REVIEW: Wraith's Forest

(the following review is based off a Reviewer Copy I received)


Wraith's Forest shows much promise. L.J. Leger has a budding grasp on her use of prose, parts of the story read beautifully and were extremely enjoyable. The story is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast Fairy Tale with a few minor changes. Jenna is a sixteen year old girl who is appointed with the job of harvesting fruit from a magical tree so the local Wizard can make an elixer that would help keep the balance of the valley. One of the fruits is bruised, with the weight of her failure on her shoulders, Jenna needs to venture into the forest to find a magical blade from the mysterious and dangerous Wraith.

The book's only real flaw is the execution of the story. The fruit and the elixir portion of the story feels a little bit forced. Since this idea feels slightly far-fetched it is hard to feel any connection to Jenna or the people in her village. You find yourself asking: why is the elixir important? The character of the Wizard is also a little bit sketchy bouncing between a young man and a stereotypical mustache twirling denizen.

Jenna's interaction with the Wraith is the strongest portion of the story, but it feels a little bit rushed. I expect this is just because of the length of the story (it is a novella). There is much room for more interactions between Jenna and the Wraith, and possibly more information on his backstory. He is by far the most fascinating character in the story. The ending is a little bit cliche, but cute none the less. 

All in all I did enjoy this story, it just needs a little bit of work. If the Author even chose to, this story could end up being fleshed out into an entire novel.

I look forward to reading more of Leger's work.