“I met a man made of leaves, with roots for hair, who looked at me with eyes that burnt like fire.”An impenetrable forest that denies entry to all but a select few. A strange and isolated village, whose residents never leave. A curse that reappears every generation, leaving death and despair in its wake.What is lurking at the heart of the Forest? When the White Hind of legend is seen, the … villagers know three of its young people will be left dead, victims of a triangle of love, murder and suicide.This time, Sally, Jack and Reuben have been selected, and it’s their turn to be tormented by long-buried jealousies, aroused by the dark entity existing within its shadowy glades. Only by confronting the Forest’s secrets, can they hope to break the curse and change their destinies – if they have the courage.Keeper of secrets. Taker of souls. Defender of innocence.Existing on the very edge of believing, there is the Forest.And this is its story…
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Book Review by Pauline Reid The Forest ~ A Tale of Old Magic ~ by Julia Blake
What This Book Is About?
Sally, Jack and Reuben, all from the village, Wyckenwood, kids that grew up together, try and tackle and get their brains around the stories of old, and the tales of “The White Hind”. Yes, there is something definately lurking in the forest.
The story is based on the authors love of old folklore, legends and myths, and this book she drew heavily on the legend of The Green Man, that has intrigued her since childhood.
There are two stories told here. One of the present with the villagers, being introduced in such detail of people of the village and then there is the past, Julia Blake has chosen to tell the past in bold italics, and as folk tales.
My thoughts On This Book
Oh Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, I was wondering why there is so much fuss over this book, and now I know why!!! Julia Blake has such great world building skills, and alot of depth was put in, into telling us readers the world she wanted us to be in. I was also amazed at all the minute details, that Julia puts into her characters and now I know why authors like to people watch, as Julia does this to quite an astonishing degree, infact to perfection. Julia also has a beautiful narrative style, so it’s so easy to settle down and get right on to reading it. Julia’s pace leads the reader with ease, but with a curiosity that’s not overbearing, slowly, but leads up to quite a dramatic interest, Julia’s sense of humour comes out in this book in the shape of her character names, such as, Wally Twitchett, Molly Mole, who is known really as Granny Mole, and others. Julia Blake’s attention to detail, her poetic style, the flow of her words and rhythm are highly commendable.
Rating System
5 stars
Recommendation
Yes, this book comes highly recommended by me and if you like supernatural stories, past and present stories, folk lore, legends, myths, forest and nature settings, love triangles, mysteries and thrillers, and horror, love and happy endings, then I suggest you pick up this book, as it’s highly entertaining.
The Forest lures you into its world of mystery, revealing its tales of old, but only to those who dare to venture in. It breathes love, hate, and jealousy, from the evil that seeps its core. Julia has a great way of letting you feel each character’s emotion, as she takes you on their journey, as they battle to unravel the Forest’s secrets. While the first few chapters are slow in pace, this is for good reason: she introduces us to the villagers of Wyckenwode, giving us a sense of their daily lives, until an old legend is reawaked, when The White Hind is sighted, alerting them to a grim reality: three of their young people are set die.
A great read. Congratulations to Julia Blake.
This timeless, haunting tale is the kind of story you’d expect to be told by the hearth of an old villager. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read before, but I fell in love with this story right away and inhaled it. Great characters, wonderful setting, and so much fascinating village mythology woven into the story, it was like multiple interconnected stories in one!
Poetically written, haunting and captivating. I love the flow of the narrative as we’re drawn into this little village, the lives of its inhabitants, and… the forest.
The intensity builds and builds, ominous, foreboding, creeping up on us until we’re flying through the pages, desperate to know how this tangle of love, friendship, heartache and betrayal will resolve.
And let me tell you, it resolves perfectly. Fantastic read.
So Mote It Be!
The author’s storytelling prowess and larger-than-life characters lead the reader to the lush forest’s edge in the insular farming village of Wykenwode—and through its barrier, to witness the fallout from a curse that transcends time.
A curse the vile entity trapped inside the forest feeds on, siphoning a vengeful evil by feeding on and manipulating the inherent darkness steeped in its targeted villagers. There’s no shortage of hatred, jealousy, envy, greed, pain, anger, and betrayal for the entity to thrive. Until, the forces of good can effectively break the curse.
The boundary line between past and present is blurred through parallel lives, whereby Sally, Reuben, and Jack are destined to fall victim to the accursed fate suffered by their counterparts.
An enthralled reader, I willingly somersaulted from one generation to the next as events unfolded through the author’s use of language, a rich compost of bewitching and evocative descriptions.
Like the forest, this story pulsates with a life of its own, rendering the reader spellbound from the first page to its last. I highly recommend this heart-wrenching tale of magical realism, intertwining past and present. So mote it be!