Elayne Audrey Becker

A young, orphaned shapeshifter in a world that fears magic must risk everything if she hopes to save her only friend in Elayne Audrey Becker's Forestborn, first in a new fantasy series with a timeless feel. TO BE BORN OF THE FOREST IS A GIFT AND A CURSE. Rora is a shifter, as magical as all those born in the wilderness—and as feared. She uses her abilities to spy for the king, traveling under different guises and listening for signs of trouble. When a magical illness surfaces across the kingdom, Rora uncovers a devastating truth: Finley, the young prince and her best friend, has caught it, too. His only hope is stardust, the rarest of magical elements, found deep in the wilderness where Rora grew up—and to which she swore never to return. But for her only friend, Rora will face her past and brave the dark, magical wood, journeying with her brother and the obstinate, older prince who insists on coming. Together, they must survive sentient forests and creatures unknown, battling an ever-changing landscape while escaping human pursuers who want them dead. With illness gripping the kingdom and war on the horizon, Finley’s is not the only life that hangs in the balance.

Forestborn

A young, orphaned shapeshifter in a world that fears magic must risk everything if she hopes to save her only friend in Elayne Audrey Becker's Forestborn, first in a new fantasy series with a timeless feel. TO BE BORN OF THE FOREST IS A GIFT AND A CURSE. Rora is a shifter, as magical as all those born in the wilderness—and as feared. She uses her abilities to spy for the king, traveling under different guises and listening for signs of trouble. When a magical illness surfaces across the kingdom, Rora uncovers a devastating truth: Finley, the young prince and her best friend, has caught it, too. His only hope is stardust, the rarest of magical elements, found deep in the wilderness where Rora grew up—and to which she swore never to return. But for her only friend, Rora will face her past and brave the dark, magical wood, journeying with her brother and the obstinate, older prince who insists on coming. Together, they must survive sentient forests and creatures unknown, battling an ever-changing landscape while escaping human pursuers who want them dead. With illness gripping the kingdom and war on the horizon, Finley’s is not the only life that hangs in the balance. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

June

I like the characters well enough, and I love the concept of the world and think the story overall has great potential, but the actual writing style and plot sort of fell flat for me. It was a very straight line kind of thing, no plot twists or significant problems/detours in the character's plans. Every scene seemed easy. I do plan to try it again someday in case I just wasn't in the reading mood at the time or something, and if there will be a second book I'll gladly read it. 

Aleena Korell

This is actually excellent. 
The prose is lovely (like, immaculate), the characters all incredibly complex and compelling. The only pitfall, in my opinion, was a slowish middle— Forestborn is a bit of a “journey” story, but it is done really really well, and there are plenty of obstacles and twists to make it interesting. 
The ending is very strong, especially where it leaves all the characters and their relationships. I can’t wait to read the next one!

Paola C

I don't know what it is with all these debuts novels but I am LIVING for them. And Forestborn is not an exception. *thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC!*


We are following Rora, who is a shifter living amongst the humans. She is a spy to the king in a kingdom that fear shifters. A mysterious illness starts affecting the non-magical people, and that's worrisome, but that's not what Rora's main reasoning for spying is. However, .when it is discovered that Rora's friend, who is a prince, has the illness, she is sent on a quest to find stardust, who is said to have magical healing powers. And off she goes, accompanied by her brother, Helos, and Weslyn, the other prince.

Forestborn has it all. A wonderful atmosphere, an amazing magic system, enemies-to-lovers romance, and relatable main characters. I absolutely enjoyed every single aspect of this book, the ending left me with some questions that I cannot wait to see how they are resolved. My only wish is that I wish we could've gotten a bit more explanation of why the shifters can only have 3 forms. But, it doesn't really bother me because it gives more of a magical aspect to the story.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Forestborn

Author: Elayne Audrey Becker

Book Series: Forestborn Book 1

Diversity: 1 time mentioned m/m relationship

Rating: 3/5

Recommended For...: young adult readers, fantasy, magic, shifting

Genre: YA fantasy

Publication Date: August 31, 2021

Publisher: Tor Teen

Pages: 368

Recommended Age: 13+ (violence, gore, animal gore, slight romance)

Explanation of CWs: This was actually a fairly mild book. There was a lot of violence and gore, some animal gore as well.

Synopsis: Rora is a shifter, as magical as all those born in the wilderness--and as feared. She uses her abilities to spy for the king, traveling under different guises and listening for signs of trouble.

When a magical illness surfaces across the kingdom, Rora uncovers a devastating truth: Finley, the young prince and her best friend, has caught it, too. His only hope is stardust, the rarest of magical elements, found deep in the wilderness where Rora grew up--and to which she swore never to return.

But for her only friend, Rora will face her past and brave the dark, magical wood, journeying with her brother and the obstinate, older prince who insists on coming. Together, they must survive sentient forests and creatures unknown, battling an ever-changing landscape while escaping human pursuers who want them dead. With illness gripping the kingdom and war on the horizon, Finley's is not the only life that hangs in the balance.

Review: This was an ok book. The book had a good magical system and the character development was well done. I also thought that the plot was well executed.

However, I really hated reading this book. The book doesn't explain the backstory and I feel like it's one of those that you have to read the blurb before you read the book. For most of the book until after 50% of the way through there wasn't that much magic or shifting. At 40% of the way through the book slows down significantly, only to pick up at about 75%. And finally, I just found the book extremely boring until about 80% of the way through the book. It was incredibly bland and just not interesting for me.

Verdict: Definitely not for me but maybe for you.

Forestborn

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