Hey guys! I recently finished The Forest Grimm by Kathryn Purdie and really enjoyed it! After I finished reading this book, I was looking at the Goodreads reviews for it, and I really didn’t realize how many mixed reviews there were for this book! A lot of people were put off by the dark nature and creepy storytelling of this book. However, I’ve personally thought that was what made it so good! The original grim fairytales are super dark and twisted and I felt like this book really played on that and didn’t shy away from being creepy and intense. So, here are my thoughts on the book.
Plot 5/5
As far as the plot goes, I give it a five out of five. I absolutely love the story of Little Red Riding Hood and everything relating to the brothers Grimm. I have done multiple reports on them, so when I saw the title of this book, I was extremely excited at the prospect of a twist on some of my favorite old stories. This book definitely lived up to that hype. We follow Clara as she tries to save her mother and some of her other fellow villagers from being trapped in the woods. The woods of their village have been magical, and someone used the magic to harm someone else, causing the forest to retaliate. The forest took away the magic. Along with that, some villagers went missing. One of those villagers is Clara’s mom. Clara makes a plan to attempt to go into the forest to find the missing villagers along with her mother.
Structure 4/5
I get the structure of four out of five. I absolutely enjoyed most of this book. The one thing I found was a little inorganic was the main love, interest, and romantic relationship. I think the way the entire relationship came about felt very forced. I almost wish the main character would not have had a love interest because I didn’t feel it added much to the plot in general. Other than that, the pacing of this book felt good and I was really immersed in the story the whole way through.
Characters 4/5
For the characters, I also gave four out of five, because where I liked a lot of the characters they met along the way, including Clara. I didn’t really love the main love interest; he just felt very there, and I felt that they were much better off as friends once they started to really act on their romantic relationship. It just didn’t feel genuine to me. Before the love interest and Clara became officially more than friends I didn’t mind him as a character. I LOVED the characters they stumble upon in the woods. They are very dynamic and I really enjoyed the twists and turns!
Feeling 4/5
For the feelings for this book, I gave it a four out of five. There were definitely moments where I was shocked, heartbroken, ETC. Again, I’m just harping on the fact that I wish the love interest would not have been a part of this book.
Spice 1/5
There is absolutely no spice in this book it is YA as far as spice goes.
Overall 4.5/5
Overall and give this book a 4.5 out of five. I definitely would’ve given this book a higher rating had there been no love interest. I absolutely loved all the crazy stories and crazy things they saw in the forest. I also absolutely loved seeing all the twists on some of my favorite stories from childhood. I found myself thinking about this book a lot during the day when I wasn’t reading it, and I definitely plan on rereading it.
