Forest Born by Shannon Hale

Forest Born by Shannon Hale
Book Review by me, Emily

I want to be Shannon Hale. Wow. I love this book. The writing is stunning, powerful, and poetic. Furthermore, the plot is unique and intriguing. I know I'm totally gushing here, but I'm working on a fairytale of my own, and toward the end of this book, I looked up and told my husband, "I want to write like this."

Besides, she's just an awesome human. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, she's hilarious. Check out my interview with her here.

Okay, I'm ready to get to the story now.

As a little girl growing up near the Forest, Rin always felt comfort from the trees. When the trees stop filling her with peace and seem to reject her, Rin feels lost and lonely.

Her brother, Razo (remember him?) invites her to come to the city to see if it will help, but an unknown evil is threatening the kingdom. Rin follows Isi, Enna, and Dasha to fight an evil sorceress, but will she be able to help? She feels useless, but she'll find her own kind of strength.

All of these books are empowering. They have strong characters that you can identify with, and the unique settings always leave me longing for more.

Here's a short quote that I enjoyed, "No one had ever called her wild before. She was Ma's shadow. But she wanted to be wild now, for him. Wild seemed more enticing than a bowl of berries."

Isn't that cute?

I highly recommend the Books of Bayern for teens and adults who don't want to grown up like me. (There is one scene of kissing in this book-you know, not just a peck, FYI.)