Review: In the Forests of the Night by Kersten Hamilton

In the Forests of the Night by Kersten Hamilton. A Goblin Wars Book.

Clarion Books
Publication Date: November 2011
List Price: $16.99
ISBN-13: 9780547435602

Review: Imagine this: you have goblin blood inside you. There's no way to get it out, and you desperately want to get rid of it. Goblins are ready to kill, kill, KILL! You're a good person, and you're in love! But you have a decision ahead of you, that you can change your life. You could kill and pretend that you have no idea, or curl up in a ball and die. But, you can also fight the fight, even though it might be useless. Well, this is the situation that Teagan Wylltston faces, just inside the pages of In the Forest of the Night, from the Goblin Wars series, by Kersten Hamilton. This is, however, the second book, so consider reading the first book before reading this one.

Teagan (or Rosebud, as her dad formally calls her) has recently fallen in love with Finn. However, she cannot lead the life she wants, not until they banish all evil from Mag Mell, a magical place in which magical creatures roam. And she's is becoming sicker by the second, and it just so happens that the sickness is growing because of Fear Doirich. He's not bad, no, he's EVIL! But he's not the only one, Kyle, who's body is asleep in Mag Mell, is dangerous! He, too, is ready to kill, just like others who have goblin blood. The rest? You'll just have to read this book and find out.

For a series like this, I can't think of a better author than Kersten Hamilton. She used such descriptive phrases! In the Forest of the Night includes romance, adventure, and mystery. The combination of all three caused a lot of emotions to explode inside me. Excitement, anxiousness, and I constantly felt on the edge, as if I couldn't stop reading until I finished the book. If my memory was constantly being erased like Mr. Wylltston's memory, I would keep rereading this book. It's that good. At first, I didn't really understand the plot, because I had not read the first book, and maybe, if I looked at the cover closer, I would have noticed that it said "Book Two". However, this is not the first series that I've read the second book before the first one. I WILL, though, make sure that I read the first book, Tyger Tyger. And once the third book comes out, I'll make sure I'll read that one too. I rate In the Forest of the Night five stars.

Review written by Tam (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a copy of In the Forests of the Night for this review.

Have you read In the Forests of the Night? How would you rate it?