Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on The Forest King’s Daughter by Elly Blake. Thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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TL;DR: This was an interesting new YA fantasy and I admit that I was hooked from the prologue. I immediately wanted to know more and see what happened in the years that passed following the giving of the ring and the declaration of war. There were a lot of interesting elements to the story that compelled me to keep reading and I’m glad that this came on my radar; however, on the whole, I admit that I wanted more from this story. This had a lot of potential to be an amazing read had it not been for some missed opportunities when it came to the POV, the world-building and character development. Having said that, I liked The Forest King’s Daughter enough to want to continue the series and see how the hinted-at prophecy unfolds.

I wasn’t quite sure how to put my thoughts into words as I was reflecting on my final thoughts. about the book, so to make it easy on myself, I’m breaking this review down into the things I enjoyed and the things I wish had been done differently. Starting with the thing I enjoyed:

“Sylvans valued truth above all things, believing a lie was like a broken vow, which carried dire consequences.”

• The mix of Roman, Greek and Germanic mythology and a wide array of magical mythical creatures. I love a mythology-based fantasy and this one had an interesting mix of lore. The only part that I was mildly familiar with was lore about the King of the Forest, but I liked the introduction to Noctua, Nerthus, and Solis. The only thing that I wish is that there had been more of it. There was also a great mix of unique fantasy creatures included in the story that I hadn’t read about before. The scuccas were unique but creepy AF but the creature I loved most was one of the foxlike welkin spirit creatures, the Vozarra.
• Welkincaster ft. Gutel the Kobold. Who doesn’t love the idea of a floating island in the clouds? Welkincaster was eerie and magical and this element was an interesting way to learn more about the world-building. I was admittedly unsure what I thought about Gutel but this grumpy protector of the hearth and manor grew on me by the end! He’s a fun combination of wisdom and knowledge mixed with disgruntled and a bit of a drunk. 🤭 His grumpiness grated on me at first but I came to appreciate his moaning about impropriety by the end, lol.
• The romance (but with several caveats). I was surprised to find myself enjoying the romance despite it feeling a bit on the side of instalove. That said, I was already curious about Cass and Zeru’s connection and something about it developing into romance worked for me. As to be expected, there was a lot of tension after years of war and many deaths between them. The author gave them a fun push/pull dynamic with trust and respect which almost made up for the fact that most of their reconnection was told rather than shown. Despite their enmity, both of them suffered as a result of their innocent childhood friendship and I liked how they were trying to prove their worth in their ways. It’s clear both of them love their people greatly. I can see a lot of young fantasy readers being taken in by the dark broody lonely demon boy that is Zeru and the relentless and fierce forest daughter that is Cassia.
• Cassia was an interesting character and I liked her POV. We get to see a bit of how her life has changed as a result of receiving the ring and we see the impact that bearing the weight of such immense power has on her; especially without any guidance on how to wield or control said power. Her desire to prove her worth to her father was relatable and overall, I found it easy to empathise with her character.
• The bond between sisters. I love a story that shines the light on the mess and wonder of sibling relationships and I enjoyed the one between Cassia, Enora, Thea and little Rozie. They each have their own strength which is recognised by the other and while there might be some envy on Cassia’s part towards her two elder sisters Enora and Thea, it’s never of the ugly jealous variety. I loved that their trust in each other is never called into question even when Cass goes against the ‘status quo’ they’ve been raised to believe.

“Tell me you hate me,” he said, his breath feathering against her neck. “Tell me, Sylvan. If it’s true.”
“I hate…,” she said. Her throat closed, pain shearing through her at the thought of the lie. She blurted a truth to escape that pain. “Turnips.”

I would say there were a few factors that, had they been done differently, would’ve made this a more enjoyable read for me.

“…there was a different kind of strength. A strength of spirit. Of conviction. And there, she had strength too.”

• I felt that the story could have had better world-building and character development to support the overall plot and to create a stronger connection for readers. The world-building was patchy and introduced well into the story which, considering how central the mythology was to the plot, felt a bit late and what we get is not very detailed. I found the character development a bit shallow and wanted to learn more, especially about our MCs. There was also something about the writing and pacing that, imho, didn’t lend itself well to forming a deeper emotional connection with the characters. Events unfold so quickly by the end that there’s little time to process what it all means before the story then ends.
• I think what would’ve helped greatly with both the world-building and character development is the inclusion of Zeru’s POV, which we unfortunately don’t get. Despite being a main character in his own right, Zeru doesn’t get a POV. He is integral to this story and his fate is so intertwined with Cassia’s and yet, we don’t get his POV?! I found this frustrating because his POV would’ve added the “more” that the story needed. There was so much he learned off-page which we only find out about much later after the fact due to him not communicating with Cass at the time for various reasons (because they were still enemies, it didn’t come up, etc.). It would’ve also helped to better understand his character and what happened to him and his family after he made such a life-changing (even society-changing) mistake as a child.

“Her inner voice told her that life was nothing without freedom. Without choices.”

The story ends in such a way that can make this stand on its own but I’m curious to see where the series will go next, especially with that little tidbit of prophecy that’s introduced at the end. I wonder if it’ll be from a different sister’s POV and even though I liked Cass and Zeru, I’d be curious to see what life is like through the eyes of a different forest king’s daughter.

“Memories are images of the past as seen through rippling water.”

Is The Forest King’s Daughter on your TBR or does it sound like something you’d enjoy reading?

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