FOREST OF SOULS: Booksta Review
Forest of Souls by Lori M. lee
Original Instagram posts: April 12, June 20, June 21, July 16, 2021
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Sirscha Ashwyn. Soul guide. Dual-wielding bad ass.
Loyal to those she chooses. Secretly terrified of being alone. A good friend to have, a hard friend to make. Hero of the Shamanborn Trilogy.
I love her so very much.
I’ve *always* wanted to be the girl with the sword. Always. Mulan would have been a favorite even if she wasn’t Asian. But, until this year, I had never read a high fantasy book starring a girl-with-a-sword like me. I know there are so many out there now: Sirscha Ashwyn found me first.
For my entire life, it’s been easier to put myself in the “side kick” or the “supporting” role before someone else told me that was all I was allowed. Today, it felt so good to pick up these swords, strap on my shoulder belt, and go out into the words with *my* hair and *my* eyes and not wonder if I was allowed, or if I was enough.
Sirscha. I’ve never felt as seen as I do in her. I see myself in the battles she has with herself. In her insecurities, her determination. And then I see myself in her face. I say it over and over and I won’t stop: It means the world to me to have a character I love look like me on the inside and the outside.
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Take a duel-wielding “girl with a sword”…
Add a newly awakened ancient magic triggered by her best friend’s death…
Add a forest, haunted and malignant, tamed by the Spider King…
Sprinkle in a bit of the “orphan with unknown powers” but jumble it up and turn it on its head…
Simmer over a low flame of a fracturing truce and kingdoms on the brink of war…
Pour in a quest to save your best friend while the world is expecting you to be the solution, to save it…
And you get Forest of Souls. This book is filled with actions and adventure, tads of horror, found family, and one of the deepest and truest friendships I’ve ever seen. I loved that the sister-bond between Sirscha and Saengo (her best friend) rules the book. A deep, platonic love drives Sirscha and I so enjoyed seeing female friendship at the center of a book rather than a romance.
“There’s a kind of freedom in defiance, in being released from every restrain, every expectation.
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I LOVE SIRSCHA SO MUCH THAT I WENT AND GOT MYSELF A COUPLE OF SWORDS AND MADE MYSELF A COSPLAY
If you’ve ever wondered if you’re enough…
If you’ve ever found a soul sibling, and with them, a space to belong when the world told you that you didn’t fit…
If you’ve ever lived under the burden of other people’s expectations - whether the expectation to succeed or to fail…
…you might find a friend in Sirscha.
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You can Read my review of Broken Web (the second book in the Trilogy) here!
More books by Asian authors!
When Alice accepts an offer to train at Korea’s Star Academy, the home of the country’s biggest K-Pop stars, gets a little more than she bargained for. … I flew through this book.