Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao

Those of you who have read my blog before will know that in general, I am not a big fantasy reader. I do enjoy fantasy and I have a soft spot for YA fantasy where the details and world-building tend not to be as dense. I have recently started a Booktube channel and as part of that, I wanted to take part in the Fantasy Readathon Penguin Teen were hosting. This book has sat on my TBR forever and I am so glad I finally got round to reading it.

This is described as an Asian-inspired retelling of the Evil Queen story from Snow White. I personally think that description is a little limiting. There is far more in this story that is original than from Snow White, and the elements that are taken from it (one person rising to power, occasional apples and reflection references) are so broad and scarce that it really could just be a completely original story in my eyes. Indeed, a captivating story is one of this book's greatest strengths. It was fantastically well-written and almost perfectly paced in my eyes, which was aided by the fact I couldn't put it down.

The characters in this book are pretty great too. Xifeng is a very compelling protagonist and I think her moral questionability is handled very well. You get to see her evolve from someone who is aware of her potential destiny but not of the reality of the consequences, to someone who is willing to do whatever to get what she wants. There is no sudden jump from good to bad person and she doesn't just start off as someone naive either. The weakest character is Wei I feel, but the emperor is great and I liked pretty much everyone else as well. In particular, I like that the emperor isn't some repulsive or creepy older guy. He's interesting in his own right and it adds depth to both Xifeng and the story that he isn't a stereotype.

There are only a few elements that stopped me giving this 5 stars. There is a mini twist at the end regarding one of the side characters that I was not overly keen on. I quite liked the character as they were at face value and I felt the mini twist disrupted some of their characterisation. The other thing was that the ending felt a little bit rushed. I understand that this is only a duology and so the author wanted to set up the next book, but it felt like a little more time could have been given to the final couple of events. It wasn't awful by any means and the rest of the pacing was pretty much perfect, which is why that tiny flaw stood out.

Overall, this is a wonderful fantasy story. I could hardly fault any element and I am so excited to read the sequel. My only concern for the sequel is that I loved Xifeng so much and the second book appears to focus on a different character which might be a shame. However, whether you love fantasy or typically stay away from it, this is a book worth checking out.

Overall Rating:

.5