Mel’s Reviews > Forest Mage > Status Update

Spoke it into existence. Epiny, my darling gal, thank you for strong arming some plot into this first person story from the perspective of a stupidly and boringly honorable white boy with a victim/martyr complex.

Nevare is a bone head. Fitz is also a bonehead but at least Fitz is not annoying. Nevare is starting to be annoying.

The pacing for the first half was clumsy and I dislike how a lot of topics/plot points have been handled. But the last hundred or so pages the story has finally hit its stride. I think I dislike the Specks and the Gernians equally and feel awful for the Plains-people. I am intrigued by this carrion god of balance. Hope that’s something. Hope it finishes stronger than it started.

The small moments of Nevare learning to adjust to his new circumstances and being incredibly competent but sad are surprisingly calming????

Nevare’s sudden extreme weight gain after recovering from plague is a physical symptom of him now being a conduit of magic. The Plains-people see being plus sized as an honor because it means he is full of magic. And his physical transformation now doubles as the catalyst for him to realize his society is shallow and dumb and evil. I mean???? Fine? A little heavy handed Robin. Executed in a super mean way? JFC.

Almost a third of the way through this book and suddenly I’m in the first chapter of The Secret Garden? Nevare is just locked in his room and forgotten about like Mary is left alone in her nursery while everybody outside straight up dies of cholera? Child abuse saves the day???? What is even happening at this point?

At least Mama Burvelle has a bigger part in this book than in the last. I like this woman very much. I’d be happy to leave her annoying son and husband behind and follow her story for a bit.

So Nevare’s evil spirit self is possessing him and punishing him for cutting himself off from the tree spirit by making him…fat? Like the punishment is to make him gain an excessive amount of weight in an impossibly short time and then all his family and friends abandon him out of discomfort and disgust? Like that’s really what’s happening rn? This is alarmingly fatphobic out of nowhere. Wtf.

This is gonna be 700 pages of self sabotage and I am already exhausted.

Please do not be weird magical tree Mpreg. Please. I’m anti-any preg in my fantasy. But I specifically do not want teenage boy and magical tree spirit Mpreg. Spare me this, Robin. Please.