Wow! This book was such a great read. Firstly, I think it goes without saying that the world-building Lori M. Lee put into this story is absolutely phenomenal. As someone who flips back to a map or a glossary constantly while I read to give me a better picture of what characters are experiencing, I have to say Forest of Souls did a brilliant job. I loved the concept from the outset--diversifying the typical epic European fantasy stories we all grew up with, and Sirscha quickly became one of my favorite female characters I've read in YA. Her friendship with her best friend, Saengo, warmed my heart and kept me turning the pages, and I loved that there was generally an absence of romance in the book as a whole. It's such a common trope in young adult books, and I particularly enjoyed how many stereotypes this book tried to break. I have to say that the one thing I think I was missing was more detail and emotions from the characters, because this book is heavily driven by its plot. Don't get me wrong, I love fast-paced action and twists as much as anyone else, but there was so much potential for character development that it was difficult for me to make it through the first third of the book. It picked up significantly afterwards, but I believe that Sirscha really kept me wanting to continue to read the story. I'm truly excited to see where her character-arc will take her, until then, I am eagerly looking forward to the sequel. The cliffhanger was gripping!

Ultimately I was a bit disappointed with this book. It was fast paced, which I did like however it was way too slow to start and I had a really hard time connecting with the story or any of the characters. I felt like there wasn't enough world building for a fantast novel and it honestly just left me with wanting more...but not in a good way.

I was very drawn to the cover of Forest of Souls and the premise was pretty intriguing. Upon reading the first 100 pages of the book, I decided to cancel my pre-order of this because I felt like the book was going nowhere. It didn't help that the writing was. a tad dry and I struggled to connect with the characters, especially the main character, Sirscha. Thanks for approving the eARC but it is rather unfortunate that I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to.

I highly enjoyed this book. It had the right amount of action and betrayal. It flowed real nice. I did have an issue with the glossary detailing everything being at the very beginning. While reading the glossary, none of it was sticking and I was confused and a little bored. I think that should have been at the back especially when it is being read as an ebook. There were some things that I thought would happen and sometimes it did and didn't. There was no romance but I think that will change in the rest of the series and it may our main girl Sirscha and Prince Meilek.

I was expecting a betrayal and I was pleasantly surprised. I was confused on if she was a soulbender or soulrender. The trees were creepy as fuck and it did have some Avatar the Last Airbender vibes. It also made me think of the first book I finished this year that I haven't really thought of at all and that book is Circle of Shadows.

I was very very excited but it took me way too long to finish since it fell flat to me. While the plot is fast-paced and exciting, I think the characters and the actual events of the book could have done with more? The world-building was a bit dry, there weren’t really that much details nor were there in-depth developments with the characters.

The plot is nice. It’s filled with culture and magic that is derived from Hmong shamanism, and the main character’s (Sirscha) life gets completely flipped over when she accidentally resurrects her best friend. From then on, she gets recruited into the Spider King circle and is the only one who can restrain the dangerous Dead Wood.

I love reading books for the characters and the development they go through. But as a reader, I learned nothing about Sirscha—she’s very surface-level, and her personality itself just was flat. Even with the overall plot, Saengo is the reason it all happens in the first place, right? It’s her death that drives the book and the plot forward, she’s Sirscha’s best friend, and since we’re reading from the perspective of the main character, we’re supposed to feel her sense of loss when she died during the first part of the book, but I didn’t feel anything. Even with the magical aspect of the book, Sirscha used her actual powers about thrice with zero training or growth or management to show for it. There was barely any struggle, any fight, and it just came off as an easy way out. It’s more plot than character driven, so maybe that’s why it didn’t click with me but my main reason for just not enjoying it as much as I thought I would is definitely the lack of scenes we had seen building up the main character. She trained to be a spy, and figured out she had powers, yet we saw absolutely nothing from those two aspects.

I think it just felt messy and all over the place, which was so sad because I looked forward to this book for so long especially with the gorgeous cover. Reading others’ reviews and seeing them agree with how eh the book had been was heartbreaking in a way.

I was really excited to read this book long before its release. The summary is intriguing, the main character's powers sound so cool and the cover of the book is amazing.

And I do like the book, but it didn't get me really invested in the story. It took me a very long time to finish it and that kind of dimmed the fun of reading it.

I don't have any major critic on it, but it was dragging a lot inbetween and just didn't keep me interested throughout. I think the problem for me was mostly that this is a very long book, but looking back at it, the plot doesn't seem like it should need 400 pages, and still I only feel connected to the characters on a surface level, not as deep as I wanted to.

I have to say tho, that the ending makes me interested in the second book nonetheless.
While Sirscha undeniably messed a lot up at the final showdown here, this setup for what might be the conflict for the second book seems way more interesting to me than the plot of book one.

I did enjoy this story but I feel like there was something missing. More in depth information was missing. There are all these different creatures and worlds and such, but no real explanation on how they came to be and how these worlds and creatures connect with each other.

It was also very slow in the beginning. It really dragged for me. I felt like the MC had a lot of potential that we never got to really see.

Overall it was enjoyable. Those who like a slow burn would like this book.

I did enjoy this but felt like it took a long time to really get going. The characters were good though and I'm hoping book 2 will be a bit faster paced.

3.5 stars

Forest of Souls is the firsts book in a trilogy by Lori M. Lee that is inspired by Hmong fantasy/folklore. Sirscha is a soldier in training with dreams of becoming the next shadow to the Queen - an elite spy/bodyguard that is held in high regard in her kingdom. Before Sirscha can find out whether or not her mentor has chosen her, Sirscha decides to take matters in to her own hands and sets off to intercept a message meant for someone also competing to be the Queen's Shadow. This sets off a series of events that ends up with the death of her best friend quickly followed by Sirscha somehow restoring her back to life as her magic is awakened. Sirscha must then try and learn her magic while also figuring out what is happening in the Forest of Souls and worrying about impending war between the other nearby kingdoms.

This book was a very exciting start to the series and I really enjoyed learning about the unique magic system and world building in the book. Some parts were a little information heavy and the magic system is a bit complicated to understand at times. The author includes a glossary in the beginning of the book that I found myself having to flip back to many times throughout the book. I liked the characters and their development in the book even though Sirscha could've used a little more development as she is so laser focused on becoming the Queen's Shadow that her personality doesn't come out as much as I would have liked. As this is only the first book, I imagine we'll be understanding more about Sirscha and her development as a character and I look forward to understanding her motives and inner thoughts a bit more. This book is different from other fantasy books in that there is not a romantic plot line (at least in this first book) which is a nice change of pace. I also enjoy reading fantasies inspired by other cultures so that made this book stand out in my opinion. I also like horror books so I really enjoyed her travels in to the Forest of Souls and the scary atmosphere that was created. I would recommend this book to those who like unique magic systems and feature other cultures or any fantasy fan.

I have been looking forward to reading this book for the longest time. As soon as my friends were giving this story rave reviews I knew I had to read it. Thank you so much for my review copy. I loved the spooky atmosphere setting at the beginning of the book, the plot had me hooked within the first chapter.
I have not read a book for the longest time that had me wanting to read this all in one day! There were so many amazing twists and turns that I could not stop thinking about after I had read this. I adore spooky wood settings and this just fulfilled everything I wanted and more!

I really enjoyed this book! It was a bit confusing at first but the mystery kept me flipping through the pages. I liked how this has some spooky and awesome scenes. Also, the characters were likeable so the captivating story seemed more interesting. The world-building was intriguing, I wish to see more of it in the sequel! Overall, Forest of Souls is a unique and well-written fantasy. Totally recommended!

I had decided not to review this book because there was something about it that wasn't drawing me in. However, I decided to give it a try once some friends read it and highlighted all its potential. NetGalley gave me the opportunity to change my mind, so I "re-picked" up the eARC I was sent.

Unfortunately, I found myself DNFing this book again, this time at around 50%. The worldbuilding has a lot of potential, but the characters fall flat and while the plot seemed interesting, nothing particularly sparked my interest. I do think this is the kind of book that could interest a lof of readers, but it continues not to be the read for me.

I won't be giving any feedback on Goodreads, as I prefer not to do that for DNFs, but I will be sending it through NetGalley this second time around.

Forest of Souls was absolutely incredible! It was so unique, the world building was incredibly immersive and I just wanted to explore the whole world! There was everything, magic, swordfights, politics and betrayal!
I don't want to say too much in terms of plot because spoilers, but it was perfect paced, I read Forest of Souls in two days and I could not put it down. I just needed to know what happened next! And wow! I did not see that ending coming at all!
I adored reading about Sirscha and her best friend Saengo - they have such a wonderful bond and it's so refreshing to read about girls who are building each other up, and would, truly do anything for each other. It was one of the highlights of the book for me.
Sirscha is such a fun character to follow, we get her snarky banter with Theyen, her wonderful friendship with Saengo and her loyalty and determination.
Another of the highlights of Forest of Souls was the magic system, which I just loved. It is so unique yet it felt so intuitive and made so much sense. From the shadowblessed to the different type of shamans - I hope we get to explore more of the magic system in the later books in this series.
I will definitely be reread Forest of Souls and I cannot wait to read the next book.

Loved, loved, loved this novel! Huge thanks to the publisher for letting me read a galley! Full review to come!

I was actually a bit disappointed. Even though it was a lovely fantasy, it was nothing special to me. It all felt a bit flat, and I'm not sure whether it was because I'm a little out of fantasy, or whether I just didn't enjoy it as much.

Unfortunately this one did not work for me. I struggled with the writing and story telling style from the very beginning. I found it a little heavy on the internal monologue and I found the world building a bit lacking. On top of that I struggled to connect with the characters and thought that plot was a bit meandering. I decided to DNF this book at the 25% mark because I knew it wasn't a good match for me.

"It is not from the world that I need acknowledgement of my worth."

Forest of Souls is a YA fantasy full of magic and myths inspired by Hmong shamanism. I loved Sirscha, the main character, and her growth throughout the book. Although I'd have loved to read more about her apprenticeship with Kendara, I really enjoyed her voice and how she slowly discovers herself and her magic. It's pretty rare these days, but there is no romance in this book — and I loved it. Sometimes it does feel a bit forced and doesn't add anything to the story - here, the main relationship is the one between Sirscha and Saengo, a fierce friendship that transcends even family bonds.

Overall, I really loved Forest of Souls, and highly recommend it if you're looking for a plot-driven book with an immersive world building, full of magic, mystery, and incredible main characters !

The plot was very unique. I really liked the magic system especially with the familiars. There were lot of climaxes which I predicted, lot being most of them, and I predicted all of them correctly. So on one hand I was happy i was understanding the book but on the other I wanted so much more. The writing was flat from the beginning to chapter 10, then in the middle it was pretty good but the ending was not upto the mark again. The characters were the only thing keeping me engaged but sometimes that is not enough. The narration could have been much more juicy. The danger in the situations were not reaching me. I was feeling detached. I hope the second book is better which I am looking forward to. I want to know what happens. I had predicted the antagonists properly and the way it tied up was very satisfactory. Theyen , if he continues to be the way he is might end up in my fictional crushes list.
Rating: 2.5

This book was one that was so very interesting. I had a fun time with this story. It felt like the start of an epic tale that I will need to know how it ends. I would totally recommend this book those those who love story’s like ; the throne of glass, the kiss of deception. It has political issues, identity issues and a plot that will keep your guessing.

I 10/10 recommend.

This book is a wild ride. I found the plot and emotion very Fresh and entertaining. It g in es off this vibe it will be really dark and twisty (don’t worry it is) but not to an extent that you have to keep the lights on or offer the author a hug and candy. It’s a interesting story and kept me captivated through out most of the book.

Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book’