The Golden Apple (The Dark Forest Book 1)

As soon as I began reading this book, my mind was taken back to the fractured fairy tales of my childhood. Ah, those cartoon adaptations of the stories we all know and love are some of the greatest out there. This one specifically brought me to one particular story, of a woman trying haphazardly to stay atop quite a slippery sloped mountain of glass. I still chuckle at the thought. So it was with wondrous pleasure that I found this book was indeed based on the story that particular fractured tale was founded from.Now, if some of you follow my reviews, you will recall that I have read the second book already, The Silver Pear, so I know what happens as the story progresses. And I must say that, unsurprisingly, I did, in fact, like that book better than this first one. I say unsurprisingly because, to me, first books are a bit awkward. In a series, I always say, the first book is a mere introduction of characters and situations, preparing the reader for what is surely to come. Therefore, unlike some movie series, the first book is not as likely to gain as much favoritism as the following ones. However, that does not mean that it cannot happen. I have encountered a few series where the first book held a special place in my heart, and I will likely encounter more in future. Therefore, I always keep an open mind about any first book, allowing them a chance to prove themselves to me.In The Golden Apple, we are introduced to the characters which will play a leading part in ridding the land of great evil in the second book. We have Kayla, a princess placed on a literal pedestal for her hand in marriage; Rane, a man trying to save his brother from the clutches of a powerful sorcerer; and Soren, though he comes quite a bit later in the story than the other two, Rane's brother, who seeks retribution against all sorcerers for what happened to his father. We are also introduced to the main antagonists of the story: Nuen, the sorcerer who captured Siren; and Eric, the man behind the journey which will ultimately unite Kayla and Rane at first unwillingly, and then gradually closer and closer until they cannot bear harm to happen to each other.While a lot of the scenes were beautifully written, and, I must admit, of even better quality than the second book, marginally so since some of those scenes were just as good, I felt like something was missing. Maybe it was the fact that I did read the second book first, time crunch issues with doing a review for a blog, but I do not understand why a couple of the lesser characters were not revisited in the second book. This series feels a bit incomplete and Just slightly anticlamactic and probably could have done with a bit more "meat" to the story. Other than that, though, and since this is a review for the first book only, I loved it. Especially the fact that I feel a bit of a kinship toward the main character due to our names being similar. It allows me to immerse myself even more into a story when something like that is factored in.

Though I finished and enjoyed the story, the writing, plotting and world building have serious flaws as other reviewers have pointed out, e.g. "Diener skipped the important character building aspect of the story."The first half is written in a stilted, amateur style, as if a first novel. Diener can write much better. Was she in a hurry, having trouble with the plot, or was this a revision of a much earlier attempt? Characters have no character and I cannot distinguish them. The conversations are hard to follow. These two problems create a really confusing conversation between Jasper and Rane that never makes sense even later, because later they only exchange arrows not words, though the motivations and stakes are the same. In other cases characters such as Eric act against their own interests. Eric is particularly lacking motivation.At the end the book again nosedives into amateur techniques and crass commercialism. It ends mid-sentence with Ylana left frozen, Kayla having disregarded her conscience on the matter. That should have been resolved in this story. Diener did not write any incomplete novels in her SF series, and I come to depend on trust in an author not to cheat me, since on Amazon I can only preview the opening chapters. According to other reviewers, "next volume, but it seems it's a completely different story with different characters". Indeed, there is nothing about Ylana in the preview of the next one. What a reader trap!For anyone familiar with the folktale Princess on a Glass Hill, most of the elements are used and something in the spirit of that story is expected. especially since Diener did a great job with Mistress of the Wind. I admit POGH seems to have been stripped of important elements, probably Christianized and all pagan deities removed is my guess, but Diener blindly fills in with her story of a strong heroine learning to defend herself. Such stories I like, but POGH seems to be about an aloof and unapproachable princess and it is not said where the mountain came from. It is primarly a cinder-fellow story in which a younger brother is relegated to menial chores, collects magical objects through his courage, keeps them hidden, and wins the princess in three appearances, but disappears and they have to hunt for him like hunting for Cinderella. Diener drops all of these except the collection of magical objects, and makes the tale about the princess. Fooey. She also drops two of the three apples, and I think three is important based on both POGH and classical myths from which the apples seem to be derived, and I will explain why.Some reviewers are interpreting this is a story about people who put their children on a pedestal. That occurred to me at the outset, but Kayla does not act like a pedestal child, though there might be a little of that in POGH. The king there seems to be searching for someone who can breach his daughter's aloofness, highness or haughtiness. When the cinder boy appearing as a bronze knight charges a third of the way up the hill, turning around to tempt her to throw the first apple, he shows his immunity and indifference to her haughtiness, making the story about him instead of her. He comes again as a silver knight but only 2/3rds, and as he leaves she realizes again her aloofness works against her and wishing the prize (of the dashing knight) she throws the 2nd apple. All this is missing when the apples are cut to one. Finally the cinder boy shows extreme indifference, claiming the 3rd apple with or without her cooperation going all the way up, and rides away, not presenting himself the following day nor claiming the princess. In an act of supreme indifference to both the princess and inheritance of the kingdom, he is happy to remain a cinder boy. In this there is a bit of a difference between cinder boy and Cinderella. He is literally the last male in the kingdom they interview. The king will know this boy is not after his throne and will trust him. The princess will know she has to reach out to meet him and cannot remain aloof and haughty. All of this is lost in Diener's careless butchering of the story. And so this is the first novel in more than 500 reviews for which I award a less than OK rating even though I finished it and didn't skip read. You might enjoy it more if you have no clue about POGH, but I hold Diener accountable for misusing her considerable talent to bury an important male-oriented story.

This was a really good fantasy read. Allnthe characters are fairly well placed in the story as they play supporting roles to the main characters. The plot is good..introducing us to Kayla and Rane and their journey of adventure (magical quest) and discovery of her powers (witch) and unearths so many questions about what she is and her past. The ending is definitely compelling enough to read the second installment!

I like this book. It has great world building and an interesting story lots of magic, twists and turns. Great stuff!

Kayla the princess sits on top of a glass hill annoyed by her father's unusual decree that the person who manages to get the golden apple from her shall marry her and obtain the kingdom. Rane is trying to obtain the apple for Jasper who wants it as ransom before releasing Rane's brother from captivity. Sorcerer Eric has cast a spell on the apple forcing the person who touches it to do his bidding and he never intends to give Kayla up to the idiot who gets the apple from her.The kingdoms are in turmoil, the sorcerers are getting ready for a war between themselves and the leftover energy from their big spells is creating havoc in the great forest- surprise suprise Kayla can control these monstrous balls of energy.The story ends with a setup for part 2. The parts about Kayla forgiving Rane for misleading her is almost believable(they are travelling through the forest with only each other for company and trust). For once the heroine is not damaged with a bad childhood and is a forgiving,realistically naive(due to the lack of exposure),sweet girl which was very refreshing.Good language and good plot but somewhere in-between the unnecessary decisions, unnecessary characters and somewhat rushed finish the story loses its pull.

Filled with the unexpected and taking a reader like myself (who seldom reads fantasy) into a new world of imagination and boundless adventure! An excellent read. I cannot wait for the sequel.

page one to 20 - didn't catch me.

This book was a good try. Its greatest strength was its awesome, unique plot. Its greatest weakness was that although the storyline was very imaginative, the use of words (especially dialogue) was totally wooden and uncreative. This novel had a potential that it just didn't live up to.

An interesting story. Well written, although it does just end, which I hate, and not even on a cliffhanger. I had a medical appointment which entailed a long wait. I took my kindle intending to finish this story. I was already 90% through it, so invested enough in the story that it would distract me from my medical procedure. The story ended at 92% much to my disappointment. The first chapter of the next book was included, but that didn't hold my attention at the time because it was focused on 2 different characters.You need to read the next book to get the whole story, and really, it should just have been one book.

Loved this book!!! So well written and edited. Wonderful bent on the fairy tale. You won't be disappointed purchasing this and will have to download book two!!