The Phantom Forest

I received this eARC from Inkshares via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way.

DNF at 19%

I know I said I'd try to read a few more chapters (or even finish the chapter I was on tbh), but this book literally puts me to sleep, and I just can't lie to myself or to NetGalley any longer. I will not be finishing this.

This book feels like a mish-mash of everything that was popular in 2008-2011. It's got the demons from another realm from [b:Angelfall|15863832|Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)|Susan Ee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1464206558l/15863832._SY75_.jpg|16435765] and [b:City of Bones|256683|City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, show more #1)|Cassandra Clare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1432730315l/256683._SY75_.jpg|2267189]. It's got the postapocalypse from [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447303603l/2767052._SX50_.jpg|2792775] and Angelfall again. It's got the girl searching for her sibling from Angelfall again. It's got the angsty love interest with a tortured past from every single Beauty and the Beast retelling ever, of which YA is currently saturated.

In other words, it was generic af and offered me nothing I hadn't seen before, done infinitely better or at least marginally entertaining. I couldn't stand the repetitive and passive writing. The action sequences were dull and the sentence structure lacked pretty much any variety until I felt like a literal robot wrote this book.

The inciting incident, if you can call it that, was so hokey that I was actually baffled that it was in the book at all. Basically, MC Seycia and her brother are at the ritual sacrifice thing and almost get robbed but, while the entire community is chanting the ritual thing around her, this girl beats the crap out of the would-be thief, and then is like "wow, I wOnDeR iF AnYOnE NoTIcEd?"

And I also couldn't stand literally any of the characters, except maybe the Missing Sibling™ Miko, and only really because I got his perspective right before I decided to drop the book and he didn't have a chance to bore me to death yet.

The villain is laughably black and white, with only a little bit of depth that's quickly overshadowed by his cartoonishly evil actions and appearance.

But what bothers me the most is that the average rating is so high, and that the parts I found to be the worst are many people's favorites. It really makes me wonder if we read the same book. show less

This book suffered from a bad case of telling-not-showing. (Spoilers ahoy). We're told that Heban and Seycia develop feelings for each other but I have no idea why. We're told the three women, Dhov's sisters, are amazing but they seem pro forma. We're told about the rebellion but we don't see it grow or feel the details. Seycia gets dropped into Antenor by the Soulless to rescue Heban but it seems incredibly improbable that Dhov wouldn't show up to gloat at her. Miko loses his replacement grandmother after a day, when it barely feels meaningful, and his rebellion friend after they've exchanged like 2 sentences. Why didn't he stay with Beli... for like 3 weeks or 3 months? Seycia could have stayed with Heban longer so that would feel show more more realistic and the connection Miko feels to the rebels would be earned.

I think the book would need to be about 200 pages longer to do all the plotlines justice, or a few plot threads would be to be cut. There's no depth or richness here.

Also the setup for a sequel is annoying.

I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

I received this eARC from Inkshares via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way.

DNF at 19%

I know I said I'd try to read a few more chapters (or even finish the chapter I was on tbh), but this book literally puts me to sleep, and I just can't lie to myself or to NetGalley any longer. I will not be finishing this.

This book feels like a mish-mash of everything that was popular in 2008-2011. It's got the demons from another realm from [b:Angelfall|15863832|Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)|Susan Ee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1464206558l/15863832._SY75_.jpg|16435765] and [b:City of Bones|256683|City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, show more #1)|Cassandra Clare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1432730315l/256683._SY75_.jpg|2267189]. It's got the postapocalypse from [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447303603l/2767052._SX50_.jpg|2792775] and Angelfall again. It's got the girl searching for her sibling from Angelfall again. It's got the angsty love interest with a tortured past from every single Beauty and the Beast retelling ever, of which YA is currently saturated.

In other words, it was generic af and offered me nothing I hadn't seen before, done infinitely better or at least marginally entertaining. I couldn't stand the repetitive and passive writing. The action sequences were dull and the sentence structure lacked pretty much any variety until I felt like a literal robot wrote this book.

The inciting incident, if you can call it that, was so hokey that I was actually baffled that it was in the book at all. Basically, MC Seycia and her brother are at the ritual sacrifice thing and almost get robbed but, while the entire community is chanting the ritual thing around her, this girl beats the crap out of the would-be thief, and then is like "wow, I wOnDeR iF AnYOnE NoTIcEd?"

And I also couldn't stand literally any of the characters, except maybe the Missing Sibling™ Miko, and only really because I got his perspective right before I decided to drop the book and he didn't have a chance to bore me to death yet.

The villain is laughably black and white, with only a little bit of depth that's quickly overshadowed by his cartoonishly evil actions and appearance.

But what bothers me the most is that the average rating is so high, and that the parts I found to be the worst are many people's favorites. It really makes me wonder if we read the same book. show less