Enchanted Woods: White Hart by Sarah Dalton

Overall Rating:  4 stars

Addition Level:  I read it every waking moment.

Believe-ability:  The setting is believable.  (I did not want to sleep, because I feared I would be trapped in the Waerg Woods.)

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Apocalypse Reads specializes in reviewing dystopian literature.  However, we like to mix up our reading choices.  After reading Eon and Eona several years ago I have been on the hunt for good fantasy literature.  One might say I am on a fantasy binge.  In any event when I saw that Sarah Dalton was looking for reviewers for White Hart, I jumped at the chance.  White Hart satiated my hunger fantasy but left me wanting more with the cliff hanger ending!

White Hart is a story about Mae, an outcast, and her journey of revenge through the Waerg Woods.  Prince Casimir accompanies Mae to retrieve stolen property.  They make an interesting pairing. 

Mae and Casimir discover that the Waerg Woods are enchanted and not in a good way.  They face many evils throughout their journey.  Dalton’s descriptions of the woods made me never, ever want to visit such a forest.  I am not afraid of dying, but I would not want to die a slow, painful death in there!  I was afraid to sleep at night, because I feared I would be able to escape whatever danger awaited Mae and Casimir in Waerg Woods.

What I liked:

• The way Dalton made me care for characters in the first chapter of the book.  I shed a few tears for the first person who dies. 
• The way the story kept me involved. I read the story almost nonstop over a weekend.
• The description of the Waerg Woods.  Dalton had me running scared.  I NEVER EVER want to meet the Nix. 

What I disliked:

• Mae was a bit whiny and kept making some poor choices.  I have hope that she will grow and redeem herself.
• It was a bit short.  I wanted needed more! In Dalton’s defense she finished one journey.  However, she put her foot over the line of a new journey and then WHAM-O door closed. (See next bullet point.)
• The end! Cliff hanger. Need I say anymore?

Many thanks to Sarah Dalton for an ARC.