Customer Reviews

Woodbyrne: The Fallen Forest

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Woodbyrne: the fallen forest" is author James D'Arienzo Jr.'s debut novel. If you like such works as Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" or Rowlings "Harry Potter" series I think you will enjoy this new fantasy novel. In book one of the trilogy we meet Prince Aaron, the only son of King Dermot and Queen Audrey of Gower. Prince Aaron lives a sheltered life, for his protection. Prince Aaron and Byram, his cousin and best friend, set off on an adventure that will change their lives and the lives of those around them. The adventure he seeks is in Woodbyrne forest. Many have entered and no one has returned.

Quinn, a young woman in another town, was abducted by a demon soldier and brought to his leader, Isidore, as a servant. She is spirited and does not succumb to Isidore's demands. Isidore is fed up with her insolence and is ready to end her life when Prince Aaron and Byram come along. Three entered the cave but only 2 will leave. They lived thanks to the help and friendship of the elves of the forest.

This story has great battle scenes and horrible demons. Its good vs. evil. Is it an adventure story? Or is it horror? Perhaps it is a bit of both with a little romance thrown in for good measure. I thoroughly enjoyed escaping into their world and I looked forward to going back after I had been away.

D'Arienzo is a talented new voice to watch out for. Courage, honor, friendship, truth, love and family. All the values a good fantasy book should have.

What is with the negative reviews? Honestly, this was a sweet book. It was very dark and sinister in some places but it was a lot of fun. The characters were great and so was the story. Yes, it was a bit melodramatic, but I think the author was going for that. Trust me, this is a good book. And the people who are giving it one star, never even finished reading it. So how can they say anything? Go figure!

I have to say that I completely enjoyed Mr. D'Arienzo's world. The characters and their interaction were a lot of fun and quite entertaining. Yes, it seems the editors made a few goofs here and there, but none of it took away from the story. Damek was my favorite character. He's evil, but very cool. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but be prepared for some horror with your fantasy. It's a good mix in my opinion and something I enjoyed. I look forward to more of Mr. D'Arienzo's work.

This is an excellent first fantasy in a three-part series by the author. The incompetent meddling of two wizard apprentices results in the calling forth of an uncontrollable demon from the underworld. Thus starts a 200-year takeover of Woodbyrne Forest. Prince Aaron must rise above his station in his kingdom to establish a critical alliance with the forest elves to throw out the demon and his henchmen. Needless to say, obstacle to the process pop up everywhere. A classic fantasy format, the author does a good job of storytelling with all the right elements. We rated this book four hearts. -- Bob Spear, Heartland Reviews

I kept reading this book waiting for something good to happen but it never did. Mr. D'Arienzo seems to be too fixated on gore, not coming up with an original story line. Most of his book seems copied from other, older books in the same genre. But with more vivid detail on the violence. That does not equal good storytelling. Also, I want to point out that I felt misled by the positive reviews of this book on Amazon.com. I think many of them have been planted to sell more books. The most recent one points out that the author is good looking, that has nothing to do with whether a book is good or not and besides, no picture is in the book! Honestly, this book is not very good. Finally, the grammatical errors are atrocious, "Woodbyrne" is misspelled on every page of the book!

Although the fighting scenes are impressive and the violence happens constantly in the story, the first of three series, Woodbyrne: The Fallen Forest contains a lot of grammar errors. I understand that this is a first print, but one major mistake is too hard not to mention. On the top of every page in the story, the word Woodbyrne was spelled Woodbryne on the top of every SINGLE page. I do hope that this error will be corrected soon.

I enjoy the deaths that had occured in the story. Especiall when Bryam died. Be sure to bring in back in the later stories!

This book was good. I thought it had a good plot...... It moved sort of slow at times........ I really liked the gorey scenes. Damek was my favorite character... I was dissapointed when they killed him.

I initially picked up this work (thankfully from a library) after it was compared to Tolkien by a friend. I, like a well-known legion of other readers out there, have read dozens of books with the same recommendation (Inheritance Trilogy, The Sword of Shannara, etc.), and like most people, I have yet to find any true successor to Tolkien. Yet I still, for some reason I'm not quite sure of (I'm not even a real Tokien fanatic, and have little respect for authors who play the same old tune), continue to pick up and read novels that try to filch a bit of money off of LotR's wake.

So it was with this travesty of a book, notable only for the monumental lack of charisma displayed by its main characters. As a confession, I am a fairly sensitive reader. I'm one of those people who gets into books, even bad books, enough to feel sorry for the characters and mourn their passing. Woodbyrne, on the other hand, effected me about as much as a commercial for Lysol between episodes of my favorite program.

The main characters were enormously bland, the plot made Eldest look like A Song of Ice and Fire, and the entire story was so predictable and unimaginative that I ended it feeling vaguely appalled. There must, I reasoned, be some mistake. Perhaps D'Arienzo was a local writer, and that was why it was in the library. Or maybe he had friends in high places. Surely not even the doziest, weakest-willed editor would agree to put this...thing...on the market.

Yet so it proved. I checked Amazon, and what do you know? Amazing. So, in any case, I'm writing here to warn the rest of that legion I mentioned above: leave Woodbyrne on its shelf to gather dust. I'm sorry if I sound needlessly vicious: I know there are many idiotic books out there, some even more so than this.

But there are so many GOOD books out there...really fantastic works. It honestly pains me to imagine anyone wasting their time on shallow little rags like this when they could be reading the better material.

Totally loved this book. If you love R.A. Salvatore and any form of Dungeons and Dragons novels, this is the book for you. I imagine Mr. D'Arienzo will one day write for Wizards of the Coast. I hope so! Prince Aaron is a weenie at first but becomes a very strong and likeable person by the end of the story. Quinn just rocks. She is such a powerful woman! Brother Frewin was just full of logic and I like how the author separates wizardy and religious prayer. Some things happen that I wish didn't (don't want to spoil anything), but overall the book rocks. Definitely gruesome in a few scenes...especially the demon raid chapter...kind of gross. But it fits the book well. Nobody likes demons and the author makes sure they are as evil and rotten as they can be. Good to see them get theirs!!! Bravo!

This book is not a one-star novel. I read this book in one week and I loved it. Could not put it down. Yes, D'Arienzo writes about fantasy that includes dwarves, elves, and demons. That is what I love to read about. I love these stories and Woodbyrne does a great job by making things a little different. Damek is absolutely amazing and Quinn if just wicked. I recommend this book to anyone who loves traditional fantasy. Great characters found here and a lot of fun dialogue. Give it a whirl. All of the good reviews are correct!