Category: Fantasy

I absolutely adored this book! I enjoyed the characters and the overall grey morality behind their motivations. They were realistically conflicted with hard decisions and none of them was really good. It was interesting to have multiple points of views that drastically affect how the character feels and approached the conflict. 

This story is definitely character-driven complemented by a uniquely fascinating magic system. Hughes does also set up the world quite well but doesn’t venture far from what is necessary. This book manages to include a relatively complex magic system for a YA book but manages to define its parameters without falling into the pit of info-dump despair. 

This book is one that deserves much more attention than it’ll probably get. It truly delivers when it promises a story for fans of the Grishaverse, and sets the foundations for a series with the potential to be as successful.

After being pleasantly surprised by All the Stars and Teeth, I went into All the Tides of Fate thoroughly excited to see how the duology would come to a close. While I’ll admit my exact expectations weren’t met I was not let down. All the Tides of Fate is an enjoyable read especially for readers who tend to get a little too emotionally invested in the lives of the characters more so than the actual plot. 

The story of All the Tides of Fate does not differ too much from its predecessor in that they both involve a seafaring island-hopping adventure with high stakes. What sets this book apart from the one before is its deeper focus on the characters. All the Stars and Teeth focused more on developing this unique world and its circumstances. All the Tides of Fate uses those well-developed foundations as an opportunity to focus on the characters. While there is an external plot, the focus deeply revolves around the characters’ thoughts, actions, and reactions to the events that transpire. By the end of the first book, I was invested so invested in the characters that it didn’t take me long to want to delve deeper into their growing selves and relationships.

Ultimately this duology doesn’t end in your typical Young Adult fashion. Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say: idealistic ending who?

I recommend this book, the whole series really, to any who just need to escape reality and go on an adventure and maybe, just maybe, you’ll learn something about yourself or the world around you along the way.

Forest of Souls was one of my most anticipated releases of 2020. I was so excited when I finally got my hands on it that I had to force myself to slow down a bit. I’m trying to spend a longer time in books like this because I want to really take my time to contemplate and savour the story. While the story was fast-paced, throwing you into the action immediately, I managed to slow my reading pace comfortably. Lee does an amazing job of showing rather than telling, so whenever I set the book down I had plenty to think about. Regardless of the fact that I came to the same conclusions as our protagonist as quickly as she did, it allowed me to explore aspects of the story that the author set aside. This only adds to my excitement for the upcoming sequel Spider’s Web, because I want to see how these concepts are brought into fruition. 

The magic system definitely gave me similar vibes to Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse, and the aesthetic of this world definitely felt influenced series like The Untamed. The lore of this world felt well-developed and even though we only view the world through a single character’s eyes, I definitely felt like we were provided with more than sufficient world-building. 

My favourite part of this book was the characters. Forest of Souls includes a beautiful sisterly-friendship between the protagonist Sirscha and her familiar Saengo. Lee does an amazing job portraying the platonic love between the two girls, and how their situation affects them not only as individuals but as partners. The lack of romance in this book is refreshing, but not entirely not existent, as there is definitely foundation laid down for it. Whatever the author ultimately decides, I can only imagine it being executed well, as her ability to set up characters and their relationships are definitely above average.