ARC Review: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao
/22 Comments/by SuzanneSeries: Rise of the Empress #1
Published by Philomel Books on January 1st 1970
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 384
Source: Goodreads
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Goodreads. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
Julie C. Dao’s Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is an engaging Snow White retelling that focuses on the Evil Queen and her rise to power. The story is set in a lush East Asian fantasy world and follows the journey of eighteen year-old Xifeng, a peasant girl who has been told by her aunt Guma, a witch who has the ability to read tarot cards and predict the future, that she is destined to become Empress of Feng Lu someday. While Xifeng finds the idea of becoming Empress enticing, her aunt has also told her that her path to the throne can only be secured if she is willing to embrace and use the dark powers that apparently lie within her. She also must be willing to abandon all that she knows from her current life, including the young man she has loved since she was a young girl. Xifeng must decide what is most important to her: Does she want power so badly that she is willing to give up on love? And if so, does she have it in her to embrace this dark magic and whatever may come from unleashing it?
Xifeng, the “Evil Queen” character, was definitely my favorite part of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns. Wow, what a character! I can’t say that Xifeng was an especially likable character, but she was a complicated one and for me anyway, there’s just something so compelling about complex characters. Xifeng is conflicted between following her heart to be with the man she loves and following her ambition to become the next Empress of Feng Lu. Because she has grown up poor all her life, the idea that greatness lies in her future is a huge temptation. However, to become Empress and achieve this greatness that she appears to be destined for means that she must give up all that she has known from her former life, including the love of her life. Dao does a beautiful job of depicting how this inner conflict plagues Xifeng throughout the novel. Even as Xifeng seems to have made her choice and be firmly moving in the direction she has chosen, thoughts of what she’ll be giving up if she continues down that chosen path linger in her mind.
As I’ve said, Xifeng isn’t always a likable character and I’ll admit right now that I didn’t always agree with the choices she made, I do have to say that I admired her sense of cunning and her resourcefulness. Once she makes her choice and is committed to it, Xifeng is determined to let nothing and no one get in her way. I don’t want to give away any specific details, so I’m just going to say she’s not afraid to get a little blood on her hands if the situation calls for it. This is a story about the rise of a villain, after all! As I was reading and watching Xifeng hatch plan after plan to advance her objective, I just kept thinking “Okay girl, if you want it that badly, you go for it!”
A fabulous cast of secondary characters also rounds out this book nicely. There’s Ambassador Shiro, a kind, elderly gentleman of dwarfish stature, who takes a liking to Xifeng and becomes a confidante and mentor of sorts. Then there’s the dashing and ambitious Emperor Jun, who Xifeng must use her beauty to win over if she is to become Empress, and the mysterious eunuch, Kang, who seems to be overly eager to become Xifeng’s bff when she starts working in the palace, which left me wondering throughout the story if his motivations were sincere or was he up to something?
We also have the delicate and nurturing Empress who Xifeng is also conflicted about, because at times she feels like the Empress is like the mother she never had, but then at other times, she knows the Empress must go if Xifeng is to follow her destiny and take her place. And finally, there’s another of my favorite characters, Lady Sun, the Emperor’s favorite concubine and perhaps the biggest obstacle in Xifeng’s path to become Empress. Lady Sun would love nothing more than to gouge out Xifeng’s eyeballs and send her packing. Their rivalry makes for some very entertaining reading and those were the sections of the book that I really flew through. I found all of the secondary characters to be so interesting; not one of them fell flat for me, which made for a wonderful reading experience. I especially wanted to see more of Shiro
The world building in Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is also rich and beautifully crafted, especially once Xifeng leaves her hometown to begin her new life at the palace working as a lady-in-waiting. The story is steeped in Asian folklore and the overall effect was dark and mysterious and pure magic. The Asian influences played such a predominant role in the story that I almost forgot at times that it was meant to be an Evil Queen retelling. The world Dao creates is just so lush and unique that it doesn’t feel at all like a rehash of another story.
The only real issue I had with Forest of a Thousand Lanterns was that the pacing was a bit uneven at times. I breezed through the first 50 pages or so, but then the next 50 were a much slower read. This happened a couple of times as I was reading. Thankfully the story itself was still so interesting that I kept pushing through and never felt the urge to give up on the book even when the pacing lagged.
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is a wonderful read that I think would be enjoyed by fans of both retellings and anti-hero stories. While it does borrow the basic premise of the Evil Queen’s story, it still reads as a fresh and unique story on its own even without thinking of it in terms of the Evil Queen.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl’s quest to become Empress–and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny.
Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?
Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins–sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.
About Julie C. Dao
Julie C. Dao is a proud Vietnamese-American who was born in upstate New York. She studied medicine in college, but came to realize blood and needles were her Kryptonite. By day, she worked in science news and research; by night, she wrote books about heroines unafraid to fight for their dreams, which inspired her to follow her passion of becoming a published author. FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS is her debut novel. Julie lives in New England. Follow her on Twitter @jules_writes.
Weekly Recap #18: Week of 9/10-9/16
/22 Comments/by Suzanne
Hey everyone! It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and to Stacking the Shelves, which is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
I’m happy to report that my son and I have started to slip back into our school routine so the second week of school was much calmer than the first. He loves his teacher this year too, which is helping with that a lot. Last year he did not like his teacher at all and fought me on going to school on a regular basis. Hopefully my luck will continue on that front!
My soccer mom duties also kicked into full swing this past week. We had our first three games of the season so evenings and weekends have been jam-packed with running to games and practices. We’re now 3-0 though so that’s exciting. My son is also playing more offense than defense this season, so he’s also happier with soccer than he has been in a while. He hasn’t scored a goal yet but he did take three shots on goals in Saturday’s game so he’s getting close to scoring. (Insert proud mom cheers!)
Real life made it a little difficult to get reading and blogging done this past week, so for the first time in a while, I only posted one review. That was kind of a bummer since I’d been doing so well about posting at least 2 for so long. That said, today and the upcoming week will involve writing a lot of reviews to get myself caught back up again. I also got bogged down reading a book that ended up not being a great read so that didn’t help with momentum, The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti. I probably should have just DNFed it and moved on, but it was one of those books where the mystery was just good enough that I wanted to find out what really happened and who was responsible. I’m hoping for some better reads this week as I’ll be starting All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater today and then moving on to Alice Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic, and then hopefully to Nic Stone’s Dear Martin, which I’ve heard nothing but great things about.
This also seems to have been a huge week for accumulating books. I can’t remember the last time I picked up so many new books in the same week. A lot of them are from Netgalley, so needless to say my 80% review rate just took a nosedive, haha! I’m looking forward to reading all of them though so yay for new books!
I think that’s it for me. Have a great week, everyone!
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [10 Sep] Weekly Recap #17: Week of 9/3 – 9/9
- [11 Sep] The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee ★★★★★
- [12 Sep] Top Ten Tuesday: Throwback Freebie – My Top 10 Favorite Reads from 2007
- [13 Sep] Can’t Wait Wednesday – Spotlight on STARFISH by Akemi Dawn Bowman
- [15 Sep] Cinderella, Necromancer Blog Tour: Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway!
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM
Cinderella, Necromancer Blog Tour: Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway!
/8 Comments/by Suzanne
Hi everyone! I am thrilled to be taking part in the Chapter by Chapter Blog Tour to promote the wonderful new novel CINDERELLA, NECROMANCER by F.M. Boughan. For my stop on the tour, I am sharing an exclusive excerpt from the novel to entice you. Once you’ve devoured this fabulous teaser, be sure to scroll down and enter the tour giveaway. Thanks for stopping by!
Cinderella, Necromancer by F.M. Boughan
(Excerpt from Chapter Two: The Beginning)
On the morning of my fifteenth birthday, my mother died. It was a cruel and terrible death, wrought with pain and suffering and moments of relief between the screams.
When death finally took her, the darkness hovered like a plague over our home, my father and younger brother and I only moving and breathing to survive, though if anyone had asked us why, we couldn’t have given an answer.
On the morning of my sixteenth birthday, the darkness descended in a form incarnate, though at first, we couldn’t see it.
Why should we have?
Father thought he’d brought me the best birthday gift a father could give his daughter: a new mother.
I saw nothing but a vile attempt to replace someone utterly irreplaceable.
I screamed, threw the pot I was holding at his head, and locked myself in my room for three days.
On the fourth day, six-year-old Edward knocked on my door.
“You can’t stay in there forever,” he said, his small voice wavering. “Father is threatening to call the locksmith. Mother—”
“Don’t call her that or I won’t speak to you,” I said.
He paused before continuing, an awkward pause that made me wonder—no, suspect—that she stood outside my door too.
“She is threatening to take a hatchet to your door,” he whispered, so soft I could barely hear.
Was she now? I wanted to see her try. Difficult, though, being on the other side of the door.
“And ruin Father’s fine craftsmanship? She wouldn’t.”
But I didn’t know if she would or not. After all, I’d only caught one glimpse and hadn’t even seen her face. Or looked in her eyes. I’d been a fool.
One’s eyes say so much more than most people suspect. While the superstitious bustle about, trying to hide their true names—for they believe there is power in names—they should really be wearing dark glasses and learning to speak while gazing at the ground.
Names? Please. Child’s play.
To learn the state of one’s soul, find their gaze and hold it.
But I’d thrown a pot and run away.
How differently things might have turned out if I’d only followed my own rule.
About the Book:
Cinderella, Necromancer by F.M. Boughan
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Publisher: Month9Books
Synopsis:
Darkness can only be controlled by those with the darkest of hearts. Ellison lost her mother at an early age. Now, sixteen, her father has found love again. He’s happy and doesn’t quite notice that Ellison does not get along with his new wife or her vicious daughters. When Ellison discovers a necromantic tome while traveling the secret passages of her father’s mansion, she wonders if it could be the key to her eventual freedom. Until then, she must master her dark new power, even as her stepmother makes her a servant in her own home. And when her younger brother falls incurably ill, Ellison will do anything to ease his pain, including falling prey to her stepmother’s and stepsisters’ every whim and fancy.
Stumbling into a chance meeting with Prince William during a secret visit to her mother’s grave feels like a trick of fate when her stepmother refuses to allow Ellison to attend a palace festival where she might see him once more. But what if Ellison could see the kind and handsome prince again? What if she could attend the festival? What if she could have everything she’s ever wanted and deserved by conjuring spirits to take revenge on her cruel stepmother? And what if she actually liked watching her stepmother suffer?
As Ellison’s power grows, she loses control over the evil spirits meant to do her bidding. And as they begin to exert their own power over Ellison, it becomes harder to tell whether it is she or her stepmother who is the true monster.
CINDERELLA NECROMANCER is CINDER meets ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD and was inspired by a real medieval grimoire of necromancy from 15th-century Germany.
About the Author:
F.M. Boughan is a bibliophile, a writer, and an unabashed parrot enthusiast. She can often be found writing in local coffee shops, namely because it’s hard to concentrate with a cat lying on the keyboard and a small, colorful parrot screaming into her ear. Her work is somewhat dark, somewhat violent, somewhat hopeful, and always contains a hint of magic.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Link to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28117964-cinderella-necromancer
Purchase Links:
Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Indies | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks
Link to Tour Schedule:
Giveaway Details:
One (1) winner will receive an Echo Dot