Above all, I loved the way this book focused on the friendship between the main character and her best friend. It's something you don't see much of in YA and it was really refreshing. I also liked the magic system and the setting was extremely atmospheric. That being said, I couldn't connect too well with the characters and the plot couldn't keep my attention so unfortunately, I lowered the rating because of that.

REVIEW WILL GO LIVE ON LAIR OF BOOKS ON 8/4/2020 AT 8AM EST, LINKS WILL BE ADDED.

THE 411...
We don't often see YA Fantasy with a strong female/female friendship at its core but they're SO needed! Forest Of Souls has ZERO romance my fellow book lovers, instead we got the ride or die friendship of a lifetime. Our MC Sirscha was orphaned at a very young age & then recruited by the Prince/Queens Army. On the side she trains for the coveted/competitive spot of Queen's Spy where she is trained by Kendara, an older woman who is the current spy for the Queen. Challenged & tested every day with hopes that she gets selected but unsure of who her competitors are, Sirscha is determine to prove everyone wrong. She has no house to claim her & no wealth to back her, she is looked down upon & often taunted to get her to leave her training. The only friendship she's managed to make is with Saengo who has the complete opposite of upbringings. The daughter of a well respected prominent family, Saengo trains in the Queens Army as a way to rebel against expectations placed upon her. She isn't disciplined when she steps out of line but that isn't for want. Saengo craves to be treated like every other soldier & hates seeing Sirscha get the brunt of the discipline for the both of them.

When side tracked during their camps travels one day, they find themselves in a world of danger & consequences are set in motion. All eyes are on Sirscha when in a moment of life or death, her Shaman abilities are activated unbeknownst to her. Bringing Saengo back to life after an attack from a Shaman wielding the fire element left her for dead. The only issue is that in this world there is nothing worse than being a Shaman. To be discovered to have Shaman abilities is to live a life imprisoned or be killed. This is because the Queen had her own family wiped out by Shamans and since then has not been able to pardon any who cross her lands. This of course poses a conflict since Sirscha was a top contender for the title of Queen's Spy. Word gets out & gets back to Ronin, the Spider King who is in charge of The Dead Wood where souls can be found trapped within the trees. No one dares go into the Dead Wood without an invitation from The Spider King & even he can't promise you complete & total safe passage. Ronin takes interest in Sirscha believing her to be the only living Soul Guide which puts her in a odd position. Her powers seem to control the souls reaching out from the trees & Ronin means to utilize her. Sirscha is up for the task but she wants answers to her questions & to get to the root of the problem. Saengo may be back from the dead but is beginning to show signs of the rot/decomposition. Sirscha will do anything to keep her friend alive especially because they are now bound in more ways than one (spoilery won't say) making it a necessity.

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS
The strongest aspects of this book are within the core friendship between Sirscha & Saengo as well as the message of self worth. Sirscha doesn't know her worth, she constantly feels the need to prove herself to her superiors & craves approval. Driven by that need to be accepted & valued, she is hell bent on the position of Queen's Spy & then thrown off kilter when that seems unlikely. If not the Queens Spy, then who will she become? this is always at the forefront of her actions. Sirscha is honorable, loyal, fierce & wicked with her fighting abilities but she doesn't see her own value. I LOVED her character growth, seeing her reclaim the power within & realizing she is absolutely more than enough. As far as the world building, it's very atmospheric & eerie especially the scenes in The Dead Wood. I only wished there was more exploration of Sirscha's own Shaman abilities. At the very beginning we get a whole Glossary for this world however we don't really see all of it used in the text. I kind of wish we had because some of the abilities in the Glossary for some of the Shaman sound unique & interesting. I also was hoping to get an appearance from the feared Queen herself but that didn't happen. The side characters however were really clutch! Prince Meilek at one point sort of gave me love interest vibes but that may have just been me, I did enjoy his character. The ending of course left me wishing I had the follow-up in my hands. It seems Sirscha's adventure is far from over, in fact it's just begun...

I am deeming my issues of Forest of Souls an issue with me then the book itself. I've tried several times to read it and each time I couldn't get more then 15%-25% in. I was forcing myself to pick it up and read. I wasn't bored, I was interest to see where the story would go but just couldn't make it that far. From what I seen review wise is that this book is already super loved and that gives me hope that when I decide to revisit this book I will enjoy it.

A truly astonishing work that demonstrates a great tapestry of world-building and intelligent plot development.

Forest of Souls was a super quick read for me ! I enjoyed how unique the magic system and politics were but I really really wish this book had a map. There is a glossary included but that actually didn't help me to get oriented in this world and the different kingdoms and their motives went a bit over my head at times.
That being said I LOVED that this is a YA book with no romance ! Yes thank you Lori M. Lee !
I enjoyed Sirscha and Saengo's friendship, the concept of Shamanborn and how dark the story got at the end.
3.5 Stars from me !
Thank you to Netgalley and Page Street Publishing for the review copy !

As always, a copy of this book was provided by the author or publisher in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

Forest of Souls was on my radar for two reasons: that haunting cover-design stunned me the very second my eyes found it. AND THAT PREMISE. Holy, moly. Love at first sight. Have I ever yelled, "SIGN ME UP?" at my computer screen louder than I did the moment I saw the words destiny and sisterhood?

Probably not. I just knew that I needed this darkly woven fantasy in my life immediately.

Not only was Forest of Souls dark, chilling, captivating, and utterly imaginative, it is the perfect introduction to a brand new series. I could NOT put this book down. Even though it was slow to start, I could feel something electric just bubbling under the surface. When it finally did, I was not disappointed.

If you feel as if you've been hypnotized by the eyes of Forest of Souls cover, just wait until you meet this world. You're really in for it, then. And if you need something atmospheric to get your blood flowing, to really feel your heart-beating, Forest of Souls is destined to be that book for you.

Lori M. Lee has ensured two things. One? This is the YA dark fantasy you've been looking for and I promise you, you cannot miss it. And two? 2021 CANNOT COME QUICKLY ENOUGH. Yes, yes, as a matter of fact I am making grabby hands at my laptop in anticipation of its second installment.

So much about this novel felt unforgettable. Honestly, reading it reminded me of the times I'd read books like Splintered by A.G. Howard or The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. The writing was so bleak (in a good way!) and yet engaging, I longed to be lost in its prose and to hear only the sound of my own breathing.

To say that I am obsessed with Forest of Souls would be an understatement.

Beautiful cover and intriguing premise made me want to read this book. This was a spookier fantasy which YA could use more of. It had a lot of troupes I enjoy like training and discovering new powers. I also liked the best friend character, but wish we saw more with her. This was a rare YA book without romance. The beginning was slow, a typical hurdle for first books in fantasy series. I kept trying to connect more with the book but felt like I didn't get as much from the characters as I wanted. But there was still great world building and atmosphere.

Disclaimer: This review is not sponsored. I was part of the International Blog Tour for this book and I was given an e-ARC of the book by the publisher and author in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start by telling you that I picked this book up with the slightest idea of how the plot and the world building would look like. I only know that a.) it was a fantasy novel and written by a badass Asian author, and b.) the cover art was illustrated by Charlie Bowater. I know going into a book blind is risky, but most of the time it turns out to be a wild ride. That’s what happened with Forest of Souls.

Dark, unique and fast-paced. Those are the three adjectives that would best describe this book. It took me by surprise in the best possible way and once the story picked up, I couldn’t put it down! It’s also hard to write this review without getting to spoilery, so I decided to just tell you three reasons why you should add it to your list instead:

1.) This is a story of friendship and sisterly bond.

You can really see how the first book gives importance to Sirscha and Saengo’s bond. Their relationship, I believe, is the anchor and the heart of this book. I loved how their story was depicted, how they would do every thing to protect and defend each other. It’s beautiful to see how, in their moments of being lost, they were each other’s north stars. That alone made me love how this book was written.

2.) There is no insta-love.

Don’t get me wrong! I do love me some good insta-love, but sometimes it comes off as unnecessary, especially when it’s a story about searching for your identity and self-worth. I am still in awe that this book only gave us a taste potential romances but not totally focusing on who likes who. I’m rooting the potential romance of two characters, but I don’t want to tell who because I might jinx it! I’m dying to find out how their stories will play out in the next books (yes, it’s a trilogy)!

3.) If you like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Children of Blood and Bone and Grishaverse, you will love the magic system in this book.

This book is so awesome, it included Shamans! For me, that’s a breath of fresh air. The Magic is reminiscent of all the fandoms I’ve mentioned above. As what Lori said, this is a mishmash of all western fantasy tropes infused with her own cultural influences. I like how the concept of a Familiar (souls of beasts that bonds with Shamans) was presented in this book, and I’d love to explore more of it in the coming ones!

Overall, Forest Souls was a complete experience! I know in my heart that I will be continuing this series, and would love them as much (if not more) as this book. It was surprising, gripping and it serves you twists like a full-course meal when you least expect it! Yes, I still have unanswered questions (thus, my rating), but I’m certain that those will be answered in the upcoming books!

3.5 stars
What an interesting young adult fantasy read. I found Forest of Souls to be an interesting fantasy read where we explore necromancy, you do not see much of that kind of magic in the young adult fantasy genre. I do wish it were explained more or that our heroine showed more aptitude towards it before she used it to resurrect her friend. Especially from previous stories necromancy seems to be hard magic to learn let alone wield. I can understand being able to bring forth magic under extreme emotional distress but come on being able to wield it so effortlessly takes you away from the believability of it. The Worldbuilding was interesting and there were some excellent action scenes to keep you engaged throughout the story. Overall, Forest of Souls is promising first book in a new fantasy trilogy.

This was an absolutely phenomenal read. I have recommended it to everyone. I loved the world the author created, and the characters felt so real! I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Loved the world system and the concept of the familiars and the souls was really interesting.
I thought I wasn't going to like the whole unique chosen one usual trope, but somehow here it wasn't as forced as in some other books. I really liked the friendship and everything the main character did to ensure her best friend's well-being. I'm really intrigued and the story promises a very good sequel!

OH MY GOSH THAT ENDING.

I really enjoyed this, it took me a while to get into, but i think that was entirely my inability to read more than one chapter at a time up until ~40% of the way through.

I loved all the boys in this, the Prince - literally so charming, and Theyen, that snarky little shit, and I loved Sirscha, Saengo, and Phaut, and I honestly did not see half of the twists coming.

Can’t wait for the sequel.

Forest of Souls is a darkly twisted story with secrets and magic. We follow Sirscha who has to be training with the shadow queen in secret and is hoping to become with queens' shadow one day. She's working hard trying to prove that she is strong enough and the best person for this job. However, one night when things go wrong, she ends up bring Saengo back to life. Saengo is a childhood best friend, and they end up in a few tight spots, and things unfold from there. I enjoy the relationship between the two, I like the witty and care that they have for one another. Two other characters that stand out are Theyen and Meilek. I found the development between these two characters good and liked how things play out between them. But I also feel like we only got to know the top layer of the characters, but seeing as this is a book on I get that. I also like that there wasn't any romance, with some YA books that usually overtakes everything but that didn't happen with this book; however, there are many different relationships that do play hugely into this story.   
The Dead Woods is a place all it's own. Lori's descriptions really painted a vivid place. I felt that I could see and feel what it would be like to be trapped in a place where all these souls are being traped. I haven't read about many places like this, it was one of a kind, spooky! I like how there was more going on than just a scary place.
The culture and magic were inspired by Hmong shamanism, which was new to me and I enjoyed it very much. I can't wait for the second book, hopefully, we get more magic and get to learn more about Sirscha's 'powers'.

With all that said, I did enjoy this book, the chills, and the magic. This book kinda gave me Truthitch vibes, which I loved. I'm looking forward to seeing where these characters go next.

Review posted on Goodreads (July 9, 2020)
Review Linked

4.5/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review!

This book is my new obsession. OMG I loved this book! What is really interesting about this story for me is that it had no romance. I am usually a reader that needs a book to have some kind of romance in order for me to  love it, but this was an exception. I am, however, really interested to see if a romance does come up in the next book!

One of my favorite things about this book was the world building. Lori  M. Lee  is a fantastic writer. Honestly, I loved everything about this. I could not put it down, and I am so excited to see where the author takes the series. If you love fantasy, then I really recommend picking up this book. It is easily one of my favorite books that I've read so far in 2020!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

Forest of Souls is more of a plot-driven story than character-driven that unfortunately fell hard into the "telling, not showing" trap. More than halfway through, I really started to feel left in the dark and frustrated in terms of where the story wanted to go.

Our main protagonist, Sirscha struggles with being "enough". She's lived a hard life, being an orphan but she's determined in proving to everyone around her wrong, that she's something worthy. Early on, guided by her mentor, Kendara, we see that Sirscha's initial goal is to become the queen's Shadow-- a whisperer of secrets. But after an attack that kills her best friend, Saengo, we soon find out that she's a soul guide-- a lightwender who can guide souls into the afterlife or back to the living. Because of her newfound powers, she's then put on a mission by the Spider King to gain control over the Dead Wood-- an ancient forest possessed by vindictive souls.

It was hard to root for Sirscha. She would constantly repeat her misfortunes but wouldn't act on getting herself out of those misfortunes, to the point where I questioned what was truly driving her? What would truly drive her? In certain moments, we can see that her friendship with Saengo happened to be motivation but there was not much full on action taken overall.

The worldbuilding was quite expansive (elemental powers, shamans, large bipedal lizards to name a few) but underdeveloped and underutilized. The politics and intrigue felt sloppy. The story moved so fast with way too many different goals to accomplish. Was the goal of the story for Sirscha to free the souls from the Dead Wood? To find out why the shamans attacked her and Saengo? To become Kendara's shadow? The plot seemed to be all over the place and it was hard not to feel bored and detached from the story.

This was easily one of my most anticipated reads of 2020 and I'm just so disappointed that I didn't enjoy it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

My Rating: 3 Stars

When a book is pitched as “perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and Susan Dennard”, I sit up and take notice. I add it to my preorder list, I request a galley of it, I add it on Goodreads. These are all things I did IMMEDIATELY after reading the synopsis for Forest of Souls. It definitely didn’t hurt that the cover was easy on the eyes. Given that the book has been compared to books written by two of my favorite female authors, I had extremely high hopes. Hopes that were, unfortunately completely dashed by the middle of this book.

Don’t get me wrong, there were absolutely things that I liked about Forest of Souls! The plot on its own is great and had the potential to be absolutely incredible. The world and magic system created with unique and interesting. The bare bones of the book were great.

Unfortunately, the characters fell flat for me. Which characters, you may ask? Well, all of them. I loved the main character and her best friend in the first few chapters of the book, but somehow by the middle they had lost all personality. The snark, the banter, and all of the other things that I found intriguing about the two of them was gone. There was one character that I liked, Theyen. That being said, I only liked him because he was mean and it was entertaining. His entire personality boiled down to one word: mean.

The other character who intrigued me was the potential romantic interest. While there is no romance in this book, I feel that there is the potential for romance in future books. If he is indeed Sirscha’s romantic interest, I will definitely be curious to see how that progresses, as he was a character that I felt had dimension.

Additionally, the execution of the plot fell short for me. There were no scenes that really got my heart pounding or had me turning the pages hungrily. I felt that at any time, even in the middle of a fight or action scene, I could put this book down and walk away.

I really wish that this had been the book I was hoping for. As a debut, it had potential and I might pick up the sequel just to see where things go.

I read a lot of fantasy so sometimes books start to sound the same but I really enjoyed this one. It had everything I wanted from a good YA fantasy and even made be enjoy it despite by hatred of spiders! I will be recommending that my library purchase a copy of this book so I can recommend it to my customers.

It has been a long while since I finished a book and wanted to immediately write my thoughts down for a review, but Forest of Souls did that for me.

Forest of Souls is a story about a girl who’s determined to not lose everything she’s worked for over a heritage she has no control over.

Sirscha is training to become the next Shadow of the Queen of Evevyn. Her mentor, Kendara, has numeours pupils that don’t know each other but that changes when Sirscha steals a note from a bully and finds out that he is a pupil too. She decides to take over his quest to prove how much better she is, but the quest turns out to be a trapp that ends deadly. And in Sirscha awakes a gift that could turn the world she lives in turn upside down.

The book starts off with a pronunciation guide and some quick explanations on the different kingdoms, animals and magic abilities. I liked the placement of this guide a lot, because it gives the reader some insight and orientation points in the story before the plot takes off. Which it does.

As the reader you are thrown into the story which moves quickly from one point to another. Sirscha and her best friend Saengo are part of the Queens Guard, the military of the Kingdom. Saengo is part of a royal house but Sirscha is an orphan and holds no value in the eyes of the other soldiers, so she’s constantly faced with bullies. While she is trained better than anyone else, she isn’t allowed to show her skills and has to take a lot of beatings and humiliations if she want’s to hold her place as one of Kendaras pupils.
The resentment an arrogance that come with this training are a constant in Sirschas emotional development and I loved that. She is battling through some things on top of trying to right an ancient wrong that was thrown at her.
The book doesn't contain a huge cast of characters which was nice as the introductory book but I do hope that the world and characters extend a bit in the following books. Sirscha isn't one who makes friends easily so seeing her cooperate with different people do to what is right was great.

The books contains some horror elements which I’m not used to but enjoyed a lot. It was creepy and got me some chills, especially the Dead Wood itself.
The book focuses on the friendship between Sirscha and Saengo and they have a lot to go through together.
It's also a lot more political than expected and a lot of what happened in this book will come into play in the following which I'm really excited about. I love it when some plot points extend over more books and show an overall plot.

To finish this off, I just have to say that I enjoyed this book A LOT and can't wait to see where Sirschas story goes in the following.

Many thanks to The Royal Polar Bear Reads and Page Street Kids for an ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Listen. Have you seen that cover? There’s no way I could not read this book because, one, Asian-inspired dark fantasy and, two, there’s a hella fierce-looking woman on the cover, and that’s basically my brand at this point. Other than, you know, dragons … which this almost has in the form of drakes and such.

Forest of Souls is an Asian-inspired dark fantasy with a deliciously creepy atmosphere, some serious sibling bonds that are to die for (maybe literally), and an ending that makes me question my ability to build a time machine, because 2021 is too darn far away.

I admit that the beginning was a little slow for me to get into, and I kept waiting for something to happen. It didn’t take long for the first fight scenes, and that’s something that’s done really well in this book: the fight scenes. Oh my gosh. So if you have trouble getting into this, I’d recommend giving it an extra chance, because when things pick up (not too far in), they pick up.

My Thoughts:

- Lee creates a world that is lush, vivid, and every bit as black as my soul, and I am HERE TO STAY, I tell you. Okay, who here is surprised that I want to escape into a world with a murder wood that will straight up eat your face and then absorb you into it? No one? Because I am so here for this. The book is just full of really vivid descriptions of a world that was as beautiful as it was dark, and I loved traveling through it. There are moments that seem gorgeous, which puts them at such a juxtaposition to the stark reality of a freaking wood that devours people’s souls. Again, totally want to say just how much I love that. I had no idea what to expect for this world going in, but it is dark, so I was really happy with that. Not so dark that you devolve into a pit of despair and existential crisis, but dark enough to give you chills in the middle of summer and make you thankful to live here. Now that’s a powerful sort of feeling.

- This world is just full of legend and history and political strife, and it feels lived in. You know how cozy things get when they’ve been lived in for a while. That’s the best way I can describe this book. The whole world was just so easy to fall into and explore. The history isn’t crammed down your throat, but you discover it piece by piece, and each little nugget just adds to the overall picture. The world just happens to be filled to the brim with magic, too, in the form of different types of wenders. Think Avatar the Last Airbender, but with more options and higher stakes. There’s firewenders, earthwenders, waterwenders, airwenders, and lightwenders, and within those are even more categories of different abilities people have, not to mention the ones who manipulate shadows. I loved this system for magic, and I’m so intrigued about what these shamans will do in book two!

- There’s actually no romance in this book, which is a breath of fresh air for YA. Instead, the focus is on the deep sisterly bonds between Sirscha and Saengo, who are basically found family for each other. And can I just say yes? More of this, please. All of this. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance in my fantasy as much as the next person, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: not every book needs to have a romance. It was perfectly reasonable for there not to be one here, and even if one develops in the sequel, it’ll be fine. The focus for this book is on Saengo and Sirscha and what they go through together, and a romance would’ve just detracted from that. Sibling bonds and found family are two of my favorite tropes, and this book basically has both, as Sirscha and Saengo consider each other sisters, even though they’re not related by blood. Like sisters, their relationship isn’t always sunshine and roses. It very much reminded me of Frozen in the dynamic (and I loved it there, too), where the two girls have to decide just how far they’re willing to go for each other. Over the course of the book, their relationship changes, and they have to redefine what this means for their future, and just every bit of this was so much yes. This is definitely a dynamic I love.

- The characters were a little hit or miss for me. The ones I loved, I loved. The rest, I was a bit indifferent towards. It should come as no surprise at all that I loved Theyen, the intelligent, arrogant noble who also happens to be skilled in battle (because sword fights are sexy). I also loved Kendara, Sirscha’s trainer, and Prince Meilek, but for different reasons. And also kind of the same reason. They both have layers, and I haven’t quite figured them out yet, so they’re both puzzles for me to solve. Where I really struggled, though, was with Saengo. Despite seeming like she would be almost a secondary protagonist in this, and despite the rather important role she plays in both the story and Sirscha’s life, I felt like I didn’t know her at all. She gets a lot of screentime, so to speak, but it’s all inconsequential screentime. Basically, she’s there to support Sirscha, and her entire character almost becomes relegated to this support role, rather than having her independent personality shine through. I really hope to see more of her in the next book, because she seems like she has the potential to be a really complex and strong character, but she hasn’t quite reached that stage yet.

- Sirscha is a strong female character, no doubt about that, but she also suffers from a lot of universal emotional struggles, and this was so refreshing. Don’t get me wrong, I do love self-assured, confident, strong female characters, but … not all of them, yeah? There’s something extra beautiful about the fact that Sirscha can take down two men without breaking a sweat, thanks to her training, but she still suffers from existential crises. This really made her character so much more real and deep to me, because everyone has their doubts, and her emotional struggle was just so poignant.

This ARC was provided for review, but in no way affects the following impartial and unbiased review:
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3*
Pros: Interesting and enchanting premise and concept. Features a creepy and deadly forest, which is one of my favourite elements. Badass female lead. Fantastic battle scenes and fierce moves. Engaging dialogue and narrative. Fascinating magic system and hierarchy.
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Cons: Completely avoidable ending. Lacking world-building and character development. Confusing plotline, pulled in many unnecessary directions. Unsatisfactory emotional relatability.