Lisa Hofmann

Considering the impression I received of this book, I decide to start reading it early in the morning – 5:45am to be precise, when the sun just starts to light the sky, and there is often at least a light fog covering the ground. I hoped that would be true on this morning, and I wasn't disappointed!

I take my heavily creamed coffee onto the back patio and fondle the real book in my hand. Reading is a much more profound and personal experience with an actual book (even if you get a cramp in show more your fingers or a crick in your neck)!

The cover is blue and white and depicts an archway partially covered with overgrown flowers and a dove in flight (I think it's a dove anyway). Light is streaming through the arch and highlights a stone floor. I love the font. It looks familiar, but I don't remember what it's called. I open the book and smell the pages. There is nothing more wonderful than the smell of fresh paper! Every book has its own unique scent. This one smells like a minty forest, which seems appropriate and makes me crave a Peppermint Patty! The pages are stark white and very smooth. It's a beautiful book.

I open the book and begin to read. At first the language of the story seems a bit... well cheesy. It didn't take more than a few pages, however, to recognize the quality of writing being presented. All thoughts of cheesy evaporate like an open bottle of rubbing alcohol. No cheese here! Just a superbly told story. I fell straight into the beautiful, melancholy, tragic, hopeful, and complex world being painted so marvelously and with such detailed settings, that I could immediately draw them in my mind. The characters are so carefully developed, I felt I knew them as well as the author did, and I could imagine what all their reactions and thoughts might be.

The most impressive thing about this book in my opinion, is the author's ability to relate all these involved and wonderful images and moods and characters and plot, that seem very flowering and detailed, with language I found so beautiful and so well written.... in only 414 pages... and English isn't even her first language! The editing in this book is also excellent. I don't think there was a single mistake in punctuation, grammar, or spelling in the entire volume. It has everything I love in a book, and I am really looking forward to the rest of the series! show less

The author offers us a basic introduction to the world you read about in Stealing The Light as well as a small insight into one of the characters in her book, so you may want to read this, if you plan to read it or already have, but it isn't necessary. It's well written and paints a clear picture of the character's thoughts, experience, and the surroundings in which he finds himself. Though it did pique my interest, I didn't fall in love with it like I did the book.

Despite being a book of significant size, I have surprisingly little to say about Stealing the Light. It's strongest features is probably its characters, who are varied and generally nuanced with distinct personalities. The fantasy elements are fairly light, similar in tone to the Night Circus in that the story doesn't have spell-slinging, sorcery and whatnot, and is instead understated, which makes sense for plot reasons. (This isn't a criticism, just a comment.) I particularly enjoyed show more Catherine(our female MC) with her half-wild character traits and instinct, but her story, and the narrative as a whole, dragged slightly as it reached the middle part where the second MC gained more attention and her story fell into a something of a holding pattern.
My main complaint with the book is that the synopsis basically tells you everything that happens, which left me feeling a little dissatisfied.

If you're interested in a more in-depth review, here is our video review:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGEKpgWR398&t=3s show less

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
There are a few references to rape and some verbal sexual harassment from soldiers in ‘Amélie’, but nothing is explicit, and I would say it is PG-13. Likewise in ‘Anguish’ there are themes of abuse, but again it is nothing explicit.

Tales from the Midnight Forest is a wonderful collection of short stories for fans of fantasy, creative world building, shapeshifters and particularly female protagonists with spirit – which means, show more for me, it ticked all the right boxes! show less