Review: The Inverted Forest: A Novel

The Inverted Forest: A Novel by John Dalton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



One of the best books I've read this year. Beautiful writing with original, deeply developed characters. Some of them are intriguing, some are heart breaking, some are endearing and some are down right evil, yet none of them are one note. The story appears to be about a young man who, having spent his entire life living down to the expectations others have of him, takes an opportunity to rise above that. However, as the book goes on, the reader discovers that it's not just Wyatt that wants to prove that he is more than meets the eye, but almost everyone in this book, even many of the campers that fateful session at Kindermann Forest Summer Camp.

So why four stars and not five? The time shift at the end seemed unnecessary to me. It brought a supporting character into the main story when she wasn't needed, and added a level of superficiality that hurt the book's literary tone. The story was telling itself up to that point, and then suddenly we have someone who had stayed on the sidelines take over and not add anything that couldn't have been revealed by the main characters themselves.



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