The White Forest by Adam McOmber
The editor of this book is still kicking herself for passing on The Night Circus last year so she wasn’t about to let another book about the fantastic blurring with our world slip through her fingers. While The White Forest hasn’t been too heavily pushed yet, I give it another week or two before the bombardments begin.
Set in Victorian England this is the story of friendship, scary mystical cults and strange abilities. Three friends, Maddy, Nathan and Jane have been rambling around the heath for ages together. Everything changes between them when Jane reveals her secret. She can hear the “souls” of man-made objects. They sing and pour forth color to her at all times of day and night. She finds it all quite useless but over time her abilities evolve. Her friends would have though her mad, but if she touches someone she can transfer her experiences on to them as well. Maddy wishes to ignore Jane’s abilities, but Nathan wants to learn more about it and do experiments. Then he is sent off to fight in the Crimea. His obsession with Jane continues and upon his return he joins a cult in London. A cult dedicated to finding the Empryrean and he thinks Jane may be the doorway there.
I’ll admit this was a weird one. Unlike Harry Potter and The Night Circus this wasn’t just a “magic exists and we just don’t know it” type of book. This book was more about the parallel worlds existing beside our own and the ways those worlds can mingle with (possibly) disastrous results. If you are not a fan of fantasy you will probably not enjoy this book.
