A Forest Of Vanity And Valour (The Levanthria Series)

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Vireo was a well-written character. He was selfish and greedy and, by all means, an unlikeable tax collector. His reasoning for his actions made sense (unlike other characters) and his evolution from a selfish man to a budding hero felt natural. Most importantly, his grief was palpable. I really felt for him when he was forced to kill the love of his life. Having him wear her green hood was a nice touch.

That said I was a fool. The story is absolutely captivating and each moment that passed I wanted to know more. The over all change in the main character was beautiful and compelling to see. Watching the antagonist fall deeper and deeper into madness was like watching a well preformed play. It’s interesting that it’s written in first person. Not something I’m use to. But it was refreshing. The quotes at the start of every chapter. In a positive sense give it a Skyrim or total war feel. However sometimes they feel redundant if they sarcastically applied or foreshadowed things in the book then it would have been more enjoyable to read them as they were from random characters who we weren’t introduced to. No matter the story (it's an inspired-by anyways), the character's reasons and development are as non-existent as the creativity of the writing style. Full of poster-image scenes that make no sense nor can be connected to the bigger picture.Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group for requesting additions or updates to the catalog, including: An aggressive debt collector banished from the kingdom. Now his life depends on his ability to help the less fortunate…

Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. The use of the first person present is done so horribly that I actively cringed at least once every chapter. It reads like an online role play, providing the reader with second-hand embarrassment. Example from the first paragraph of chapter 9:

Overall I am giving it a high 3, low 4 stars as I did really enjoy the story of the book if not some aspects (see below for more issues), Admission of guilt: Bought Forest of Vanity and the following three books mostly based on the covers and the fun Tiktoks from the author. It's some wonderful imagery and AP is a fun person to watch. Embroiled in a secret affair with a fellow noble’s wife, Vireo is mortified when he’s forced to commit an unthinkable act. Driven into exile, no longer able to coerce the vulnerable, and with the powerful tome in his enemy’s hands, the fallen agent’s only shot at survival hangs on his skills at saving others.

Third, and spoiler, but Lek betraying him…..JUST WHY. Like give me a reason, any reason for this. But no, and from what it looks like, the next book doesn’t have any of the same characters so you won’t get to know. The characters themselves miss depth and would be better suited in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. In fact, the whole book feels like it could have been a transcript of a D&D campaign.

Not the worst book I’ve read in 2023, but hella disappointing for how good it looked on TikTok and the cover is pretty legit. How did Laith, a teenager who had been whipped, beat Cordin, a trained elven soldier? Where the hell did this kid even come from?? Don't even get me started on the fact that five lashings were too many. Slaves used to get upward of 20. Not that I'm discounting that five lashes would hurt, but the characters made such a big deal about it. I get that not everyone is Kvothe but come on! I found the execution wanting. I felt the pacing really slowed me down and only being on a plane with nothing else to read could dedicate my attention to it. The dialogue at times felt jarring and unnatural, or like the author didn't trust the reader to understand what was going on and then made a joke about it. Spelling errors didn't help either. The first person perspective switching between different characters threw me for a loop too. He fridges the main character's romantic interest, I felt the characterizations were inconsistent towards the end, and he didn't wrap up the ending with any sort of explanations regarding these questionable character actions. The dialogue was decent. Unlike the writing style, it flowed well even though it was nothing special. While this started out as one, it ended up being a very loose retelling and very little shooting of arrows after a specific incident. (sad face)

I do like the book it’s a mix of Arthurian Legend and Robin Hood that comes across really well with a good mix of medieval themes in the book and it’s a good interpretation.

The writing isn't great. I don't consider myself a book snob and I understand that self-published indie books come with quirks and occasional mistakes, but I believe writing takes skill and ALL writing benefits from a few goes around with an editor and even ARC readers to really bring out the best in a story.