Paper Forests

“While your children and grandchildren are away, I like to think that they’re visiting a fantastic place, somewhere where they aren’t restrained by an illness or held back by their own emotions, a place where there is nothing but health and happiness to greet them.”

Book details

Length: 363 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Thriller

Age Category: Young Adult

Date Published: 21 June 2022

We follow Oliver on a journey into the Forest, along with three other companions. Their journey will make them face their pasts and secrets, and Oliver will need to choose if he wants to go home or make a new life in these woods.

After reading the prologue, I went “Oh damn, is this going to be some Bridge to Terabithia stuff” grabbed a box of tissues and sat right down. Dealing with young children’s deaths or diseases, along with a side of homophobia can be a recipe for a tear-jerker.

I appreciate the note from the author on pg ix, about the trigger/caution warnings. Us bloggers were given an Excel sheet with everything listed for each book, but it’s good to know that the regular audience get that as well. The chapter ornaments were cool and unique, making it really easy to see just how far the next chapter was.

I’m invested in the story, it was hard to guess what would happen next and that made it more enjoyable. It was a unique story with engaging characters and a great world to explore. I wish I had more time with the characters, even for a book that was 363 pages long it didn’t feel long enough for some of their backstories. The pacing was good, but I could put the book down when I needed a break.

Overall this was probably the most original story that I got to read during the BBNYA 2023. Even now in March thinking back to a book I read in December, I have fond memories of it. Now a little about the book’s author.

Author Bio

On a cold Autumn evening back in 2008, seven-year-old Tegan Anderson began to write their first short stories, finding a more creative way to learn their spellings. Many years and many more short stories later, they haven’t stopped for anything. Now, they’re writing more than they ever believed possible. Tegan may write the worlds they would prefer to exist in but currently lives in Devon with their overflowing bookshelves and expanding imagination.

Maxine Miles

It’s 1997, and almost 15-year-old Maxine Miles has a mystery to solve. The town square of Hastings has been defaced with anti-Hastings propaganda, and if they can’t figure out who did it the town’s harvest festival will be cancelled.

Maxine is a regular Nancy Drew, who rubs people the wrong way. Always questioning, always reaching, and trying to prove something. I also really like that everyone is fed up with her poking her nose where it doesn’t belong, giving me Harriet the Spy vibes; but she does solve some mysteries.  

I like that it was marketed as a YA podcast, as I hadn’t heard anyone try to differentiate a podcast like that before. This makes it sticks out in a good way.  Like any good mystery, each episode reveals something about the characters and the story. When it comes to podcasts, how it sounds matters. They have a great musical sting at the start of every episode. Overall, they created a cool soundscape throughout the episodes.

What really made this podcast stand out was its three different endings; which is fun for those of us who like to choose our own adventure stories. But unlike something like Malevolent which has multiple choices throughout, the fact that it’s only the ending, makes it fresh. I like it when I can make the big choices in the story, and choose where we will end. Season 2 will start off with the consequences of the most listened-to ending. Each end offers new insights into one of the mysteries, and it will be exciting to see what the fans will choose to be canon.   

Looking for a light mystery that promises some fun, check out Maxine Miles.

Wings of Ebony

J. Elle’s Wings of Ebony is a great read, that’s hard to put down. 

I picked it up and thought I would read a couple of chapters over my lunch break, and instead finished reading it that day. We jump around the timeline, from a year ago when Rue’s mom was shot and died on their front porch. Shortly after Rue is whisked away by her father, who she never knew, to the land of Ghizon. A hidden island of magic wielders that she is related to. But all she can think about is how to get back home to her little sister Tasha. A year after she starts her magic lessons, she breaks Ghizon’s rule of never leaving the island to head back home to East Block. However, she discovers her block has fallen into disarray, Black kids are being forced into a life of crime. Has she shown up quick enough to save her sister, or will her homecoming cause more problems than her abrupt departure? 

I really liked Rue, she felt like a real person. She had faults, and dreams. Her disillusionment with this new world makes sense, as she had no say in whether she would join it. She’s blunt, says what she means, and holds no punches. Whether this gets her in trouble, that’s a problem to solve later. The book is incredibly timely, I’ve noticed this increase of activism in YA books, and it is appreciated. Rue is a Black woman living in the US, and she references Briana Taylor and George Floyd protests. It works with the plot and doesn’t feel like it’s shoved in there for no reason. The increase of violence in her neighbourhood pushes her to do something to stop it from getting worse. 

There are heavy Afrofuturism elements in this book. It was described to me as Black Panther meets Harry Potter, and I’m not disappointed. Ghizon is an island with magic and technological advancement. They have an invisibility spell over the entire island, which causes the lighter inhabitants to become rather pale and pallid (sickly looking), as they don’t get the sunlight. Rue and her father are the only Black characters in Ghizon.  The magic is wonderfully described “Magic rips from my hands like branches, binding and hot. Everything stills. Times stops.”

All that I can say is that I’m looking forward to 2022’s Ashes of Gold.