Hello Fellow Journeyers,
This next story is one I found by chance on Kindle Unlimited. Like so many others I've checked out, the main attractor initially was the incredibly vivid cover and intriguing title. After some research, I learned that this story was interpreted by many to be a retelling of Robin Hood of sorts. While I have not read many stories surrounding this figure, I am obviously familiar with the premise and was interested to see what the author did with it.
What's the story about: A Forest of Vanity and Valour is a fairytale retelling of Robin Hood mixed with some aspects of another English folklorian figure. The main characters are two men trying to make the best of their bad situations: a kingdom at war and a love triangle that divides them. While it may seem straightforward in that one is the good guy, one is bad, there is more gray to it.
I don't want to get into spoilers, but I feel like there are some important aspects about expectations that should be stated from the beginning. What caught my attention early on in the story was how different and surprising the two main characters were to who I assumed them to be from the summary/synopsis. I assumed Vireo to be related closely to Robin Hood, the noble thief with a heart of gold that helps the everyman and Jareb was going to be the evil and crooked Sheriff of Nottingham. But Beswick doesn't want to merely rehash what you already know and expect. Vireo is nothing close to noble, and Jareb is far more complicated than simply being evil or unjust. I'd go so far as to say the roles are switched and the villain (especially in the beginning 40% or so) is definitely Vireo in my interpretation. Maybe this is too much information, but I think it would assist future readers to know this information before reading the story. If you are expecting a story you already know, this isn't it. And I greatly enjoyed the additions Beswick decided to include to make the main characters more complicated and realistic; in my opinion, it totally worked and paid off especially in the first half of the story.
The next thing worth noting is that this book is short, less than 300 pages short, which had both benefits and consequences. One benefit was that it doesn't take much time, energy, or understanding of the world to get into the story. It just gets going and the intrigue is high by simply making the reader wonder what comes next and learn who the two main characters are. I was surprised at how invested I was after the initial chapters because they were short and steeped in intrigue. The short chapters actually work surprisingly well. They're not perfect, because you barely sit with the characters in any given situations, but it helps keep the pacing fast. On a flipside, the consequences (of having a short page count) are fairly glaring. There are developments and events that take place simply to further the plot or because there isn't a good explanation for something occurring. I won't state what any of them are specifically, but when they came up it made me roll my eyes quite a bit. Even though I was able to ignore these faults for the most part by not taking time to dwell on them, they were still prevalent and distracting.
Additional problems consisted of continual grammatical errors that could've easily been fixed by a proofreader or editor but I found them as often as one to three times a chapter. The final blatant issue is that the main characters, Vireo, Jareb, Lek, and Gillam never grow in depth past the initial chapters' introductions. While Vireo's character demands change, the way it takes place during the second half of the story seemed a little fast and sudden for how set in his ways he was during the first half. Jareb on the other hand is quite honestly fantastic in the first half and Beswick created a grounded motivation and arc for him that goes in a direction that is as farfetched as it is believable. The way it happens is a little out there when you see where he was for the first half of the story and I was disappointed in how it ends up. Lek and Gillam, which could've provided Vireo with much needed humanity and realism are unfortunately mostly used for lightheartedness, grunts to be used for missions, and any additional assistance Vireo requires. There are a few other characters involved, but they don't receive the same amount of attention as the four stated above had. While none of the characters are downright bad, I think they could've been really engaging if utilized to their full potential.
When it comes down to it, there were problems with this book and story, but they were equal to the mostly innocently enjoyable nature of it. Because this story is a fairytale retelling, I just felt like giving it more grace than many other stories. It takes courage to take on an old story that many people already know and Beswick does an admirable job at breathing life into his interpretation. There are creative liberties and excuses that I gave it that I wouldn't give a normal original story. My last point that I will make is that the ending is a stunner, while also being a bit of facepalm. It's great from one perspective, but from another it just derails the entire story's tension and ending. I'm definitely wanting to see where the series goes, but this book ends in a way that was less satisfying than I had hoped.
★★★ 3 Stars - A Forest of Vanity and Valour is a fast-paced, intrigue-ridden fairytale of two men at odds with one another. Their rivalry is the center of this story and this keeps the progression tight and focused for the entire length of the book. While you don't really grow with either character, you do get a good understanding of where they come from. There are plenty of grammatical errors plaguing the chapters that can be frustrating while reading, but there is also enough organic writing to make the story captivating and engaging. The writing itself flip flops between being fairly original and realistic in its execution to having a decent amount of clichés common to the fantasy genre. I found the worldbuilding that surrounded the characters to be the most interesting part of this story but the characters were sufficient enough to carry the simple plot. I am definitely going to check out Beswick's additional works (especially set in this world) and see how the writing evolves.
Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.
Rating system:
★★★★★ 5 Stars: It was amazing; I loved it. Read this book; it is definitely Essential Reading!
★★★★★* 4.5 Stars: It was nearly perfect. I really loved almost every aspect of it, but a few things kept it from being amazing.
★★★★ 4 Stars: It was very worth reading and satisfying; highly recommend.
★★★★* 3.5 Stars: I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but it was lacking in certain crucial areas.
★★★ 3 Stars: It was good, but could've been better or improved upon significantly.
★★★* 2.5 Stars: I wanted to enjoy it. Certain aspects were good, it was worth finishing, but many issues.
★★ 2 Stars: It was okay, I didn't feel strongly about it.
★★* 1.5 Stars: I finished it, but it was a chore to get through.
★ 1 Star: I did not like it. It was not worth finishing or I did not finish it.
*I round up based on the system on Goodreads.