I picked up Among the Beasts & Briars because I've been having a craving for a good YA fantasy, and I haven't read one in ages. When nan asks what books I’d like for Christmas and I give her a list to choose from so I’ll be surprised but then she goes and sends me a text to say which book she has gotten me 😂 I didn’t even mind the romance which is completely unheard of for me! 😁 But to be honest - I had a good time reading this and a good dose of nice magical storytelling was just what I needed. I guessed the main ‘surprise’ and there were a few times when the magic system didn’t seem to add up. Ultimately a journey story filled with magic. Creatures called ancients are infecting the people and it seems Cerys is the only person who can help. However when Cerys, the prince and the princess run in as children not all of them come out.įast forward 10 years and the wood is taking over. The wild wood has always been dangerous - the first king received a crown from the lady of the wood to protect Aloryia and its people. Her best friend is the Queen to be and she still struggles with a childhood trauma. Usually I’d find something like this a bit too twee but with this third lockdown I honestly needed something happy and that is what I got!Ĭerys lives in the Village-in-the-valley with her father, the royal palace gardener. If you like your fairyales sweet and Disney-esque then Among the Beasts and Briars is for you!

“You trekked among the beasts and briars, and the deep heart led you all the way to Voryn.” I would have liked more, but what I did get was lush. But the road is darker and more dangerous than she knows, and as secrets from the past are uncovered amid the teeth and roots of the forest, it’s going to take everything she has just to survive. It’s up to her to find the legendary Lady of the Wilds and beg for a way to save her home.

Cerys is forced on the run, her only companions the small fox from the garden, a strange and powerful bear, and the magic in her veins. The most danger she faces now, as a gardener’s daughter, is the annoying fox who stalks the royal gardens and won’t leave her alone.Īs a new queen is crowned, however, things long hidden in the woods descend on the kingdom itself. Now Cerys carries a small bit of the curse-the magic-in her blood, a reminder of the day she lost everything.

Cerys knows this all too well: when she was young, she barely escaped as the woods killed her friends and her mother. But as Aloriya prospered, the woods grew dark, cursed, and forbidden. It has been this way for hundreds of years, since the first king made a bargain with the Lady who ruled the forest that borders the kingdom.

Here there are no droughts, disease, or famine, and peace is everlasting.

Among the beasts & briars