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

Alice by Christina Henry

THIS BOOK HAS MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR SEXUAL ABUSE.

This was not what I was expecting at all. Even after reading and falling in love with Lost Boy last year, I was somewhat apprehensive about reading this. I adore Alice in Wonderland and I had high hopes for Henry's version of it. However, while Lost Boy is primarily a fantasy story with some slow-developing horror elements peppered in, Alice is definitely straight-up horror.

The entire premise of this book is heavily focused on sexual abuse so that is something to be aware of if you don't enjoy reading about that topic. In this universe, Alice has been sent to an insane asylum by her family after she was kidnapped by the White Rabbit, a fantasy crime lord. This world is run by various crime lords all themed around characters from Alice in Wonderland and most of them guilty of abusing girls in increasingly horrific ways. Early on, Alice escapes from the asylum with her friend 'Hatcher' and they go on a quest to defeat the Jabberwocky/avenge Alice's past.

The fantasy world itself is a blend of Victorian/steampunk elements, Wonderland, generic fantasy and magic. The worldbuilding is woven into the story excellently and I don't feel like you are missing anything super important, although certain things are left a bit sparse if they're not directly relevant to the plot. There is a lot going on in this book and it is impressive how Henry sets everything up without it cluttering the story.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about this plot for the majority of the book. Maybe it is because I am much more emotionally invested in Alice in Wonderland than Peter Pan but it felt very uncomfortable to have one of my favourite stories warped into a tale of such graphic sexual and physical violence. Ultimately though I did really enjoy the story and by the end, I was very much in love with it. I still prefer Lost Boy for its subtlety but Alice packs a powerful punch and it isn't a book I will forget for a long time.

Overall, if you think you can stomach the intensely graphic nature of this book then I would definitely suggest checking it out. It is a fascinating read and Henry remains one of my favourite authors for her superb writing style and skill in creating both characters and worlds. I just hope maybe my next read of hers isn't quite so brutal.

Overall Rating:

Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk

Ooh boy, it has been a while since I've struggled this much to finish a book. Honestly I was so close to DNFing it that I basically skim read the last 100 pages (and it only has about 200 to begin with).

This is not really a thriller. I mean it is but there are zero thrills to be had here. The plot is exactly what the blurb says without any additional twists or surprises. I'm not necessarily someone who believes a thriller needs to have a huge twist to be good but it at least has to be interesting. This could have been an intense story about a pregnant teenage girl trying to escape from kidnappers but our main character recounts the entire thing with all the detached disinterest of someone talking about what they had for breakfast. Speaking of which, the main character of this was awful. I can't even say that I hated her because she didn't have enough of a presence to hate.

So there are two narrators in this book-a 18 year old pregnant teenager and a 30-something year old male FBI agent. Both of these characters are written with the exact same voice. Our teenage protagonist is meant to be 'emotionally gifted' in that she can switch her emotions on and off whenever she likes, and this is quite possibly the most baffling character choice I have ever encountered. All of the potential tension of the story is completely dissolved by having an emotionless main character. How am I meant to root for her? Where is the emotional core of the story? Instead of two protagonists to root for, you get two bland and uninteresting narrators. 50 pages in I already didn't care about either of them.

As mentioned above, the entire plot is very one-note.There is nothing after page 100 to keep you reading and if you're hoping for some kind of plot twist (or even a new development in a story which is over by that point), you're not going to get it. This book is not worth even glancing at to be brutally honest. There are far better stories about people being kidnapped and many, many thrillers more worthy of attention.

Overall Rating: