Book Review: Ghosts of the Lost Forest

As with most of Nimue Brown’s fiction, this novel is both hard to categorize and hard to put down.

The main character, Steven, has just discovered the local Pagan community where he lives in Britain. But most of his journey - fraught with challenges - is internal, breaking down the walls of who he is due to harsh life experience so he can become who he can be.

This is a story in which lines are blurred: lines between life and death, internal and external, consensual reality and that which lies beyond. Steven’s experiences in what at first appears to be an ordinary part of the modern world force both him and the reader to confront many of the assumptions we make in contemporary western society, about what’s real, what’s valuable, and where our priorities ought to lie.

This is not a quick or easy read, and it includes topics that some readers may find difficult or upsetting: suicidal ideation, actual suicide, gore, assault. But none of it is gratuitous. Every bit of rough subject matter is intrinsic to the tale.

This novel doesn’t have a conventional happy ending or even a tidy, tying-up-all-the-loose-ends ending. But it does have redemption and a fresh start, which I find far more realistic and hope-inspiring. Life isn’t a fairy tale, but each of our lives is a story worth telling, even if it’s a messy story with unpleasant bits in it. That’s something Steven learns the hard way.

You can find this excellent novel in paperback form at the tropical river website and in ebook form on the author’s Ko-Fi. Although Nimue has generously offered the ebook for free if you’re not up to paying, if you have the available funds, I recommend ponying up a little something to support the work this amazing creative person does.