Special edition featuring redesigned cover art and extra content
"While your children and grandchildren are away, I like to think that they're visiting a fantastic place, somewhere where they aren't restrained by an illness or held back by their own emotions, a place where there is nothing but health and happiness to greet them."
Once upon a time, Oliver wakes up in a Forest full of magic and monsters, not quite dead, but not quite alive either. He wakes with three other people whose lives have been cut short, each more tragically than the last. Together, they embark on a journey that will take them deep into the heart of the Forest, where they will have to face the ghosts of their pasts and their long-hidden secrets. Secrets that will force Oliver to choose between finding a new life in the trees and finding a way home. Welcome to the Paper Forest.
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Paper Forests is an inventive fantasy adventure that faces some challenging themes head-on and grapples with themes of self-identity and faith. The characters journey through a dreamlike realm, with the bulk of the book’s conflict rooted in the character arcs.
Prose: The book features some strong sentence level descriptive writing. The tone and mood of the writing are consistent and portray a setting and atmosphere that is surrealistically dynamic as the characters traverse the mysterious forest.
Originality: Aided by tinges of classic fantasies, the novel’s layered approach to characterization and plot makes for a creative, mysterious, and engaging narrative. The novel successfully connects its themes to its plots and setting.
Character/Execution: Skillfully rendered character development, which lies at the heart of the conflict and setting, propels the narrative.
Date Submitted: April 19, 2023
Skillfully weaves suspense and darker themes into a heart-wrenching journey, exploring the complexities of mortality and possibilities of the in-between.
Anderson writes whimsical, eloquent prose, bringing the dreamscape to life.
Paper Forests is both heart-warming and heartbreaking at the same time...The writing is so exceptional that it turns a dark and chilling story into a fascinating one.
A highly imaginative work...A world that will occupy the imaginations of readers even after they have turned the last page.
Aided by tinges of classic fantasies, Paper Forests makes for a creative, mysterious, and engaging narrative.
