Rated of 5
by Catherine H. (Nashua, NH) Writer with potential, can do better.
First, please remember this is a first book and give it a chance, I know I did and I was glad I finished the book. The story is of Jane and her "affliction", her only friends Madeline and Nathan in Victorian London "suburbs". After a slow and kind of painful beginning, I thought suspense builds up to the dramatic chapter in the "White Forest". I will let you discover the last chapter... Think of Moussourgsky and "Une nuit sur le Mont Chauve" while reading this book...
Rated of 5
by Nae The White Forest
The word "forest" certainly is an appropriate word in the title, because for most of the book I felt like I was, indeed, stumbling around in a dark (or in this case, milk white) forest trying to follow some sort of mythical trail of crumbs.
It always pains me to have to admit that I did not really enjoy a book, especially when I know that someone labored lovingly to bring their vision to light ... but I just really did not enjoy this book. In fact, I finished it with an oddly unsettled, creepy, is that all there is sort of feeling, as if I had stepped an inch too far off the pathway and was now hopelessly stuck in the middle of that same Empyrean the characters in this book were struggling so hard to attain. Perhaps that is what the author was aiming for, to create that unsettled feeling in the reader ... if it was then he certainly succeeded on that level.
I did admire the craft that went into this book. The ability to reproduce that florid, over-blown verbiage that Victorian gothic novels had without requiring the endless wading through adjectives to get to the salient point was very well done, without being "overdone." Something I know can be very, very hard to do.
At times there were certain sentences that resonated, "She was a woman born of plant matter," that I have to admit did keep me reading, hoping that somehow the plot line would do something to live up to those intriguing lines, but in the end, the plot just sort of petered out into a less than satisfying denouement.
Rated of 5
by Carolyn L. (Cincinnati, OH) Love a good mystery-alas this was not it
While Adam McOmber's The White Forest is dark and it is a mystery, it left this reader needing more. The plot seem to plod along at much too slow of a pace. This might have worked if the reader was hooked by the characters or an intriguing plot. Unfortunately, Jane, Mandy and Nathan needed more depth and personality; they lacked depth that would allow a reader to either want them to succeed or fail. And, while the premise of the book that combined the supernatural with human desire had great promise, in the end the story seemed forced and proved to be unsatisfying.
Rated of 5
by Dorian B. (Bainbridge, NY) Something Missing
As I read this book I felt that it just never reached its potential to be a page turner. The narrative often loses focus, interrupting any suspense or tension that has been created. The connection between the main characters, as well as the spiritual elements do not seem to be fully developed. This led to an ending that was unfortunately predictable.
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Full Story
of 5
by Catherine H. (Nashua, NH) 
of 5
by Carolyn L. (Cincinnati, OH) 
