Cover Image: Songs from the Forest

Songs from the Forest

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Member Reviews

DNF - I had a really hard time following the story. I loved the hedgehog cover but I couldn’t carry through to the end

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I found the story hard to follow... it was just too here and there for my taste. The characters were meh and boring..

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Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and author for an ARC of this book!

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I started I was definitely pulled in. I found it a little jarring at first because of my lack of knowledge of the history of the folktalkes the author used, but I think I enjoyed the allure and the mystery of it so much. It's quite a long book, and I was defintely daunted by that when I first cracked it open, but as I slowly read the book I got into it more and more. I would definitely suggest tackling a little bit of it everyday if the length is daunting, but I ended up devouring pages upon pages in one sitting. I do love a good storytale!!!

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The storyline didn't particularly interest me. This was a very hard book to follow. It was a very confusing and graphic book. Definitely not my favourite

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I find it very difficult to write about this book. It was a very difficult, tiring, and long read that in the end felt incredibly underwhelming and not worth the many hours poured into trying to finish it...

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This book won't be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. Imaginative, interesting, and keep me wanting to read more. I love japanese lit.

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An artistic and symbolic writing that establishes a mystical and magical resonance through forest and nature against the gradual progression of industrialisation and the impending destruction in the name of construction.

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I wanted to like this but I think you need to have an appetite for a specific style of masculine prose to enjoy this. I'm not the ideal reader for this but I would recommend it to readers who typically enjoy sci-fi/fantasy and want to branch out.

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I needed some time to grow to this book and espcially at first, I had to constantly look up the characters and the roles they were playing in the book. I am being honest, I don't know a lot about Chinese culture, so I can't speak for accuracy, but since this book was written by a Chinese author and translated by a Chinese person as well, I'd say that's about as accurate as you can get.
As a person from Western culture, it was a bit strange to me at first, but I really grew to love this book. I am definietly going to check out more by the author, since the characters and the story were really intruiging. It reminds me a bit of "Black Leopard, Red Wolf", which is on my to-read list as well, so I am a bit nervous about reading it now...
This book was extremly... intense, I think that is the best way to put it. The characters were so intruiging and the plot was sweeping me off my feet.It draged for some points, but the ending was absolutely relateable and I was almost sad to finish this book.
There are, however, a couple of things that grossed me out and I didn't exactly understand, so I am not sure how accurate my review can actually be.

I received a free copy by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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It took me a while to crack open this near-impenetrable leviathan of a book. The writing style is dense, clumsy at times, and with puerile humour. That said, the story is wildly imaginative.

While this is no match for Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, if you enjoyed that you might want to give this one a go.

My thanks to Netgalley and Sinoist Books for the ARC.

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Songs of the forest is poetically written, very strong and stylistic. The main concern is the constant development of the forest which has magical animal spirits. Liao Mai and Mei Di have land that borders on the edge of the forest. Which has caught the eye of developers also Jealousy. Since it is large and backs to a large area. They are one with nature versus developing all that is left so the animal spirits and animals are all gone. ( Plus the forest) Turn into for profit.

There is also the claim that large companies have the right to own nature that is supposed to be protected. The right to own people of lower status. The forest is in jeopardy it's life and very being. They are also dealing with Old blood feuds also.

What is good for a small village Jiwo the people who don't have much. Is industrialism a good idea. What happens when everything becomes unfarmable or the water is undrinkable. It delves a lot into environment. Human carbon footprint.
There are some part animal spirit plus human I guess since its mythical creatures the closet I can imagine is dual natured beings. If they can shape from human to animal spirit/animal.

There is discrimination upon a lot of different actions such as choosing sides/favortism etc. There is esoteric talk with mythical beings and nature. I love it its amazing. Oh and also they let you know ahead of time, names and characters. Also at the end of each chapter what possible didn't get fully translated/or possibly misunderstood. ( plus reiterates characters.)

Arc was given to me by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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It’s not often I find a literary fiction book that I don’t care for, but this was one. I found it very hard to follow. It also had a lot of foul language and bestiality. There was violence, but I didn’t think it too graphic. The sex scenes were graphic however.

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