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The Forest Grimm
By Kathryn Purdie
🎧 Narrated by: Sarah Ovens 
The Forest Grimm, Book 1 
Book 163 of 2023

YA is such an interesting age range. Some books feel like they are written for 13 year olds, some for 16 year olds, and some for actual young adults. This one felt like “true” YA to me – the characters and stakes felt like it was written for teenagers. There wasn’t a lot of moral gray area, but characters did have to make big choices and show a lot of courage. 

All images shown were taken by me, featuring the Fairyloot edition of The Forest Grimm.

The Forest Grimm itself is filled with fairytale characters that you might find in the original Grimm’s versions – creepy but less moralistic. It was a fun play on the stories I was so familiar with. If you are a ‘fraidy cat like me, the creep factor was pretty mild, think a Disney original Halloween movie, not something truly frightening that will give you nightmares. (If I was a kid it might though – just wait until you meet Hansel and Gretel.) 

I read this as a buddy read with a friend over on the clock app, which was really fun. I had a prediction that I was ABSOLUTELY convinced I was right about – and I usually am when it comes to YA Fantasy. But Purdie surprised me! The reveal was logical but more surprising, and I really enjoyed that aspect. 

Overall, I’m on the fence about continuing this series. It’s good, but it’s definitely YA, and I’m not sure how much of that age range I will continue to read as I get so far removed from that target age group!

What’s a genre that you are hoping to read more (or less!) of in 2024?