This little novella is so heartbreakingly beautiful! A completely formed and immersive story in just over 80 pages, this is a must read for anyone who loves folklore, the woods, and the bittersweet taste of love in all its forms. Lackey's prose are to the point and vivid, telling the reader a story of redemption, evolution, and the importance of Nature and its balance.

Categories: Natural beauty (and nature’s beauty) / Minor royalty and woodland witches / A novella to curl up with
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I adored this tightly told story about a forest god, the apprentice witch who serves him and the local village’s lord-in-waiting.
Lackey alternated each scene between the focal points of those three main characters, and in so doing was able to develop character, capture the imagination and keep the story going at a good clip.
The world is verdant and lush, and I fell into the story within the first page — which is good, as there aren’t many pages left after that!
It’s clear Lackey is adept at using a shorter form to tell a more focused and nuanced tale, and it was a pleasure to see her at work here. I’m keen to check out some more of her shorter works, as well as her first novel Left-Hand Gods (I sense a theme...) 📚

This is an excellent little nugget of fiction. The language is vivid, the fantasy tale is lovely, the characters are surprising.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a beautiful story. I absolutely loved it. I am looking forward to buying the actual hardcover book when it comes out to add to my collection. I love anything to do with Celtic mythology. Highly recommended.

A fairytale that delves into the concept of duty, love, and the Ancient Celtic tradition of marriage of the land. This short novella explores its characters and their dynamics very well for 80 pages only. The narration of a God adds a unique touch to the story, and its character arc – a god's humanisation – was something deeply interesting to see. As was its counterpart: a human's sanctification.

We have a set of amazing characters: Margery, Hugh and the Forest God are not lacking a single thing. They are well developed, with complex personalities and all three of them have a different voice.
And such amazing personalities they all have! But that’s not all! We also see personal growth. For all three of them. In less than 100 pages! Isn’t it great?? And in those few pages we really learn to know our characters, and it is heartwarming to see them all grow up, in a way or another.


This story is set in a little world, almost intimate, which is bounded to the Forest God and the cycles of nature. People kept to the old ways, but they are slowly forgetting them and this is not a good thing. The Earth is suffering for it, and the small village is suffering for it, too. And even if, on an objective side, the world-building is not the most complete or accurate, it is not lacking. Sure, we don’t have a big world to explore, and sure there aren’t many descriptive parts, but… But you get all that you need to imagine this village, this forest and this world. You get the feeling of the small village, and of the forest. You feel like you really know those places.


And then we have the story. It is compelling, it is beautiful and it speaks to us in a lot of different ways. It was a heartwarming book, one that made you more optimistic, at least for a bit. And something like that is really precious!
Also, it was really really fun, and it remembered me a little of Pratchett, in the best possible way!

“Even if you knew you’d start a new life tomorrow, would you want to die today?”

I was drawn to this book by its cover; for about six years now, I have made it a point to conduct an annual re-read of Richard Adams’s book Watership Down. You can probably guess why a fantasy featuring a dramatic rabbit illustration on the cover caught my eye. (Although it is in fact a hare, not a rabbit, on this cover). At a quick 80 pages, this poetic and magical little novella packs a punch.

The story is a delightful mix of magic and pragmatism — exemplified in the scene where Margery and Lord Hugh meet in the strawberry garden that the Witch maintains for the benefit of the Forest God. Lord Hugh asks how it is that she can pass through barriers that open only to the Forest God, and Margery replies simply: “Someone has to weed the strawberry patch.”

Premise:

A Witch’s apprentice, a dandy lord, and a god walk into a forest... and set out on a mission to right something broken in the world.

Characters:

The Forest God has been reborn, ready to live out this lifetime in the body of a hare. The god has lived many lives and assumed the cares and joys of all the creatures of the forest at some point during its many reincarnations.

Margery - A reluctant apprentice to the local Witch (nameless, as all full Witches are, after all, “She does not have her own separate self. A Witch needs a name no more than a tree does, or a river, or the Forest God.”). Margery actually more or less enjoys her work and the life she is currently living, but she’s deeply resentful of the fact that it was not her choice to live this way. She is kind and talented and a compassionate healer, burdened by fairly severe self-esteem issues.

Young Lord Hugh - A silly and rather notoriously useless Young Lord (back at it again with the Proper Nouns). He makes a life changing error one day, when he tries to do the Witch a favor by shooting a hare he sees eating the strawberries in her garden. He is good natured and confident, in the way of someone used to getting whatever he wants, and yet he is willing to make any effort to become the Lord his village needs.

I’m a sucker for stories about unlikely friendships, so this really hit the mark for me. It’s a love story where friendship and duty counterbalance the romance. I don’t typically go into novellas expecting them to be very character-driven, and was pleasantly surprised to find that this quiet fairy tale features a trio of cleverly well-drawn characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for approving my request for a review copy of this book!

Author Jamie Lackey tackles the retelling of a Celtic myth in the form of this novella. Fans of whimsical cottage romance with a touch of fantasy will love this. It unfortunately did not resonate with me as I found the lack of character development lessened my interest in the story.

If you like folk tales with a splash of romance you will like this.

*eArc provided by the publisher and NetGalley

I found this to have really nice imagery a lot of the time- very Cottagecore with all the talk of nice, fat hares feasting on ripe red strawberries. It was very fable-like, which can be good or bad depending on how it's done. I don't think it's badly done, by any means, but I found myself disliking how on rails the character development felt. The main guy was a lazy good for nothing, but then suddenly he needs to prove himself and tie himself to the land through brave feats? The leap from here to there was too abrupt for me.

This was a sweet fantasy story about love and transformation and I enjoyed reading it. I could wish for the writing to have more "bite" and distinctiveness; it was fairly bland and forgettable.. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy through Netgalley for review consideration.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’m just going to say that this novella affected me more than I expected! It’s a cute story with a bit of fairy-tale-y fantasy and Paganism, so it was definitely something I liked, but I still expected to be just entertaining and funny. Actually, it is filled with lessons and teachings for kids and adults alike.

Full review scheduled for August 24: https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2020/08/resena-review-forest-god.html

*Review includes spoilers*

This story, told in the way of a fairy tale, is enchanting! It's simple yet emotional, innocent yet real (the repetition of death and loss as much a part of nature as life and love).

As important as the love story between Margery and High is, I greatly appreciated how innocent it was; I enjoy varying types of romance in stories, but have been rather irritated lately with how so many books deal with only a small fraction of love (focusing on physical beauty, sexual attraction, and oftentimes toxic "love"). There's very little focus on strong platonic love, familial love, non-sexual love, etc. Everything always boils down to "this person's hot, we must bone". But not in The Forest God, thankfully! I very much appreciated how it handled this innocent type of love.

Another thing I found myself liking was how the parental figures were portrayed. In fairy tales, parents/guardians are most often absent, neglectful, or downright abusive. Not the case here. Every one of them certainly makes mistakes, but they don't come from a place of malice. They did what they thought was right and would lead to a better life for their children, which I think (hope) every parent wants. They're flawed, yes, but their intentions are understandable and, for the most part, good.

I truly loved how protective the Forest God was of Margery mere minutes after meeting her. I can't fully articulate why, but it struck a chord in me that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Those looking for a "happily ever after" may be disappointed, but I think they miss the point that the story very clearly laid out: people can love each other without being together as a couple, and there are types of love that are more important than getting two people to bone. I loved the ending and thought it very appropriate and sweet. I'd love to read more about these characters if the author would ever be inclined to continue.

A wonderful little story reminiscent of works by Terry Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones, The Forest God is a feel-good literary adventure full of witches, quests, lord’s sons, love and duty. Who wouldn’t want to read one of those? 😊

Jamie Lackey is a name I hadn’t encountered before, and I requested The Forest God from NetGalley on a whim, my decision based mostly on the cover (I know, and I’m not repentant!) It turned out to be a surprisingly good decision, for Lackey’s novella is just a perfect read for a lazy, warm evening. With the length of less than a hundred pages there is not much space within for character development, worldbuilding and action, and yet somehow Lackey manages to cram a bit of all three – with the infallible aid of fairy tales. The Forest God offers a new retelling of a very old tale, and embellishes it with some delightful twists, subtle irony, and plenty of enthusiasm for the subject matter. But let’s start at the beginning.

The Forest God reincarnates once again – this time into the body of a hare. He’s been many creatures before, predators and prey, and he had tasted and given blood in the unending circle of life and death. Even the body of hare is not alien to him, and if there’s one thing he knows about it is that it never lasts long – so he should seize the day and gorge on sun ripened strawberries as if his life depended on it. As a matter of fact, it does.

It does, because the idle Young Lord Hugh from the nearby castle finally finds something that arouses his curiosity – and while looking for answers concerning a family mystery, he decides to hunt the hare as an offering to the village Witch. It certainly doesn’t help the hare’s case that he is caught eating the Witch’s strawberries – strawberries left precisely for him, though Hugh has no way of knowing it.

And so, the wounded hare and the unlucky Young Lord end up in the care of the resentful Apprentice Witch Margery – because the current Witch left for business known only to herself and did not deign to leave information concerning either her whereabouts or the time of her return. The cottage in the woods suddenly becomes very crowded indeed, and something needs to be done about it all.
So the story begins; it is formulaic, without a doubt, but comfortably so. The worn tracks of countless other fairy tales are clearly followed and cherished in their familiarity. There is a feeling of not belonging, of inadequacy, of chafing against vague loss of individual choice. There is a quest, made of three seemingly simple tasks which obviously prove to be devilishly hard. There is a budding young love, which cannot be not forbidden. A family secret, tying into the lives of all in a myriad of unforeseen ways. A difference of perspective growing between the young and the old – for the way to right old wrongs inevitably leads away from personal happiness. Or maybe not? Can happiness be found in duty and the choices not made?

The light humour and whimsy infusing this tale make it a splendidly pleasant read. The Forest God, an incredibly old and ingeniously egotistic creature, in the incarnation of a common hare finds new, unexpected delights in life. He starts to appreciate little things – like cuddling, or loving care, or the warm, soft bed and strawberries every breakfast. But he also learns a lot about those strange creatures called humans – and while they might be quite irritating, there might be nothing so wonderfully pleasant in the world as those smart soft fingers scratching behind his ear just so.

I enjoyed The Forest God a lot. If there’s one thing that comes off as heavy-handed is the beauty/ugliness issue – and the related question of stigma. While I understand where the author comes from and why she chose to include this topic in her little fairy tale, it is the one thing that makes an impression of something rushed and half-baked; a half-hearted attempt to make the story more relevant/sellable in our beauty-obsessed times, perhaps? To me, it feels unnecessary and a bit disruptive – but it’s a small enough criticism in the otherwise delightful trifle of a read. As an additional bonus, that cover is gorgeous! 🙂

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!

This is a Novella length book with a beautiful story. A forest God who can reincarnate in different life forms, in this current life it is a rabbit. There is an Apprentice Witch, who has been an apprentice for fifteen years, and has a perception about herself and her past. And a young Lord of that village who lives a rather carefree life. The forest is enchanted.

Complete review at: https://anups.net/2020/08/18/book-review-the-forest-god-by-jamie-lackey/

Pleasant quick read

This is a nice little fairy tale about love and personal responsibility. It takes about half an hour to read. The characters are likable and plausible and the point of the story is morally correct.

This is probably my biggest surprise of the year so far! I didn’t really know what to expect going into this book and ended up completely falling in love with it. The book is very much structured in the way of a folktale. We follow a young prince, an apprentice witch and a god of the forest that has been newly reincarnated in the body of a hare, as their paths one day come to cross. I can’t say too much because the book is actually quite short, but I absolutely loved the story. It’s full of magic and tenderness and I really enjoyed the relationships that develop between the characters. The book was at times also really funny and wholesome, and honestly made me so happy. There is also romance in this book and I really enjoyed that as well. The romance was done so well and I actually found myself getting a little teary-eyed at the end. If you enjoy stories inspired by fairy tales and folktales and you like your stories with a dash of humour and romance, then you’ll really enjoy this book.

A great novella, engrossing and entertaining. I think that the author is a talented storyteller and I loved the fleshed out characters and the plot that flows.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

A lovely fairytale about responsibility and duty and happiness and being flexible in thought. My only concern is that in the writing about how Margery is ugly, she's described with a brown mark on one side of her face. The brown-vs-white skin here can easily be read as a metaphor for white supremacy.

The lord's son injures the forest god - currently in the form of a hare as he rotates through an endless cycle of reincarnation - and is given three tasks to rightfully claim his title and avoid the deity's revenge, reluctantly assisted by the village witch's apprentice. A cute novella - but I'm afraid there's not much more to say about it without spoiling the entire premise, which is the problem with reviewing most short fiction. I let a few weeks pass after finishing The Forest God, and unfortunately haven't come up with more ideas for this review in the meantime - to me it just wasn't very memorable, despite its fairytale feel.

The depth of character and emotion packed in this short read is nothing less than amazing. I was instantly pulled into the world this bittersweet fable takes place in, feeling for the half-witch with a care that would only growth as she evolves with the unfolding of the story.

Alongside of her, a young lord and forest god are also on paths of self discovery wrapped in duty. It was truly stunning how much lore and world building took place. There wasn't a word wasted, and yet the prose was beautiful and created a hauntingly charming setting. If I'm being honest, there were places that wrung out my emotions and that end had me a bit teary.

Wonderful.