Review: Forestborn by Elayne Audrey Becker

Forestborn by Elayne Audrey Becker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

If you are looking for a new and creative YA fantasy check this out. This is centered around a pair of siblings who are able to shift forms. They were orphaned as children and taken in by a gracious king after surviving in the wild and magical forest on their own. A vague prophecy leads to the general populace distrusting Rora and her brother Helos despite the king giving them his protection. When a magical plague begins attacking non-magical people, specifically the king's younger son, Rora, Helos and the king's elder son Weslyn take off on a quest to barter with giants for a cure. This quest will take them back to the forest of Rora's nightmares, where her mother abandoned her, and her father and village were slaughtered. On top of their quest to save the prince and the people from the plague, they must find the cure before war breaks out. There are 3 rulers in the land and King Jol has decided to eradicate magic land completely, and he has given the other rulers an ultimatum to join him or go to war. Rora and her group must avoid Jol’s men on their quest or face their wrath.

This has everything you want from a fantasy. It has great world building as the cast of characters traverses through the forest which is as much a characters as Rora, Helos, and Wes are. You never know what the forest is going to throw at them next. The beasts of the forest were so creative and perfect for a fantasy like this. We get a lot of character development on Rora, she goes through quite a lot on this book and has to deal with not only the current situation but trauma from her past as well. I expect we will see her continue to grow as the series progresses. I also expect to see more development from Wes and Helos as well, we see a bit of development as we get to know Wes, but as Rora is the main character the focus of development is on her.

There is a mild romance forming between two of the main characters, but it isn't really relevant to the plot. I could have done without it, but I'm anxious to see if and how it progresses in the next book. I’m kind of on the fence with it right now. I went into this book thinking it was a standalone, but as I approached the last 100 pages or so I realized there was no way it could wrap up without being rushed. Turns out it is atleast a duology. I’m very much looking forward to book two as Rora, Helos, and Wes all have their own burdens to bear and battles to fight. I look forward to seeing how they tackle the political issues with Jol and the fantasy issues with magic trying to find a place to take root as Jol tries to destroy it. For a debut this was fantastic and I only expect the storyline to get stronger!

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