A quick disclosure before I get started: I received my copy of this book from the author, Eliza Tilton. She is a friend I've met through blogging and I think she's great. It's always tricky when a friend asks you to read their book, because if their book is not your kind of thing, that can be horrendously awkward. Luckily, I really liked Broken Forest -- and check out the beautiful new cover :)Broken Forest is a fun fantasy-adventure with a great blend of romance, action and suspense. Multiple POV is something that's not easy to pull off, but I really liked the way that the chapters alternated between Avikar's, Jeslyn's and Lucino's POVs. The switch-offs in POV added a lot suspense to the story, gave the reader insight into what each character was thinking and feeling and really propelled the plot along. Often, in multiple POV stories, I have a strong preference for one narrator, but in the case of Broken Forest, I thought all three were equally compelling.Jeslyn is kidnapped at the opening of the story, and her brother Avikar and his friend Derrick set out to rescue her. The action moved smoothly, with the guys facing challenges and picking up a few allies (and enemies) on the way. Avikar was definitely my favorite character. He's one of those "weight of the world on his shoulders" characters that I love. He holds himself responsible for a family tragedy and this experience adds more psychological depth to his character and more urgency to his quest to save his sister.Lucino is a very intriguing villain -- I think including the POV of the villain is a great way to make his character much more three-dimensional -- and scary!Jeslyn is probably the least developed character, or maybe it's more fair to say that she's the hardest character to figure out. She gets put into the "damsel in distress" role at the outset of the story, but by the end of the story, she's … well, even more in distress…I'd definitely recommend Broken Forest to fans of light/fairytale fantasy --- books like Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and Poison by Bridget Zinn.
