Lore of the Wilds

A Novel

By: Analeigh Sbrana

Narrated by: Marcella Cox

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

A stunning Romantasy debut about an enchanted library, two handsome Fae, and one human who brings them all together.

A library with a deadly enchantment.

A Fae lord who wants in.

A human woman willing to risk it all for a taste of power.

In a land ruled by ruthless Fae, twenty-one-year-old Lore Alemeyu’s village is trapped in a forested prison. Lore knows that any escape attempt is futile—her scars are a testament to her past failures. But when her village is threatened, Lore makes a desperate deal with a Fae lord. She will leave her home to catalog/organize an enchanted library that hasn’t been touched in a thousand years. No Fae may enter the library, but there is a chance a human might be able to breach the cursed doors.

She convinces him that she will risk her life for wealth, but really she’s after the one thing the Fae covet above all: magic of her own.

As Lore navigates the hostile world outside, she’s forced to rely on two Fae males to survive. Two very different, very dangerous, very attractive Fae males. When undeniable chemistry ignites, she’s not just in danger of losing her life, but her heart to the very creatures she can never trust.

©2024 Analeigh Sbrana (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Loved the story

I loved everything about this! The world building, the foreshadowing, characters and more. Can’t wait for the next one!

I loved it

A lot to love. I like the cozy cottagecore vibes mixed with high stakes adventure, I love a diverse fae story. I don’t think I liked the twist at the end so much but I will definitely read book two.

I love it

I love the plot and creativity around the story. I enjoyed learning about the characters and getting emotionally invested with every detail. I think at some points the story felt rushed. I wished the story moved a little slower so we had more time to understand the characters and their development. I can’t wait for the 2nd book!!

The performance was refreshing

It’s nice to hear a voice that matches the way the characters look. I liked the story. It just all felt rushed. I wish it was 100 more pages of quality writing added to this story. I give it a 4/5 stars for the audiobook. I also bought the book. If I only read the book it would be 3.7/5 stars. Hopefully the next one doesn’t feel so rushed.

Okay starter

Character development was there. But we needed more world building and plot. This is a romantasy book with numerous subplots and a twist that makes you gooooo but like wtf did that come from? But not in a good way. Like genuine confusion

A bookish fantasy!

A protagonist who is whisked off to a magic land in order to organize a fae library! Against her will, but that kind of comes with the territory. This was a part cozy, part adventurous fantasy with a diverse cast of characters that kept me invested from start to finish.

The narration was fantastic!

This feels like 3.5 stars for me, but I’m rounding up for the purpose of this app. I wanted to love this book so much, it was a highly anticipated read for me. A cottage core romantic fantasy with magic and an enchanted library sounded incredible! Overall I did really like it, but a few parts fell flat for me.

I listened to this on Audible and I really enjoyed the narration / the audiobook.

The cover of this book is STUNNING! I love Lore as a character, the premise, and the plot of this story. I was fascinated with the magical elements and wanted to see that unfold. There’s clearly something we need to learn more about in regards to her history/magic. The end absolutely threw me for a hard loop and for that alone- I’ll be excited to know what comes next.

I didn’t go into this knowing if it was YA or adult- I didn’t check so that’s on me. It’s written very much like YA (and I love YA so that’s not a dig). I thought Lore was a teenager until I saw that she was 21 and then eventually some small elements push it more into the adult genre (i.e. brief language and one intimate scene).

Things I didn’t like:
• What bothered me the most was the pacing being so inconsistent. It was super rushed in places that I felt like we needed more depth.
• I didn’t feel connected to either love interest. There wasn’t enough time or chemistry between either to go from hate/disinterest to strong feelings of almost love?
• The “I trained for 5 minutes and now I can take on a professional in battle” trope really bothers me.


All in all, I liked it more than I didn’t and I’ll be very interested to see the direction the duology takes.

Narrator

Pronunciation and cadence are poor, distracting from the story. This detracts from the overall experience of an audiobook where those two things are key.

Get this book now !!

I loved that the characters were people of color! I wish there was more of a back story on how the humans ended up there but I think those questions will be answered in the second book !!

what twist

you made me sad with that ending. I hope the next book brings back some joy