I think the hardest part of starting a new series is getting into the characters and the plot. But I found myself truly intrigued from the start. So hard to do.

Forest Of Souls by Lori M. Lee a fantasy YA inspired by the culture of Hmong shamanism. As the story unfolds we follow Sirscha, whose life is suddenly disrupted after an attack kills her friend Saengo, who Sirscha accidentally brings her back to life.She’s taken to the Spider King and is tasked to attempt to control the Dead Wood, a creepy forest full of the souls of the dead, but darker sinister forces are at play than she expected. 
Although it was well written, the book was definitely more plot driven than character driven. I felt that Sirscha didn’t have that much of an active role in the story. Sirscha’s story is one worth seeing and connecting to. Especially with how we often tie our own self-worth to other people. She thought her value as a person was based on what she could offer as a spy to the queen, or as a soul guide for the Spider King. But as he grows as a person through the read, by the end she is able to reflect and learn to be more of who she is, her worth and do things for herself. 
I appreciated the world building in the story. As well as how the author included the Hmong culture into the story. I was intrigued and loved understanding the magic system intertwined with the culture.
Although I felt the story dragged on quite a bit, the beginning was slow, and lacked character development. I did enjoy the the friendships and the characters journey in the read  as well ad the cliffhanger, it made me intrigued to see what will happen next

"Everyone in the kingdom knows the queen fears the shamanborn. Sirscha has not had to think about this fear too much, focusing instead on training relentlessly in the hope she’ll be named the queen’s shadow. But after a reconnaissance mission ends in flames, Sirscha awakens with the glowing eyes and rare powers of a shaman. She is called to tame her abilities when the forest rises up intending to choke the world as she knows it."

Sadly I felt like this book was extremely forgettable. It's not often I finish a book and as soon as I set it down I wonder what I just read about, and I have trouble remember some of the actual character and plot of the book I literally just read. I will not be picking up the sequel to this book...

I sadly DNF''d this book halfway through. I think it does not sound fair to the book because the reason for DNFing seems to be very personal and is not due to the quality of the writing. There is so much good in this. This is a really good October read - it is very atmospheric and gives me a spooky vibe.

For me, this book was lacking worldbuilding. I find it surprising that so many people are talking positively about the worldbuilding because for me - I simply did not understand most of the world. I think this book definitely built a lot of atmosphere and I am wondering if people mixed that into the world building aspect.
I could not start to connect to the characters at all. I have struggle understanding all the things and places. There is a glossary in the beginning, which is 8 pages long. It is too much for me to drop it all in the beginning. If I am really into characters or a plot line, I am willing to put in the effort to learn the places, but here I just do not want to go back and forth to understand what it is that I am reading.

For some reason I am just not drawn into the story. I keep going between "I am starting to get into it" and "I just cannot start to care about anything/anyone". This book would have benefited (for me) to have a first book with a third of the characters and places to slowly build out this epic world and ease me into it. And that is coming from a person who enjoys reading epic worlds of huge proportions :(

This was one of those books I was extremely hyped over. So there was a hesitance to pick it up. But I’m happy to say I finally did and it didn’t disappoint. The Forest of Souls is an amazing tale that leaves you utterly caught up in the world, the magic, and the characters.
We follow Sirscha Ashwyn as she is readying to become the new shadow of the queen. She has been training for this for years and she’s determined to be told that she will take over the rule and not one of the other apprentices. But when she follows one of her rivals to a tea house that ends up being ambushed everything changes. Not only does Sirscha awakens a magic she had no idea she possess, but she watches as her best friend is killed in front of her. But when she wakes up Saengo is alive. They become fugitives due to the fact Sirscha is a Shamanborn, which the queen has outlawed for years now. They are captured and told they are going to Ronin, the Spider King.
This story was so good. I loved the world that the author created for us. Though I admit it was a lot information to try and learn quickly, but once you figure it out, the story will wrap you up and leave you needing more. I loved Sirscha and Saengo’s relationship and their characters. I can’t wait to see more of them both and what will become of them and their strange circumstances. I loved how far these two character had become. The writing wasn’t dull for a second and leave you the reader utterly entangled in the story and needing to know what comes next to the point you listen to it at work just to find out (I would never! But I’m happy I did). I can’t wait for book two to see what happens next and to see if Sirscha can actually put a stop to the Dark Wood (SO CLOSE!) and the new enemy that has come back.

This books cover is beautiful and thankfully the book was worthy of the beautiful cover. Strongly recommend!

amazing read, great book would definitely recommend it to fantasy lovers. If you are already entranced by its synopsis, don't hesitate! get the book and read it. it wont disappoint :)

I wish I enjoyed this more, but I found myself kind of bored throughout. I felt like I didn't get as much from the characters as I wanted to, especially our main character, Sirscha. Everything about her personality felt surface level to me, that I found myself feeling detached from the story.

I also found a lot of the plot and world building elements really confusing, which made it hard for me to push through the book. I had to read certain passages multiple times because I felt like I didn't really understand what was going on.

I did not finish this book: Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee. I liked the premise of the story, but did not mesh with the writing style.

Do you ever meet a book that you’ve heard great things about, has an amazing premise, but you ultimately didn’t enjoy? That’s "Forest of Souls" for me.

Let’s start with what I did enjoy. The world was amazing, and so interesting. I loved learning about the shamans, their different abilities and history. The story really shines when with the world building and magic system. Sirscha is a great protagonist, and her and Saengo not only contrast nicely but also play well off of one another. Their dynamic was interesting and added complexity to the story. Other minor characters also added a lot to the story, and I loved that.

I think where I really struggled with the story is the plot and the pacing. After the first 25% or so, the story kind of tapers off and slows down. And then I kept waiting…and waiting…and waiting for the momentum to return. By the time it did, I wasn’t invested in the story anymore and that’s truly sad. I think the mystery we’re meant to unravel shouldn’t have taken centre stage as much as it did because that seems to be the reason why the story really slows down. It detracts from the compelling characters and world of the book, so much so that I felt we missed out on the depth the story hinted at. I also feel like the story drags out scenes or plotlines that don’t need that much page time while fading-to-black or being to brief with others that seem much vital.

The twist at the end wasn’t really surprising to me, but I am intrigued about where the story could go in the next book since it ends on a cliff-hanger. Sadly, I struggled with the pacing of this book despite enjoying the world and the characters. But if you love slower-paced fantasies, this one will be your cup of tea.

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

This book was very middle ground for me. I can see its potential to grow into a massive world but it was quite lacking for the first one. I think a lot of the issue had to do with pacing, much of it was spent on world building when I would have much rather learned about it through the characters.