Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee

5 reviews

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense 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
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I thought this was an intriguing start to this series! It's clearly very much introducing us to this world (a lot of exposition, which I don't always mind when getting to know a new world lol), and I love when the main character is basically re-discovering themselves like Sirscha did in this book. She has to contend with the new reality of who she is and what she's capable of, and more importantly, what that means for the world / society as she knows it! I will definitely be continuing the series <3 
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thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

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4.0

plot twist plot twist plot twist!! XD Alas, my library doesn't have the sequel *cries*
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tinysierra's review

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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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whatellisreadnext's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

𝘚𝘢𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬. "𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘢, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴-𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴."

After years of training to become the queen's next spy, Sirscha's plans are derailed when shamans attack, and kill her best friend. When she wakes, she has somehow restored Saengo back to life. 

I really really enjoyed Forest of Souls, it was such a unique take on a magic system. I loved how sinister everything was, especially the Dead Wood. Which is basically a sentient forest, that murders everyone, and traps their souls in trees 💁🏻‍♀️ 

What I enjoyed the most about this narrative, was that it's centred around a friendship. Me and romance in fantasy books don't often gel, and I'd much rather read a story that focuses on a platonic relationship. I just loved that what propelled Sirscha forward, was Saengo. 

If you love fantasy with a badass female lead, political intrigue, and lots of creepy crawlies, you need this book! The second installment Broken Web comes out the day after my birthday, and you bet I am grabbing a copy! I need more of Sirscha in my life 💃
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mandkips's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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