (mostly useless) information but the plot simply doesn't move forward. I read more than half of this novel and when, by then, there still was only one clue as to what Jane's gift is, I gave up.
I read the last few pages to find out the secret - and it left me incredibly underwhelmed. I was too lazy to look for what happened to Nathan and (I think this speaks for itself) I really didn't care. The author certainly knows how to write beautifully and some characters have potential. The tension between Jane and Maddy was quite interesting but taking all things into consideration, none of these positive points are enough to make a good book.
This book started out very interesting. The setting and style took me in immediately and the protagonist's strange gift - she can hear and fell the "souls" of inanimate objects - was intriguing enough to keep me going for a while. Additionally, Jane's best friend, Nathan Ashe, has disappeared, so she and her other friend Maddy set out to investigate and bring Nathan back... if he's still alive, that is.
What sounds intriguing turned into one of the most tedious novels I've read lately. The intricate prose kept me going long after I was already annoyed with the plot. The heroine constantly loses herself in memories instead of acting. We are fed the tiniest bits of (mostly useless) information but the plot simply doesn't move forward. I read more than half of this novel and when, by then, there still was only one clue as to what Jane's gift is, I gave up.
I read the last few pages to find out the secret - and it left me incredibly underwhelmed. I was too lazy to look for what happened to Nathan and (I think this speaks for itself) I really didn't care. The author certainly knows how to write beautifully and some characters have potential. The tension between Jane and Maddy was quite interesting but taking all things into consideration, none of these positive points are enough to make a good book.
greenldydragon's review against another edition
4.0
I'm really torn about this book. It was REALLY well-written, but half the time I was confused about the narrator's special powers. Even at the end I still was unsure that I understood the author's meaning. Aside from that confusion, the plot draws you in and keeps hold of your attention for the entire book. I almost gave it 3 stars but in the end, it is worth 4 stars.