Where have I been this whole time? Unfortunately, I have had too many midterms piling up and haven’t been able to devote any time to reading. Based on my course work, it seems like that’s how it’s going to be for a while. But I’ll try to sneak in a book here and there, especially once I’m done doing my readings for my course work. Anyways, this novel that I finished reading is based on the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” – but of course, it is extremely different and definitely has more depth to it than the original story!
From the age of twelve, Rachelle has been an apprentice to her aunt as a woodwife in order to protect her village from the Great Forest and the its inhabitants.But when she turns fifteen, she doe something reckless that will change her life forever – she steps off of the forest path and into the heart of darkness. Her actions force her to make a difficult decision that binds her to the very evil she swore to defeat.
Three years later, Rachelle is in the service of the royal family, protecting the realm from invasion of the forestborn creatures. When she is ordered to guard the King’s son, Armand, she is none too pleased, especially since she is on the search for the legendary sword that could save everyone from the power of the Great Forest. But will she be able to find it in time? Or will she finally succumb to the darkness?
I quite enjoyed the novel. It definitely transformed the story of Little Red Riding Hood and made it into something darker and magical. Rachelle as a character was very unique; she showed herself as being both emotional and devoid of emotion in all of the right situations. The one criticism I had was that it sometimes felt like parts of the story were not explained as well as they could have been. The introduction of the concept of the forestborn and the power of the Great Forest was lacking and it made it a bit confusing to read at first. It was all put together well by the middle but it would have been nice to have had a bit more background information from the get-go. As a whole, this was a pretty good novel and I would recommend it to teens who like fantasy and twisted fairy tales!
Happy reading ~