We Are All Ghosts in the Forest

I have read some confusing reviews of this book, it seems that what others disliked I loved. A dystopian story does not need to explain in the first few pages what led to the current state of the world, nor does it need to explain in small words why something is a threat. That the reader does not understand everything adds to tension and a menacing feel which the author captured really well.

I loved the characters and the pacing, the setting was brilliant and the human nature of the ‘bad guy’ villagers was painful but realistic.

The storyline was unlike anything else I’ve read in this genre and I loved it.

A trippy but fascinating slice of what I can only describe as eco folk post apocalypse. The concept of an internet/information-plague was really interesting, and I enjoyed the way Katerina blended witchcraft and herbal remedies to alternately repel and work with the ghosts. The use of language was lovely- really lyrical, though a few phrases got kind of repetitive. I thought the handling of the villagers' racism towards Katerina was done well- it could have been kind of thoughtless in the hands of a worse writer- and, of course, I have to give points for a post-apocalypse set in Estonia.

This was a beautiful book focused on relationships with yourself, with others and with society.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Katya and Stefan and I thought that the way the author was able to convey an equal speaking relationship while Stefan was mute was incredibly skilful.

Sometimes the concept of the Internet imploding and creating digital ghosts and how it linked to the forests went over my head. But this didn't stop the enjoyment of the book at all.

I thought this was a fabulous dystopian book and receives a 4.5 stars from me.

Thank you Solaris and NetGalley for the ARC of We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson

"The internet is dead, and its ghosts haunt us all."

This Dystopian, Horror, with a little bit of Sci-Fi and Magic- with every genre bending trope should have been difficult to read or understand, at least for some one like me. I like my plots, and for that matter the books I read, to have a very obvious Genre.

But I loved it! We are introduced to a world where the internet has collapsed( such a scary possibility as well) where now everything that was on the internet is digital ghost. Katerina who's the MC ( main character), used to a digital photographer but now is living amongst nature and this story is about her journey, experiences, budding love, prejudices, and the underlying fundamental truth, that the more things change, the more they remain the same,

A beautiful, books that makes you really think and ponder for a long while afterwards about not the book, but how it's so scarily a possibility. I highly recommend this book.

'To a certain extent you are always prey when you meet wolves in the woods. It us only a question of hunger.'

Wilson has a real gift for writing modern fables, engaging traditional, often folkloric storytelling modes but presented in a way as to highlight their relevance to a contemporary audience.

We are All Ghosts in the Forest is set in a post apocalyptic or at least post modern societal world. After the collapse of the internet the world was flooded with digital ghosts: large cities and towns are now uninhabitable to humans who have been driven back to trying to live with nature in smaller communities.

Katerina, the MC, excels at this having fled the overrun cities to her grandmother's cottage on the edge of a wood. Not that she is free of risk here. Fragments of the internet have even wandered this far and the wild has its own dangerous. Katerina is a loner, slow to trust others and full of a deep, somewhat justified conviction that she does not fit in or mesh with other people. When she is entrusted with the care of a mute child, she is forced to confront both her own ghosts and the digital disease which is eroding humanity.

This story is many things - a modern fairytale, a love letter to forgiveness, self acceptance and the natural world, a meditation on the dangers of misinformation, a reflection on and a genuinely creepy story about the consequences of allowing an idea to infect you. Expect a slow burn start - which you need, frankly, because this is a book to bring your for - and enjoy the gradual unfolding of a beautiful, disquieting world before the pace grabs you by the throat and won't let you go. In addition, despite its deep themes, this is ultimately a feel good story even when things look desperate - something the author excels at is examining disaster and despair, then offering real threads of hope.

A beautiful book and a stunning accomplishment. Lorraine Wilson's best novel yet.

Science fantasy reminiscent of Ursula le Guin

In the wake of a digital cataclysm, a rural village attempts to rebuild their lives but the past and its fdemons continue to haunt everyone, even as a new digital scourge remains at large.

This is a huge expansive world laid out in immaculate detail., world-building so subtle and so right that I kept recalling Le Guin's Always Coming Home. The central character, Katerina, is admirable, resourceful and clever, but her past has made her also prickly, suspicious and overprotective, a fantastic mix of qualities forced to look after others by design or by fortune. The other characters around her are a mystery to her, and us, and the unravelling of these multi-dimensional narratives is a sheer delight in the hands of Wilson's mastery.

A potent mix of dystopian science fiction, folklore and ecological fairy tale, I recommend this to anyone interested in great writing that answers some questions while leaving plenty of room for the reader's imagination. I also want to single out the excellent thread on othering throughout the book, and how Wilson has made her characters react, call out and tackle inhumane behaviour, while keeping the plot rattling along.

Possibly the best science fiction book I've read this year: five stars