A review by quixoticreads
The Phantom Forest by Liz Kerin

Did not finish book.

The Laughing Listener
June 2019

DNF @ 36%

Ahhhhh I tried so hard to get into this one and I actually feel really bad for not being able to finish because from what I can tell, the author seems like a lovely person, but this just wasn’t my cup of tea. It’s not really the book’s fault at all, but more about personal preference. When I saw this on Netgalley, I decided to download it at the recommendations of friends despite sounding a little outside of my tastes. Plus, I was so intrigued by all the underworld stuff! In the end though, this story was very fantasy dystopia which isn’t really a genre I’m into.

The story was actually really interesting and I love the way Kerin handled the plot because it’s so unlike anything I’ve read. So hats off for that! The characters, however, seemed to lean a little on the 2-dimensional side and I couldn’t help wanting more from them. I was dying to know more about their life before General Simeon like how they grew up and what their parents were like. And I think I just wanted a little more emotion to connect with as a reader. I didn’t really perk up until we heard from General Simeon’s point of view because he’s so vile, but yet interesting at the same time—complex and layered. I also wanted to know more about the world Seycia and Miko live in. To be fair, I stopped reading, so this might come into play later on in the book. But we don’t get to see much of the world before the story shifts more towards the Underworld and I was dying to know more about the universe.

Overall, this was such an interesting story but it fell a little flat for me and was outside of my tastes as a reader.