I enjoyed the concept of this book, and I don’t see a lot of plots involving shape shifters. I liked that they can’t just take whatever shape they want, there are limits. Basically they have their “normal“ human form, then they have an animal form (you could be a bird or a mouse or cat or whatever, but it’s already set, you don’t get to choose which animal to be), or they can shift to resemble another human being. Here is where some of my issues with this book came in. The description makes it sound like they look like normal humans, like you and me, or when they shift into the form of another person they look exactly like them. But there are multiple instances where someone starts giving them trouble because they somehow know this is a shifter, and I don’t really understand why. Is there some sort of aura around them, or is there some sort of tell that shows to the outside world this is not a normal human being? I don’t know. I also had issues with some of the pacing. There are some sudden high tension situations that didn’t flow correctly, as if there were multiple sentences missing that would explain why this was a sudden threat.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

What I loved: The characters in this story are so painfully human; it makes it easy to feel their pain as they choose between life and death for one character over another. The world-building and descriptions make it very easy to imagine that you are in the story. We have three main characters in this story that takes us on a very emotional journey. 2 shifters and a human in a world where magic is outlawed, but the land is threatening to tear itself apart so much that it has sicked many. Our trio must venture where once the shifters lived to try and saved the world.

What Left Me Wanting More: "Magic fights to survive" Survival is a driving theme in this book. Survival being with magic, Survival of those who don't, and Survival of bloodlines from being destroyed by those who want to control everything. I wanted to know more about the prediction that has placed our two shifters at the forefront of the story. Two shifters to be the ones who end the world. We told it happens every year but not how they have dictated the very life of magical creatures.

The Final Verdict: At the close of this first book, after some profound truths revealed, Rora says, "I'm not the subject of anyone's prophecy, there to assign meaning to however they like, but my person, a good person, my actions determined by my will alone. I'm one in a pair of shifters, both of us bent on mending the cracks in this broken world. Survivors." Survivors of a prediction that shaped the very world they live in and survivors who are determined to set things right and have the truth come into the light

Forestborn is a beautiful introduction to a fantasy world. There is great world building and as the title suggests there is a “problem” with the forest. I also liked all the magical elements that are involved in this story.

The cast of characters brought the whole story together. This would be from the main character to all of the side characters throughout the story. I really connected with the main character Rora and the mentality that she has. I appreciated how throughout the story each of the three that we started to follow became more open and grew with each other.

I can’t exactly pinpoint what made this a 4 star and not a 5 for me. I think that some of the story just didn’t work for me. However, I will be reading more in this world because that ending has me waiting.

I enjoyed reading Forestborn - a good adventuring story across a fantasy world always grabs my attention if done right. Forestborn starts in that direction and maintains it, but doesn’t necessarily excite me as much as I would have wanted it to. Now please know: there was absolutely nothing to dissuade me enjoying Forestborn. I honestly think that it would have scored higher if I had been in the mood for an adventuring story rather than my latest phase of romance/queer literature. Forestborn hits all of my usual fuck-yes-points: the sibling dynamic between Helos and Rora is fantastic, we have a reluctant enemies-to-lovers arc, we have a queer relationship, we have fucking magic! It just didn’t hit for me as much as it would have/will at another time.

After years as refugees in the service of a foreign court, a shape shifter and her brother must accompany the crown prince back into the deadly forest of their birth in search for a cure to a deadly plague and allies in a war with a king who hopes to eradicate all magical beings.

FORESTBORN is a new high fantasy in the classic tradition: a magical heroine, outcast for her powers, wrestling with her place in the world of humans while being swept up in their politics. It brought to mind GRACELING, FROSTBLOOD, THE LAST MAGICIAN, with hints of Oz or Wonderland in the shifting, sometimes antagonistic landscape, and of GAME OF THRONES, as questions of parenthood, madness, and morality arise to complicate the story. It feels timeless and yet not dated. As the protagonist and her brother are refugees, and as the king tyrant in the neighboring kingdom uses the magical people as scapegoats in his power grab, the themes will certainly resonate with modern readers. I'd recommend it to fantasy readers and YA collections that need more titles for their Kristin Cashore fans.

I enjoyed this overall. The pacing was decent, though it did take a bit for me to get into it. Once our characters start on their journey though, I was pretty invested! I feel alright with the overall story arc. You can definitely tell that it's setting up a series, but I feel pretty satisfied with what we got (and interested to know more).

The worldbuilding was excellent here. There are several kingdoms, some of which don't really accept magic. I liked this magical plague element. We get to learn about the disease itself, as well as the origins, and I thought this was quite cool and well done. There's an interesting variety of magical beings here! It obviously mostly focuses on the shifters (since that's what Rora and Helos are). Each shifter has three different types of animals they can shift into, but they have much more flexibility with shifting into different humans. This type of magic had some interesting constraints, and these abilities were well explained and thought out. We do encounter other magical beings, but their powers weren't really as much of the focus here (but hopefully we'll learn more in the next book!).

I really liked the variety of magical creatures as well! For example, there are marrow sheep (basically scavenger sheep that eat bones), cougar type big cats that can hypnotize you, and so many more! These were all so inventive and just a blast to learn more about. I particularly enjoyed the journey through nature because we do get almost a lesson on survival in this world and cool details.

In terms of the characters, Rora is a good main character overall. I did get frustrated with her at times because she keeps thinking about how selfish she is because of events that happened when she was a child. I really didn't feel like these things were her fault, so I wanted to see her move on certainly (but I can understand where she's coming from). She idolizes her brother a lot and while this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it does take her a while to see that he's human (in terms of having flaws - obviously he's a shifter). I really enjoyed her personal journey over the book. She wants to be useful and fix herself to be more selfless like Helos. Along the way, she has to deal with trauma and PTSD which felt realistically portrayed.

Helos, Rora's brother, is a healer and seems protective and good overall. He certainly has secrets as well though! I really enjoyed their sibling bond. They've obviously helped each other survive, but there could be resentment or conflict building up in certain areas. Weslyn, the prince, seems grumpy and aloof at first, but I really liked getting to know him more. He seems to genuinely want to learn and do what's best for his country.

We do have a slow burn romance developing, and I'm definitely here for this relationship. I also hope to see another relationship be repaired in the next book! There are hints of a male/male romance in this book (at the very least, this is accepted and totally normal in this country).

In general, this had a much darker tone than I expected, and I'm here for it. That being said, there are definitely some content warnings such as trauma, PTSD, genocide, and death camps, so be aware of that.

I really enjoyed my time with this book overall and can't wait for the next one! I'd definitely recommend it to fantasy fans.

My video review can be seen on my booktube channel (around minutes 17:57-23:17 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVCn-2LHfNw

This book took me by surprise! The story's premise immediately intrigued me but there was a bit of a slow start. However, by the end I fell in love with this story and our main trio - Rora, Helos, and Weslyn.

I loved the world and the magic system immediately. The idea of shifters (who can change their appearance as well as shift into three different kinds of animals) is very cool and was an aspect that I know teenage me would've been obsessed with if I had this book when I was that age. I'm also a big fan of magical forests and quests so I knew right away I would enjoy the plot on some level. The magical forest Elayne Audrey Becker created for this novel is one of my favorite settings I've read recently. I felt like I was there alongside the characters and I enjoyed the creativity behind the creatures who lived there.

The characters took me a bit to connect with. I liked them all right away but the first part of the book is more plot-oriented which made me feel like they were at a distance for a while. However, as the story went on and we learned more about their backstories and saw more of their flaws I became quite attached (right in time for last third which was full of action and made me worry about their fates). Rora in particular is an excellent and flawed YA heroine and I can't wait to see more of her in the next installment. I also quite enjoyed the main romance in this which is a very slow burn enemies (enemies isn't quite the right word to describe them but close enough) to reluctant allies to friends to lovers. It was believable and happened at the right pace for the story/characters which I don't always feel is the case in YA fantasy. I also loved the emphasis this story placed on the sibling dynamic between Rora and Helos.

As mentioned earlier in this review the last third of the book was very action packed and also had a couple of plot twists I wasn't expecting. While the first part of the book was focused on the quest, the last section focused more on the politics of the world. The tone also begins to shift from a classic fantasy/slightly whimsical feel in the beginning of the story to being significantly more serious and dark in this last third which surprised me in a good way. There are a lot of interesting threads set up for a sequel and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

This YA fantasy stars Rora, who can shapeshift, a talent reviled in human lands.

As the story open, Rora (who spies for the king) has been tracking a magical illness across the land. She's shocked to learn that her best friend, younger prince Finley, has caught the illness.

Rora embarks on a quest (along with hostile elder prince Weslyn and her brother Helos) deep into the perilous wilderness, seeking rare Stardust, the only cure for Finley.

Forestborn is the first book in a fantasy trilogy. It's told from the point of view of Rora, a shapeshifter who works as a spy for the king. While she is skilled at her job, shapeshifters and other magic users are distrusted by the people of the three non-magical kingdoms on the continent, the more so since a magical illness has begun to afflict those without magic.
When Rora's friend, the young prince Finley, catches the illness, she is sent on a mission to find and bring back stardust from the Kingdom of the Giants. But she won't be travelling alone. Her companions will be her beloved elder brother, Helos, and also Finley's elder brother, Weslyn, with whom she has a mutual antipathy.
On the surface of it, this is a straightforward fantasy adventure novel. Rora and her companions travel through a variety of magical landscapes and overcome a number of challenges, physical, diplomatic and magical, to find the Kingdom of the Giants. But there is a lot more going on beneath the surface. The politics of the four kingdoms are slowly unveiled as the book progresses, and the relationships between Rora, Helos and Weslyn change as their journey continues. Rora herself has to grow up a fair bit - it's something of a coming of age story for her.
The latter part of the book opens up more questions than it solves - this is very much the first chapter in a longer story. While it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, it doesn't really stand alone as a complete tale. This was a frustrating thing to realise at 1am, but that's really my own fault for staying up reading past my bedtime again.
I enjoyed this story a lot, and will definitely keep an eye out for the next in the trilogy.

This book had a wonderful to read combination of gorgeous prose and truly human characters. Watching each character struggle to cope with the realities of their lives was a deeply relatable experience, though my struggles often involve less magic. I especially enjoyed the exploration of selflessness vs. selfishness and how it was woven into the story. My favorite part, though, was the sense of nostalgia I got from the story’s world, reminding me of the types of magical stories I used to love to read when I was younger!

My Recommendation-
If you love atmospheric magic stories like The Dark Tide or House of Salt and Sorrows, you need to pick up a copy of Forestborn! This magical world was the perfect kind of escape!

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Forestborn

Author: Elayne Audrey Becker

Book Series: Forestborn Book 1

Diversity: 1 time mentioned m/m relationship

Rating: 3/5

Recommended For...: young adult readers, fantasy, magic, shifting

Genre: YA fantasy

Publication Date: August 31, 2021

Publisher: Tor Teen

Pages: 368

Recommended Age: 13+ (violence, gore, animal gore, slight romance)

Explanation of CWs: This was actually a fairly mild book. There was a lot of violence and gore, some animal gore as well.

Synopsis: Rora is a shifter, as magical as all those born in the wilderness--and as feared. She uses her abilities to spy for the king, traveling under different guises and listening for signs of trouble.

When a magical illness surfaces across the kingdom, Rora uncovers a devastating truth: Finley, the young prince and her best friend, has caught it, too. His only hope is stardust, the rarest of magical elements, found deep in the wilderness where Rora grew up--and to which she swore never to return.

But for her only friend, Rora will face her past and brave the dark, magical wood, journeying with her brother and the obstinate, older prince who insists on coming. Together, they must survive sentient forests and creatures unknown, battling an ever-changing landscape while escaping human pursuers who want them dead. With illness gripping the kingdom and war on the horizon, Finley's is not the only life that hangs in the balance.

Review: This was an ok book. The book had a good magical system and the character development was well done. I also thought that the plot was well executed.

However, I really hated reading this book. The book doesn't explain the backstory and I feel like it's one of those that you have to read the blurb before you read the book. For most of the book until after 50% of the way through there wasn't that much magic or shifting. At 40% of the way through the book slows down significantly, only to pick up at about 75%. And finally, I just found the book extremely boring until about 80% of the way through the book. It was incredibly bland and just not interesting for me.

Verdict: Definitely not for me but maybe for you.

What a good story!

From the beginning when I began to read the book I felt very comfortable, with the characters, with the spaces described and with the situation that was beginning to be narrated and I said "Ok, it's a book that is going to keep me on edge"
But as I progressed, I actually completely possessed myself, I couldn't stop reading!
Woh! What an ending! I want to read the next one soon.

Love the protagonist, I want to know more about her.

Four stars…. Looks like I need to start reading more shifter books. Because, aside from the occasional werewolf, I don’t have any shifter books on my radar. I really enjoyed this read and would recommend highly. Cool magic, good characters, interesting plot. Won’t be surprised if this becomes a new favorite among Bookstagrammers and Booktokers

Elayne Audrey Becker’s debut is full of many layers. On its surface, Forestborn may be about the main characters’ quest to find a cure to the disease that is currently plaguing the country of Telyan, but the story is more much more than the aforementioned quest. It is a tale of healing as well as a tale of family and friendship.

In Forestborn, Becker masterfully explores the effect of trauma on one’s psyche. Rora’s character growth was definitely one of my favorite parts of the novel. Although I experienced a different kind of trauma during my childhood, Rora felt like a kindred soul. I, too, have battled with feelings of unworthiness and belonging, so it was interesting to see how Rora overcame her own negative beliefs and learned to accept herself - faults and all.

If you like your fantasy reads to focus heavily on character growth, then you may want to add Forestborn to your TBR. There is also a touch of romance throughout the book, but it is very much a slow-burn romance. Becker’s choice to first create a bond of friendship between Rora and Weslyn feels very authentic to Rora’s character arc. Rora’s traumatic past has caused her to have trust issues, so before any romantic relationship can be explored, friendship and trust have to be established first (think enemies-to-friends-to-lovers). I cannot wait to see how the book’s sequel will explore the romantic tension between Rora and Weslyn!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

TW: Parental abandonment, parental death, torture, imprisonment, dead bodies

Forestborn, author Elayne Audrey Becker's debut novel, is a YA fantasy loaded with magic, adventure, love, family and conflict. The magical system that Becker creates intrigued me greatly because I haven't seen a forest type setting with magical beings, animals and landscape much in the last few years. The landscape can swallow a person whole and wolves can turn invisible and a race of beings has literal tree bark for skin...it was wild and fun and entertaining.

Our main character Rora and her brother Helos are shapeshifter orphans who fled their home after their village was massacred. They've been living in the kingdom of Telyan where Rora works as a spy for the king and Elos works as a healer. Shifters aren't thought of kindly in Telyan especially after a prophecy mentions shifters and death not once but multiple times. There's a sickness sweeping the kingdom that is killing humans and it seems to be magic related. When Prince Fin falls prey to such sickness the king enlists Rora's help in finding stardust to help heal the prince. Fin has been the only one in the entire kingdom to befriend Rora and her brother so she doesn't hesitate, no matter that they will have to trudge through the Vale, the most volatile and dangerous place on the continent where the magic is most rampant. The king also insists that his other son Weslyn will accompany the brother and sister and Rora is not pleased. Prince Weslyn has always tried to ignore Rora, she thinks he thinks her beneath him, be it because she's a shifter or not but they've never gotten along. The trio sets out on this dangerous quest and there are so many twists in the tale, there's never a dull moment. The HUGE twist at the end made so much sense but they way things were left I really wished for the second book immediately!

Forestborn started off really descriptive and that bothered me a little bit but once I settled into the story I realized that it enhanced the feeling of the forest and all the magical creatures that the trio encounter. The writing had good pace and the slow burn of the romance was good, it's YA so don't expect too much in the romance department but it also didn't distract from the main adventure, it was actually quite sweet. The author proclaims that Forestborn is set in an inclusive world, with no discrimination or prejudice rooted in sex, gender, or sexuality, being that of the two main romances one is m/m and the other is m/f. I'd definitely recommend this book to any YA fantasy fan looking for an adventure story with a focus on nature.

Thank you so much to Tor Teen for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow.

When I first started reading Forestborn I was slowly falling into the world building and the characters, but it didn’t take long for me to be completely in love with Forestborn.

This book is a pure fantasy book that is written exceedingly well. The writing is a dream, the characters are so well developed, the world building is almost effortless, and visuals of the Vale live in my head rent free.

Rora and Helos are sibling shifters, who were orphaned young and have outlived so much hardship.

The Royal Danofers are a complex royal family that I absolutely LOVE.

And there were plot twists I DIDN’T SEE COMING and I live for that!!

I laughed and I cried, god did I cry. Rora is a special character that I will carry in my heart. She’s a character that means something. I read that last page and I just knew that when I turned it, there wouldn’t be anything on the next page- and I just cried. I cannot wait to see how Rora’s journey plays out, and you best believe after finishing this book- Elayne Audrey Becker is going on my auto-buy authors list.

Thank you for this story Becker. THANK YOU!

WOW!

ok I truly do not know where to even begin. This book is everything that I could have ever wanted in a fantasy. I am truly blown away and can not wait to read the second book. The author did an amazing job of building up a world that you could actually visualize and explore with the characters. I am so deeply in love with it and even had to step away from the book a few time because I did not want it to end. I am going to try to give a review with out any spoilers as best as I can.

Rora and her brother Helos have grown from a tragic childhood. Watching their village be destroyed in front of them and being forced to live alone in a magical forest, they lived in constant fear and neglect. They are the only survivors of the tragic slaughter of their people, Shifters, who can shift their bodies to become 3 different animals or any human that they would like. Which that just to start was pretty dang cool. The siblings are found by a Queen who tells her son, Prince Weslyn to take them back to her kingdom to help them.

Our story picks up years after Weslyn has brought them to his kingdom and the King has become very fond of Rora. She is set on a mission to find out why so many people of his kingdom are getting sick and dying. When Rora finds out that the Kings son, Finley, (also her best friend) has caught the affliction, she knows when she is asked to travel back to the magical forest for a cure, she can not say no.

So the bulk to this story is Rora, Helos and Prince Weslyn traveling to the magical and deadly forest to find what something they hope would cure Finley. Where the story gets amazing is the detail that the author puts into the magical forest. The thrill, the beauty, the magical creatures that are all a wicked spin on forest creatures. The magical land with deep caves full of waterfalls, stunning sky lines with dazzling stars and meadows that are so perfect and sweet, they steal your senses from you.

Not only did the author build a BEAUTIFUL world, but did an amazing job of creating a new conflict pretty early on in the book to build on so there could be a second book. Truly, the building of conflict and the twists that the author puts in this is CRAZY and in such an amazing way. If found myself up until 3am one night because I just couldnt put it down.

Overall, YES PICK UP THIS BOOK. like now. I would not be surprised if this becomes one of the next big book series because it is simply that good. Even though it is fantasy, it is so easy to follow along and also picture what the author is creating. I think that is my biggest problem with fantasy is sometimes the world building can get very boring. That is not the case with this book. Not only is there a beautiful world building, but a few love interests, lots of twists and turns, so many amazing magical creatures and a VERY STONG FEMALE LEAD!!! Highly recommend this book.

It is both a blessing and a curse, to be forestborn. But I think many of us could say that in general. For Rora, her shapeshifting abilities are a part of who she is. They make her useful to the king and, at least in her mind, prove that she has value. But an ominous prophecy about shifters follows her, and the people around her treat her with mistrust. Now, she must pair up with one of the people whose scorn bothers her the most in order to save the life of someone she loves.




Forestborn, the debut novel by Elayne Audrey Becker, follows Rora and her brother, Helos – the only survivors of a massacre that wiped out their entire village – as they travel through the mysterious, magical forest (to which they swore never to return) in search of a long-shot cure for a fatal illness that has suddenly stricken their dear friend, Finley, who happens to be the youngest son of the king Rora serves. Accompanying them on their quest is Finley’s brother, Weslyn, who has treated the siblings with derision ever since his mother’s death years ago – which was the day they met.

Rora, Helos, and Weslyn as a trio are phenomenal. Rora and Helos’s sibling dynamic is complex and would be difficult to explain without giving away too much of the book. Suffice it to say that they love each other dearly and are determined to protect each other, but they both have a lot of inner demons to battle through that manifest in unhealthy ways. Toss in Weslyn, who has mostly ignored them for years and who must deal with his own problems and rid himself of his preconceptions based on his life of privilege, and you have a really great, charismatic lead trio.

(And yes, there is queer representation, but I don’t want to go too much into it in the review because it was a delight for me to piece it together as I read. It is something that I am hoping gets expanded on in the next book.)

I really love what Becker has done here with Rora in particular. The book navigates a complex discussion on morality, both to oneself and to others. There is a lot of talk about selfishness and selflessness, and how both traits are not always as black and white as they may seem on paper. In fact, “not what it seems” could be the theme of the book when you look at the very obvious definition (Rora and Helos are both shapeshifters) and the more metaphorical (people’s assumptions about others).

This book was a treat to read. Becker has created a vast, varied world, not only with the different magical creatures we meet as the trio journey through the wilderness, but also among the humans themselves. There is a stark difference in the feel of the kingdoms – among the people, among the politics, among the forms of government. And I particularly loved this new take on shapeshifting, which reminded me a bit of the Daemons in His Dark Materials in that a shifter is able to take up to three animal forms but they cannot choose them – it’s something that just happens.

The human societies and politics will play a bigger role in the next book, but in regards to Forestborn, the focus is the forest itself. Aside from the various magical creatures the trio meet along the way, the land is almost its own character – in the sense of Tolkien, The Princess Bride, or The Neverending Story. There is a strange mist that deposits you where you need to go – even if you were nowhere near there when you started. There is a meadow that makes you hallucinate. There is a cave system that changes the same way the staircases do at Hogwarts.





As the first book in a duology, Forestborn covers a very specific quest. Rora, Helos, and Weslyn are looking for a cure for a disease that is magical in nature. Ergo, the cure itself must be magical. But the only solution anyone can offer is to cross the magical forest, search for the Giants (who may not even exist anymore), and ask them for stardust (which may never have been real). The plot is nicely paced and doesn’t ever really drag, even when the three are mostly just walking – it’s these moments where the best character development happens.

In short, Forestborn is a fantastic, well-written fantasy with likable and relatable main characters set in a lush world where everything is complicated and nothing is as it seems. There are a lot of familiar fantasy tropes – a quest, a prophecy – and some of my favorite fanfic ones (enemies-to-lovers fans, raise your hands and then use them to read this book) that made this a very enjoyable read. I am extremely excited for the sequel (which is expected to be released next year).

Forestborn is a YA Fantasy that features three main characters on a quest to save a kingdom from a deadly and mysterious disease infecting its citizens.Our main character, Rora is a shifter who can shift into three different animal forms and anyone else she can conjure up into her imagination. On this quest, she is accompanied by her brother, who is also a shifter and Prince Weslyn. This book features an interesting and unique world and magic system, troubled characters and a hate-to-love romance.

Overall I genuinely enjoyed this book. I would say my overall rating is a 3.5 stars but rounded up to a 4 star due to there being not half star option (tragic). I thought it featured a great magic system and interesting world that featured a creepy and magical forest, which is one of my favorite things to encounter in a fantasy world. And as much as I enjoyed the world, magic, and characters in this book, I still had a few issues with it. I did find the pacing of this book to be way off for me.I thought the beginning was super slow and a tad hard to get through because I was not motivated to pick it up due to its slow pacing. Then I was surprised when the second half of the book picked up in action and that is when I really got into the story and its characters. I also found it hard to connect to some of the characters, especially Prince Finley, who is Rora’s best friend and Prince Weslyn’s little brother who is unfortunately been infected with this deadly and mysterious illness. We’re meant to believe that these three characters will do anything for Prince Finley yet we don’t spend much time with his character and get to know him. That being said I think the second half of this book is pretty epic and brutal. I was shocked by all the twists and turns and it left me craving for more. I’m looking forward to not only the release of this book but for the release of the sequel as well.

Forestborn is the first novel in a new duology of the same name. I am cautious when starting a duology as they have the potential to be too slow in the first novel leaving all the action for the sequel or they could solve almost every problem in the first novel and new ones are presented in the sequel leaving them disconnected. Luckily, this novel provides a great balance and I have faith that the sequel will follow through and provide an excellent conclusion. This novel has a great build-up of different threats that the characters face and then does well to tie everything together leaving the second novel to find a solution.

The story is set on the continent of Alemara (a map most likely will be included in the final version, but was not present in my ARC). There is Eradain, a kingdom in the north ruled by 25-year-old King Jol Holworth, Sovereign of Eradain after he recently inherited the throne. On the south end is Telyn, which is ruled by King Gerar Danofer, Sovereign of Telyan. The republic of Glenweil lies in the center. The story begins with the main set of characters in Roanin, a city within Telyn, at Castle Roanin, but the other two regions do play a role in the story. I love that the author kept it simple, in a way, with three regions as it was easy to keep track of the main locations and keep the focus the characters and story. Readers, like me, can become too bogged down in details if there are too many locations, so I liked the simplicity in the approach.

Rora, the main character, is a Shifter, which has three animal forms that they can shift into depending on need and alter their appearance as humans. She acts as a spy for King Gerar since her arrival at the palace four years before when she was thirteen. Her brother, who is a year old, arrived at the palace at the same time. As he is also a shifter, he was not allowed to remain at the palace. Magic is feared, so the king was unable to have both in his service while remaining in the people’s favor. During Rora’s return to the castle after a mission at the very beginning of the novel, the tone of the prejudice against shifters was apparent. The way the guards and advisors talk to Rora was well done as there is a lot of tension without it being explicitly spelled out. The dyamics between Rora and the royal family is interesting as it is not always apparently what they fully think about Rora, aside from 16-year-old Finley, the youngest prince, who is Rora’s best friend. Finley’s older brother, 20-year-old Weslyn, and his older sister, the Crown princess, 25-year-old Violet both are kind to Rora, but their full feelings are not outright stated.

The main conflict in the story is the magical disease, the Fallow Throes, which is slowly killing off humans. When Finley becomes infected, Rora, Helos, and Weslyn team up to sneak into the Vale wilderness within Glenweil to try and find the cure. In addition to the magical quest, there is the growing threat from Eradain as political tensions continue to grow. Most of the story focuses on the quest by the three characters, but the political threats are always present in the background. For me, this was well done as there was great balance between the two big picture obstacles. It is tied together well with the prejudices against those with magic and it will be interesting how everything comes together in the next novel. Many of these plots are addressed in this novel, but there is still more to be explored in the next.

Overall, the characters in this story are amazing. There is great representations of love as there is a mix of romantic (m/m and m/f), platonic love (friends, found family), and familial love. There are two main romances where one is more slow burn and the other is more mysterious in detail. I love both romances and cannot wait to see them develop. All of the characters, villains and heroes alike, were all likeable as they were all complex and their motivations were revealed naturally. The concept of morality is explored as there is some tension about what constitutes selfish decisions. While I enjoyed the pacing of the story, I am still a little in the dark about the general timeline of the story. While the reader can count the number of nights, I am not positive if every day is represented. For me, it would have been nice to add in some indication of the time that has passed. The prophecy mentioned throughout the novel of “two shifters’ deaths” is interesting. I cannot wait to see how everything comes together and I am highly anticipating for the next novel to become available! [Actual Rating 4.25 out of 5]

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this excellent novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**