In the Forests of the Night

Rating:
Summary: Most likely this is my favorite book of all time.
Review: I'd actually never heard of In the Forests of the Night, but my friend pointed it out to me at a book fair two years ago. I read it because my friend usually has good opinions and matches my taste in books, but I had no idea how great this book really is. I felt--and still feel--some kind of connection with Risika because I see the world in a similiar way that she does. Basically, it's a book for people who are looking to read something dark, exciting and inspiring.

Rating:
Summary: In the forest of the night
Review: In the book, in the forest in the night three girls are feeling cery sorry for the bengal tigers that are kept in really small cages.So in the middle of the night the girls sneak out to the zoo. they climbe the fence and crawl past the gard which was a vampire. The girls new he was a vampire so they wore garlec chains so he won't bite them. If you are interrested in this book first read the subtitles.

Rating:
Summary: double check
Review: In the Forest of the Night is as easy to follow as seeing in the pitch-black night. This book just needed that extra POW to it. Its about three girls that are trying to free a Bengal black striped tiger which is a bit unrealistic. They almost get caught by vampires. They try and act like spies, although there is not much action. They try and try to free the tiger, and when they reach success it feels so good but they feel guilty because they took the tiger from the other people. This book is a two star book. I wish I had read the title twice. Before you read this book read the subtitles and see if it interests you. **

Rating:
Summary: Scary Things That Bump In The Night
Review: I thought that this was a well written book.
The chapters are short,yes. However I thought
the story line was
easy to fallow and fun to get into.
I think it would be a good introduction
for a young teen or someone even younger.
Who wants to start reading horror novels.
Without being scared to death.
The characters are very rea
l and I liked the authors
vocabulary and setting.

Rating:
Summary: Rough Forests
Review: Thanks to authors such as Anne Rice, vampire novels have become the bread and butter of horror literature. The fact that In the Forests of the Night is a dark tale of the graceful, cold, pale, blood-sucking immortals and their emotional turmoil isn't what makes it stand out from the crowd. The book itself is nothing special, save that author Amelia Atwater-Rhodes wrote it at the tender age of thirteen. If the reader keeps this in mind, he or she can appreciate In the Forests of the Night. Otherwise, it's very easy to dislike.

The barely comprehensible plot revolves around a vampire named Risika who lives in Concorde, Massachusetts. Getting to know her in the first few chapters is, at first, a treat. She dispels several vampire myths; "I do dislike the smell of garlic, but if your sense of smell was twenty times stronger than the average bloodhound, would you not dislike it as well?" she says. The story of her mortal life as Rachel Weatere in the early 1700s, told in flashbacks, is fascinating, if not well researched.

The book goes downhill, however, as the story becomes more complicated. The reader learns that Rachel's pious brother Alexander was murdered by a pair of vampires, who later killed Rachel and turned her into the immortal Risika. From there, the reader is forced to endure ridiculous plot twists, awkward descriptions, gratuitous biblical references, cursory religious commentary and minimal character development.

It seems as if Risika, at the age of three hundred years, has the emotional and intellectual maturity of a ten-year-old. Over and over, she says she has accepted her bloody, emotionless life as a vampire. She doesn't think twice about slaughtering humans to survive. Yet she is bent on destroying her brother's murderers, and she is friends with a beautiful tiger in the zoo. One would not expect her to be so sentimental about tasty humans and dumb animals.

Despite all its shortcomings, In the Forests of the Night has moments of beauty and wit. The author adds a few satisfying twists on vampire culture and, at times, writes with intensity.

These good points, unfortunately, are exceptions in In the Forests of the Night, a book that all too well reveals the author's age. Hopefully, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has grown as an author since dragging us through these tangled Forests.

Rating:
Summary: Childish in the Extreme
Review: If you want a self-published piece of garbage, go ahead and buy it. I did, and was sorry for it. Trite, boring, banal, lacking in imagination, and most definitely not scary.

The author was a teenager - and it shows.

...

Rating:
Summary: One Of The Worst Examples Of A Teen Vampire Novel EVER
Review: Judging by this novel, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes is almost completely incapable of coming up with an original plotline. Which works in the favor of some people but not in this case. When you prefer certain charecters because of what charecter from The Vampire Chronicals they were modeled after it is never a good sign.

Riska (who reminded me of Louis) is considerably less likeable than Aubrey (Lestat) who I managed to at least like enough to not wish that he'd be stabbed repeatedly and ran over by a car then eaten by pigeons like I often did with Riska. Riska was underdeveloped and the ending is horrible and easily predicted. Atwater-Rhodes rushes through the story and I went through the whole thing thinking it was all one night.

Rating:
Summary: sentimental drivel
Review: I have read all four of Amelia's books, and I have to say that this is both her best and her worst effort. Comparing this to all the rest she definately didn't fall into her usual pit of completely re-wording someone else's novel, but Forests is also the best example of prose at its absolute worst.

Even without Amelia going on every major network and declaring that Anne Rice was her idol, this book is still dripping with similarities to Interview with a Vampire. Although, to her credit, she didn't steal the whole plot as she did with Shattered Mirror and Midnight Predator, it's still a wonder that she hasn't been sued for copyright infringement five times over. Obviously a mistake stemming from the misguided assumption that this is the work of a child and bound to get better.

Of course, the other major problem with this book is that the writing style is un-polished and in some places downright confusing. Rhode's biggest flaw is her seeming inability to write a full length novel (If you were wondering, the ability to read all of her books in less than a day puts them squarely in the short story category). Because of this brevity, none of the intersting aspects of vampire life, the antagonist, or even the main character, are ever fully developed. The book has a rushed feel that makes it seem like it spans one night, not several. The deep-rooted hatred that Risika has for her rival doesn't even make sense given the limited information that we're given about Risika's life. Instead of giving her character the emotional depth it's obvious Rhodes was striving for, Risika comes off as infantile and emotionally impared, with the inclusion of the tiger/shapeshifting subplot only clouding the issue.

Amelia's third major flaw is her famous rushed ending that leaves the reader dissatisfied. Her characters love to disapear into the sunset(rise?), but they always leave so many loose threads and unexplained actions that it leaves the reader with the feeling that the book was filled mainly with random violence/romance/musings on the meaning of life, with no clear resolution. For all of you reviewersgiving this five stars, I have to ask, did you get the part about her brother?

Overall this book has a scattered-brained spastic feel, that left me frustrated because of its unsatisfactory ending. Really the resolution with Aubrey and her brother almost seems like the cop out 'and then I woke up and it was all a dream,' except this is worse because it's 'and then I was tired of writing, so I used the easy way out.' Give your readers better Amelia.

Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: Mike Truax
Miss Halkovic
Language Arts
12-3-03

The book, In the Forest of the Night, I think it had a great story line all the way through. I also think it had a great ending. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action packed thriller stories. I find it amazing that the author, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes was only thirteen years old when she wrote this book. I think she has a great vocabulary and punctuation for her age. I would live to read the other four books in her series because I was very interested in it.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books I've Ever Read
Review: This book has wonderful characters. She really establishes their thoughts, feelings, and actions. I recommend this book to anyone who is even mildly interested in vampires. This book grabs your attention from the very beginning. Read it!