Forest Born by Shannon Hale
Copyright 2009, Bloomsbury
389 pages, fantasy
Rinna has no doubt she is a Forest girl through and through, and she has always sought and found comfort in the thousands of trees that surround her home. Suddenly, the trees reject her, and she’s certain that something awful is happening to her. Rin decides to travel to the Bayern capital city with her older brother Razo in hopes of finding herself again.
W-o-w. Shannon Hale is amazing. I devoured this book in, now that I think about it, less than twenty-four hours from the time I bought it. I splurged, buying the hardcover, because I just couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next in the fabulous Books of Bayern series. Luckily I had a gift card for the book store! I don’t know what I would do if Forest Born was the last book in the series, so please, Shannon, write more!
The only (extremely minor) negatives I can think of are the teensey overkill on the destruction and doom, and something that I can’t quite describe about Rinna, the main character. I know, on the destruction and doom, it adds, to the suspense, but I generally like to have plenty of lighter scenes. I can’t detail my issue with Rin here for fear of revealing spoilers, but I can try– perhaps she seemed slightly flat. But regardless, the book is excellent.
As always, Shannon Hale brings in all of the elements of a good fantasy: magic, suspense, loyalty,betrayal, and romance. I think I’ve used that phrase in all of my Shannon Hale reviews, actually, so that pro is consistent in her books. I love the characters, which leads me into another positive: beloved characters such as Isi, Enna, Finn, Geric, Razo, and Dasha are well included, which is always important.
As this may be my last Books of Bayern review in a while (depends how long it takes for the next book to come out! ), I’ll just put in a few words about the series in general before I wrap up this review: I think it’s great how each book in the series is centered around a different character. They’re in the same world, with familiar people as supporting characters, but each book seems fresh, in a way. If an ongoing series was all about one character’s, say Isi’s, exploits, it may get dull, which, I assure you, this series is the exact opposite of!
Rating: 4.5/5 stars.
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