In the Forests of the Night
by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Den of Shadows (1), Den of Shadows: Chronological Order (1)
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Description
Risika, a teenage vampire, wanders back in time to the year 1684 when, as a human, she died and was transformed against her will.Tags
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peptastic These novels are similar in their portrayal of vampires as singular creatures with animal predatory natures without human morality imposed on them.
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Member Reviews
I did not find this book to be as well-written as many make it out to be; one can tell the author is young and trying (too) hard to write like a seasoned author. The plot was under-developed, and the entire book seemed to jump from one event to the next without regard to flow, or at times, even logic (e.g. the last few pages - WTF?). I found many of the passages to be random musings of the author, included without any significance to the story. The concept of alternating between the past and present was interesting, but grew tiresome. Overall, the book was a good attempt by a young author, but needed a lot more work before being published.
Risika, born Rachel Weatere in 1684, and now a vampire in contemporary Concord, is haunted by her past in this moody teen thriller. The daughter of colonial Puritans, Rachel was changed into a vampire and renamed Risika by the powerful Ather. Her hatred is reserved for Aubrey however, who murdered her twin brother Alexander. Flashbacks from that earlier time alternate with scenes from the present, as the book leads inexorably to a showdown between Risika and Aubrey.
Written by the author when she was thirteen, and published when she was fifteen, In the Forests of the Night was something of a sensation when it appeared back in 1999. Although it never strayed very far from the conventions governing such teen thrillers, Atwater-Rhodes' show more debut was surprisingly well-written for such a young author. With the recent advent of writers such as Christopher Paolini, Nancy Yi Fan and Flavia Bujor, the children's literature scene has become more accustomed to adolescent authors, but it was still something of a novelty when this was first released. show less
Written by the author when she was thirteen, and published when she was fifteen, In the Forests of the Night was something of a sensation when it appeared back in 1999. Although it never strayed very far from the conventions governing such teen thrillers, Atwater-Rhodes' show more debut was surprisingly well-written for such a young author. With the recent advent of writers such as Christopher Paolini, Nancy Yi Fan and Flavia Bujor, the children's literature scene has become more accustomed to adolescent authors, but it was still something of a novelty when this was first released. show less
This book was a double young adult selection, both by intended audience and by the fact that the author was thirteen when she completed it.
Considering the age the author, this is quite a decent book. The plot is extremely quick; it centers around the vampire Risika and her fight with her blood brother Aubrey, the man who may have killed her human brother back in the 17th century, when she was still mortal. That’s really it to the story, but it’s well developed, and the atmosphere is pretty compelling. I’m not sure I would have gotten past the bare bones plot from an adult author, but knowing the age of the author gave her a certain amount of credit (fairly or unfairly), and helped me overlook that.
I’d never heard of this author, show more until my mother passed me this book after picking it up at Goodwill, but I did notice at Borders this weekend that she seems to have published a decent number of books since this, her first novel. Quite impressive for a girl who must only be in her mid twenties. I’d be quite willing to try one of her other books, based on this solid debut. show less
Considering the age the author, this is quite a decent book. The plot is extremely quick; it centers around the vampire Risika and her fight with her blood brother Aubrey, the man who may have killed her human brother back in the 17th century, when she was still mortal. That’s really it to the story, but it’s well developed, and the atmosphere is pretty compelling. I’m not sure I would have gotten past the bare bones plot from an adult author, but knowing the age of the author gave her a certain amount of credit (fairly or unfairly), and helped me overlook that.
I’d never heard of this author, show more until my mother passed me this book after picking it up at Goodwill, but I did notice at Borders this weekend that she seems to have published a decent number of books since this, her first novel. Quite impressive for a girl who must only be in her mid twenties. I’d be quite willing to try one of her other books, based on this solid debut. show less
Born to a close and happy family over 300 years ago, Rachel was changed against her will into the vampire Risika at age 17, while at the same time her twin brother Alexander was killed by the very powerful and black-hearted vampire Aubrey. Risika cannot let go of the anger over the loss of her happy, human past, brief though it was, and now seeks revenge. Though Risika is one of the most powerful vampires, she fears Aubrey’s superior powers. Yet she boldly enters his territory, paying no heed to warnings. Finally, she dares to challenge Aubrey to a fight to the finish.
The author was only 13 years old when she penned this first novel, which is amazingly well-written. Atwater-Rhodes’ language abilities show great maturity and she has show more much craft in creating a dark, moody atmosphere. She also brings some new ideas to the tired, old vampire lore. The story alternates between Risika’s past and present existences, but always is clear. The characters are interesting, if somewhat underdeveloped, but tend to pop in and out of the story. There are some holes in the story (e.g., why, after 300 years, does she suddenly now seek revenge against Aubrey?), but the biggest disappointment is a twist at the end that doesn’t make much sense. Nevertheless, YAs – especially reluctant readers – are sure to lick their chops over this very slim book, and will no doubt be demanding to read everything else by this author... so invest in hardcovers! show less
The author was only 13 years old when she penned this first novel, which is amazingly well-written. Atwater-Rhodes’ language abilities show great maturity and she has show more much craft in creating a dark, moody atmosphere. She also brings some new ideas to the tired, old vampire lore. The story alternates between Risika’s past and present existences, but always is clear. The characters are interesting, if somewhat underdeveloped, but tend to pop in and out of the story. There are some holes in the story (e.g., why, after 300 years, does she suddenly now seek revenge against Aubrey?), but the biggest disappointment is a twist at the end that doesn’t make much sense. Nevertheless, YAs – especially reluctant readers – are sure to lick their chops over this very slim book, and will no doubt be demanding to read everything else by this author... so invest in hardcovers! show less
Is is possible to be a compassionate, understanding vampire? Such is the thrust of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' story of Rachel/Risika, a young girl of the 1700's forced to live her life as a vampire. Risika recalls and narrates the details of her past family life and the strange and violent way she was forced into vampirism. She also describes in seering detail her regretful need "to feed" and survive as a vampire. She struggles against other more eager and powerful vampires such as Aubrey and finds solace in both her memories of the past and her sole friend, Tora, a beautiful Bengal tiger. The strength of the story for middle school is the fact that the author was only thirteen when she wrote the novel, surely an inspiration to junior high show more students. The weakness of the story is the contrived ending and loss of some threads of the plot as the two-setting story progresses. The symbolism of the tiger and its relationship to Risika would allow for the teaching of William Blake's poem "The Tiger" and discussion of symbols in general. show less
This review was originally posted on Pretty in Fiction.
Title: In the Forests of the Night
Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Publisher: Laurel Leaf(An Imprint of Random House Books For Young Readers
Publish Date: May 9th 2000
Rating: 4.5
In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes tells the story of Risika. She was turned into a vampire nearly three hundred years ago. And even though she hunts and kills, she can't seem to escape the morals of her past life. She grew up in the eighteenth century in a community that believed if you did one bad thing you were evil. After being turned she considered herself evil, but eventually she realized if you are weak, you die, if you are strong, you live.
Risika hasn't loved since the seventeen show more hundreds. Since her brother and her father died, but a few years ago she discovered a caged tiger in the zoo. Tora. She goes to visit her every night and she starts to treat Tora as if she were her pet. She loves her and cares for her.
One night Risika goes to visit Tora and finds her in her cage with a knife in her heart. There is only one person that Risika knows that kills with a knife. Aubrey. The man who helped kill Risika three hundred years ago. She finds him and challenges him to a fight. Will she win? Or will she die?
I have been meaning to read this book for so many years. At least four. I finally decided to read it, and it was amazing. It's a short and enjoyable read that is hard to dislike. There is a whole series that goes along with this book, and me being me read the other books first, so I didn't find Aubrey to be the jerk that Risika thought him to be. I still saw him as the cute and sweet boy he was when he was with Jessica from Demon In My View, which is the second book in the Den of Shadow's Series.
Even though it took me years to finally read, I loved it. Aubrey is one of my favorite characters that Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has written. He's a jerk, but he's sweet, and who doesn't love that?
I understand why Risika hated Aubrey, but I don't feel that much hatred made sense in their relationship. They talked less than five times over three hundred years, and they wanted to kill each other. If they had spoken more, maybe it wouldn't have seemed as forced, like Amelia was trying to get the story to move along faster. But every time they got close to one another all they did was fight. There wasn't much reason for it. It was like they were fighting just to fight.
Risika was a well written character. I liked everything about her except how much she hated Aubrey. That's really the only thing about this book that irked me. There was too much hatred and not enough cause. The thing about Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' books is she has such great ideas and characters but she doesn't develop her story or her characters to their full potential. Don't get me wrong, the stories are still great, but I wouldn't mind if they were longer and more detailed.
But since Amelia Atwater-Rhodes was only thirteen when she wrote In the Forests of the Night, I still think that it is worthy of four and a half Crazy Heart's. I recommend this book to someone who is looking for a quick and easy read. show less
Title: In the Forests of the Night
Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Publisher: Laurel Leaf(An Imprint of Random House Books For Young Readers
Publish Date: May 9th 2000
Rating: 4.5
In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes tells the story of Risika. She was turned into a vampire nearly three hundred years ago. And even though she hunts and kills, she can't seem to escape the morals of her past life. She grew up in the eighteenth century in a community that believed if you did one bad thing you were evil. After being turned she considered herself evil, but eventually she realized if you are weak, you die, if you are strong, you live.
Risika hasn't loved since the seventeen show more hundreds. Since her brother and her father died, but a few years ago she discovered a caged tiger in the zoo. Tora. She goes to visit her every night and she starts to treat Tora as if she were her pet. She loves her and cares for her.
One night Risika goes to visit Tora and finds her in her cage with a knife in her heart. There is only one person that Risika knows that kills with a knife. Aubrey. The man who helped kill Risika three hundred years ago. She finds him and challenges him to a fight. Will she win? Or will she die?
I have been meaning to read this book for so many years. At least four. I finally decided to read it, and it was amazing. It's a short and enjoyable read that is hard to dislike. There is a whole series that goes along with this book, and me being me read the other books first, so I didn't find Aubrey to be the jerk that Risika thought him to be. I still saw him as the cute and sweet boy he was when he was with Jessica from Demon In My View, which is the second book in the Den of Shadow's Series.
Even though it took me years to finally read, I loved it. Aubrey is one of my favorite characters that Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has written. He's a jerk, but he's sweet, and who doesn't love that?
I understand why Risika hated Aubrey, but I don't feel that much hatred made sense in their relationship. They talked less than five times over three hundred years, and they wanted to kill each other. If they had spoken more, maybe it wouldn't have seemed as forced, like Amelia was trying to get the story to move along faster. But every time they got close to one another all they did was fight. There wasn't much reason for it. It was like they were fighting just to fight.
Risika was a well written character. I liked everything about her except how much she hated Aubrey. That's really the only thing about this book that irked me. There was too much hatred and not enough cause. The thing about Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' books is she has such great ideas and characters but she doesn't develop her story or her characters to their full potential. Don't get me wrong, the stories are still great, but I wouldn't mind if they were longer and more detailed.
But since Amelia Atwater-Rhodes was only thirteen when she wrote In the Forests of the Night, I still think that it is worthy of four and a half Crazy Heart's. I recommend this book to someone who is looking for a quick and easy read. show less
Risika is a 300 year old vampire. Rachel, born in 1684, became a vampire against her will (was renamed Risika) and still struggles with her human morality. However, as much as she wants to hang on to her humanity, she is a vampire - an especially strong one, with a grudge against Aubrey, the vampire who she believes murdered her twin brother. The showdown between Risika and Aubrey is a bit disappointing, as was the twist at the end (I saw it coming). However, considering that this book was written by a 13 year old, it is a solid first effort.
Readers who are intrigued by vampires, but intimidated by the size of Stephenie Meyer's tomes will find this a quick, easy, and entertaining read.
Readers who are intrigued by vampires, but intimidated by the size of Stephenie Meyer's tomes will find this a quick, easy, and entertaining read.
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Series
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- In the Forests of the Night
- Original title
- White Wine
- Original publication date
- 1999-05-09
- People/Characters
- Rachel Weatere (Risika); Aubrey Karew; Ather; Alexander Weatere; Lynette Weatere
- Important places
- Concord, Massachusetts, USA; New York, New York, USA
- Epigraph
- The Tiger by William Blake
- Dedication
- IN THE FORESTS OF THE NIGHT is dedicated to everyone who contributed to the story, especially:
Julie Nann for her excellent teaching sills. Carolyn Barnes for talking to my agent about me. All the members of the Candle Lig... (show all)ht circle for their slightly insane inspiration. Sarita Spillert for her encouragement. Dan Hogan for enduring a telephone conversation at four in the morning. Laura Bombrun for her house, which coincidentally is exactly the same as Risika's. Also, I need to mention my family: my heroic father, William; my brilliant and inspiring sister, Rachel; my beautiful and slightly telepathic mother, Susan; and my overly insightful cousin, Nathan. I love you all. - First words
- A cage of steel.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I am Risika.
- Blurbers
- Klause, Annette Curtis
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Teen, Fantasy, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 813.6 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 2000-
- LCC
- PZ7 .A8925 .I — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 12,520
- Reviews
- 32
- Rating
- (3.62)
- Languages
- 5 — Danish, Dutch, English, French, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 15
- UPCs
- 1
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- 7