I DNFed this at 20% and wasn't sure whether to post a review, but then decided it could still be helpful, so here goes.

This book felt like a dreary climate post-apocalyptic novel with literary pretensions #447, with very little to distinguish itself in a very crowded genre (think The New Wilderness or Salt Lick on the more readable end of the spectrum). The central premise of 'digital ghosts' sounded interesting in theory, especially since the creepy lore of the world wide web is such a rich contemporary horror arena. However, Wilson did not explore that route at all (at least not in the first 60 or so pages I read), making the 'ghosts' a lot more corny and cringe without the sort of Hendrix-like camp that could have made the premise entertaining.

Similarly to something like The Road, this is a boring attempt at a genre book masquerading as literary fiction. At least The Road had a masterfully created sense of dread, whereas the only dread I felt here was the need to go back to it for the review. Nothing happened in the first 20%, literally all they were doing was peeling some potatoes, and I bet even Han Kang can't make peeling potatoes for 60 pages engaging.

What pushed me over the edge is one of my absolute triggers - an author from outside a culture setting a novel there for the 'exotic' location without paying any heed to the cultural, political and social specifics of the location. This is nominally set in Estonia, but in some sort of a post-ethnic Baltic-ness, all the characters have a mix of Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and generically-sounding Eastern and Central European names. Estonia, as well as the other Baltic states, was subjugated and occupied by Russia for centuries, and the specifics of inter-cultural relations are complex and nuanced, with very direct real-world implications in a Europe where a country is literally fighting for its identity to NOT be Russian. Imagining a post-Russian Baltic in 2024 without making any sort of comment on it or engaging with the context meaningfully is lazy at best, and intentionally harmful at worst. Obliterating the context of that reeks of something akin to a white author writing a 'post-racial' Caribbean, for example (see this excellent essay by Akilah White on the topic https://www.rebelwomenlit.com/literary-magazine/daylight-denied-discussion-essay-on-race-in-daylight-come). Maybe it picks up later in the narrative, but the first 20% did not sound promising.

This book comes with a truly fascinating premise and melding of eco/techno dystopia and fantasy, with a story that just about does it justice!

Set in Estonia - already unusual - we follow Katerina, acerbic yet caring, as she finds herself suddenly burdened with a foreboding mystery, while storm-clouds of disease, famine, and xenophobia gather on the horizon.

There's no info-dumping in this book; information about how the world came to be in its present state, and how it all works, are drip-fed. A little too slowly for my liking, but it was intriguing enough to keep me hungry for more. Fusing magic and technology is always fun, and 'We Are All Ghosts in the Forest' is truly and freshly original in its choices.

Other key characters (excepting Stefan) emerge from the pages as distinct and real, and there was a true feeling of "community" in the story - which made the unfolding events hit even harder, emotionally.

I found the book just a little too long for my liking - the pacing and narrative could've been tighter - but the world-building and characters were more than enough to keep me bobbing along.

We are all ghosts in the forest is a wonderful multi-layered story which caught my interest from the first few pages.

Lorraine Wilson has a fantastic way with words that capture an eery and atmospheric scene in words that are quite magical. The way she lets information wander through and between the lines made me fall in love really fast. Only some small parts weren't for me or made little disconnections from the way of telling things.

After they found the dad I had some problems with the change of pace because it felt simultaneously slow and fast at the same time. But it caught itself and continued to be fascinating.

Fascinating is especially how Lorraine Wilson was able to connect little magics with the residue of our digital age and created a world where threats are real and I always had the feeling of "Wow, that is the world I would live in 100 years". I really loved this feeling and enjoyed reading this book very much.

I will definitely check out more books by this author so thank you for the chance of reading this gem!

This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. We Are All Ghosts in the Forest will be released on November 7, 2024.

I had never heard of Lorraine Wilson before seeing We Are All Ghosts in the Forest pop up on NetGalley, but the premise of digital ghosts sounded fresh and intriguing, and an herbalist trying to live out a quiet and peaceful life in a world that won’t let her was promising enough for me to check it out. 

We Are All Ghosts in the Forest stars Katerina, a biracial photographer who moved to her grandmother’s home in Estonia after the digital world collapsed into often-dangerous electronic ghosts. Her new life as an herbalist with a pinch of magic does plenty to help keep herself and others in her town alive and safe, but she’s never truly gained the trust of a small town that views her as an outsider, and when a mute boy approaches her with a letter from his father demanding her help, the stability of her quiet life becomes harder and harder to maintain. 

It’s clear from the beginning that there is a big, life-and-death plot on the horizon. There are dreams and portents and rumors aplenty. But even so, the first half of the novel is a fairly quiet one, with an herbalist going about her life making tinctures and remedies, caring for a scarred child on her doorstep, and dealing with a prejudiced and mistrustful town. This is an obscure comparison, and the books are written for very different audiences, but there were times in the first half where it reminded me of Wise Child, which I read this spring for the Druids square on last year’s Bingo board. For all the apocalyptic paranormal happenings, the first half of the story feels tender and grounded in a way that really drew me in despite the action itself developing slowly. 

Unfortunately, as that action developed, my connection to the characters and their concerns began to unravel. It’s not that I stopped hoping for their success—after all, saving the world is very easy to cheer for—as much as I began to feel more and more distant from the story. Part of this is likely down to taste. I am repeatedly on the record about disliking thriller plots, and the third quarter of this story reads a little bit like a frantic, extended chase scene, with dangers around every turn and a never-ending supply of magical devices at hand to turn them aside. The magical devices are well-established by the slower build in the story’s first half, but the changes to the pacing and the shift in focus to the specific ways in which the magics work both made the story feel less personal and more formulaic, even if they were well-supported by the novel to that point. 

The final quarter of the novel combines the overarching threat and the small town interpersonal plot in a way that brings the story to a satisfying close, but so much hinges on whether the lead can put together the proper mix of herbs and magic that it still feels less grounded that what came before, even when returning to the interpersonal elements of the story. The story elements mix in a way that makes sense, but the resolution occupies an awkward in-between space between different types of fantasy stories—the magic doesn’t feel systematic enough to satisfy those who love novel uses of magic to defeat hard problems, whereas the resolution relies too heavily on quick-thinking application of magic to satisfy someone like me who is looking for a more grounded, interpersonal tale. 

Ultimately, We Are All Ghosts in the Forest is an engaging read that is at its best when dealing with small town prejudice and the almost slice-of-life tale of an herbalist navigating a paranormal apocalypse. But the fast-paced save-the-world plot is a bit too neat and streamlined for my tastes, and there’s probably too much slice-of-life for readers looking for a magical thriller. It’s still a good read, but one that occupies an in-between space without an obvious major audience. The writing quality, the themes, and the carefully crafted setting will surely make this a favorite for someone, but it will need to be someone who is comfortable with a story that can slide back and forth between slice-of-life and thriller elements. 

Recommended if you like: slow builds and fast finishes, magical herbalists navigating small-town prejudice.

Overall rating: 14 of Tar Vol's 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

EDIT: Updated the link to the book review on my website.
I loved everything about this book! The characters, the setting, the herb witchery; it was all brilliant! I will be sharing a detailed review closer to publication date — will update the link here once it’s live. And now I must find more of Lorraine’s books because I absolutely loved her writing!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from We're All Ghost in the Forest when I picked it up. I have never read anything by the author before and I didn't look too closely at the synopsis. So I went in very blind. I think that worked out fine.

One of my biggest gripes often can be when books don't do much world building. I'm sure some will complain about the book not explaining how the internet broke and how it is possible that there are internet ghosts. But that isn't really what this book is about. And it takes a strong writer to not make me question about that. And beyond just that question, there is plenty of world building going around. I have a very good idea what the world is like at that moment and what the world was like before it happened.

It is not an easy world. They've reverted back to mostly rural and farming. There doesn't seem to be much technology, just whatever survived the breakdown, like the motor. But not only that reverted. Being different gets you marked as an outside. And not just her herbal skills make Katherina stand out. She is also (partial) Indian. She doesn't adapt to the town's way of things but prefers her own way. Which is strike 3 as far as they are concerned.

It took a little for me to get invested. I needed a little to get my bearings on the setting and our main character Katherina. But by the end I did truly feel for her and I loved her bond with Stefan. Also her bond with the autistic town girl. Katherina accepts her for who she is and it is only mentioned once that she is autistic.

A lot of the book is about finding a place to belong and about trusting others. About being able to let others in. About letting your prejudice fall.

I will caveat right from the start that I don't think I'm in the right headspace or mindset right now to fully appreciate this novel so keep that in mind with my review and rating.

Two factors drew me to this book, its beautiful cover and the first two lines from its description:

"A quiet, haunting post-apocalyptic novel for fans of The Last of Us and Station Eleven from British Fantasy Award-winning author Lorraine Wilson.

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

Amazing sounding concept, I love dystopian novels and I love TLOU and Station Eleven. This should have been a slam dunk win for me unfortunately, potentially due to current personal circumstances and my reading mood right now it just didn't click for me.

This is a slow, character driven novel, and normally that is something I love to delve into and savour but the narrative voice on this occasion didn't capture my attention and I found it difficult to get into.

There is fantastic messaging around the nature of prejudice and acceptance through this book and the notion of a dystopian digital apocalypse is an intriguing and unique plotline. There is some beautiful and descriptive writing and well realised characters and so, whilst I couldn't engage with it and appreciate it fully now, it is one that I will pick up again in future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for a digital review copy of "We Are All Ghosts in the Forest" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

They were not ghosts, but the forest was not just a forest anymore and people had written far too many stories about wolves for them to be unchanged. You tell a thing it is hungry enough times, can you blame it for hunting? [loc. 2388]

Katerina, formerly a photojournalist, lives in her dead grandmother's house, near a small village in Estonia. The villagers think she's a witch (they're right) because she has a knack for herbalism, a talent for talking to bees, a coat whose pockets nearly always give her what she needs, and a ghost cat named Orlando. The forest is semi-sentient, and full of ghosts from the Crash -- when the internet collapsed in on itself, spawning infectious digital ghosts that might be fragments of birdsong, or a galloping horse, or sentient fungus. Or wolves out of fairytales, more intelligent and malevolent than their natural cousins.

The novel begins with Katerina returning to her village with a young boy in tow. His name is Stefan, and he's mute: he gave Katerina a note from his father (a man she doesn't know) asking her to take care of his son. Katerina teaches him to manage the basic tasks of the farm, and tries to find out what became of his father. Could he be somehow linked to the new and terrible illness that's killing travellers? And can Katerina -- with the help of the forest, and the bees, and even the ghosts -- find a cure for it?

This is a slow, dreamy novel, beautifully written and suffused with loneliness and mystery: it reveals its secrets only gradually. The characters seem defined as much as by what they've lost (Katerina mourning her sister, Jaakob trying to 'fish' for the ghost of his husband, Stefan missing his father) as by what they do. There is prejudice (Katerina, as well as being a witch and a traveller, is mixed-race) and xenophobia. The post-technological society that Wilson depicts is as mystical as it's practical. There is great power in stories, and in the ways those stories are told.

Pragmatic and practical, Katerina's inner conflict between her compassion and her fear of emotional connection is vividly depicted: I liked her interactions with the (sometimes prickly) villagers, and she won me over by sprinkling salt on Orlando the Ghost Cat, who turns black to soak up the heat of a stray sunbeam. 'Salt strengthens the signal... Or the current, if that’s how it works. Electricity, either way. Copper powder works better but it also lasts longer and then he starts shredding the rugs'. Definite pandemic vibes here, too, with the isolation and the constant threat of infection... A slow read, but a beautiful one.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 07 NOV 2024.

I don't think I was in the right headspace to enjoy this.

It was a slow paced book with an intriguing, unique plotline. Unfortunately, when the book started I had no idea what was going on and struggled to remain invested enough to find out.

It absolutely had potential to be a great read but I unfortunately DNF'd @20%

Thankyou to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

The blurb instantly drew me in, and I knew I had to read this book. I thought I knew what to expect, but Lorraine’s book ended up giving me so much more than I anticipated.

If you're expecting a book only full of ghosts and a plague, you might be disappointed. Instead, Lorraine gives us a beautifully crafted story exploring themes of acceptance, kindness, grief, and family. It's a slow-burn book whereas a reader I felt the intensity of the moment without it having to be dumbed down with spoon-feeding.

it’s no secret that I have a fondness for dystopian novels, but I was pleasantly surprised when I read, We Are All Ghosts in the Forest. I am typing this review through reaction brain but from the brain capacity I currently have I don’t think I have read like this before; I might be wrong. It really felt like something I hadn't encountered before.

I think this is possibly the best science fiction book I've read this year.

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

When I picked this book up I was expecting a pacy adventure through an apocalyptic world. This novel is not that. It's something much, much better.

The internet is no more - it has broken out of containment and technology is no longer safe to use. Katerina lives in her Baba's house with her bees, goats, chickens and a ghost cat for company. She travels around trading herbs and medicines for necessities and on one of these trips picks up a mute teenage boy holding a note with her name on it.

Katerina is a fantastic character. She's clever and resourceful but guarded and reluctant to change her status quo. She is in tune with the land and her herbalism is just a little more than ordinary. Seeing her confront her own ghosts and open herself up to change throughout the book was a wonderful character arc to follow.

Themes of grief, love and acceptance are at the fore of the story. Katerina and the other characters have deep mental wounds, and only by learning to trust and accept each other can they begin to heal from them.

This novel is quiet and meandering. It doesn't rush and it doesn't hold your hand. You will have questions and they won't be answered directly, but I think that is one of the things that makes this book so excellent.

I was drawn to We Are All Ghosts in The Forest by the unique premise for a post apocalyptic novel and the haunting cover. The idea of a digital pandemic sounded fascinating and while the trope of adult and child finding their way in a new world has obviously been done before I still hoped for something original. This is a slower paced and more character driven story than I was expecting and I think that is why it did not fully resonate with me. There were several things I liked, like the setting in Eastern Europe which was highlighted by the descriptive writing style. I also liked the incorporation of an almost fantasy like thread of witchcraft and digital ghosts and it is clear that the author did her research about the medicinal uses of herbs. On the downside I wanted to know more about what happened before we met the characters, how the world ended up this way, and those questions were never really answered. The pacing of the book is definitely slower than I prefer , and so I found myself almost reluctantly plodding through it at times.
This is a book for those who like beautiful and descriptive writing, a slower pace and characters with an element of mystery, and I am sure there are many readers out there who will enjoy it more than I did.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

A very slow burner and as a consequence it took me a bit of time to get into it however it was well worth sticking with it. This is not my typical type of read but I did find it very enjoyable. The whole premise is extremely original and the characters are very well written. I can see why it was written during a global pandemic and the obvious links with the world are that time but to use the digital era and the loss of it in the way which they author has was highly thought provoking.

Well worth reading. I'd go with 3.5 stars however as I can't do that will round to as 3 is too low.

This is a slow burn for readers who enjoy character-driven, introspective storytelling. The first 20%-30% might seem disorientating, particularly if you are expecting a more action-packed dystopian narrative. This has an atmospheric, lyrical feel, a futuristic, inclusive folktale that is more about the experience of living in this post-apocalyptic world rather than explaining it. I enjoyed the descriptions of the witchy, earthy life that the main character lived with in the village, and how the slower pace and connection to the earth could be so beneficial. But the themes were what made me keep reading. The exploration of belonging is unique and is worth the patience that the pace and detailing demand. A really good blend of literary, folk, and sci-fi.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

What I loved about this book: The cat. The writing was stunning, atmospheric and haunting. I was totally captivated in the daily struggles faced by our main characters. Did I mention the cat? The self-sufficiency of our FMC, and compassion despite being faced with community rejection.

What you might love about this book: This is predominantly a character study, focusing on the emotions associated with trauma, grief and fear. Although there is an underlying plot the real focus is on the growth of our cast.

I was captivated every time I picked this book up and I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.

DNF at 62%
I'm sorry, but this book is not for me. The cover is beautiful, and the blurb is very promising. However, I have had trouble not only connecting with the story but also understanding it, there are too many unknowns.

We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson offers a beautifully haunting portrayal of a world haunted by the remnants of a digital collapse. Katerina’s journey through lushly described landscapes and an atmosphere thick with melancholy is crafted with care, and her story explores themes of trust, survival, and confronting the past. Readers who enjoy introspective, atmospheric storytelling with a slower pace and lingering imagery will find much to appreciate here, while those who prefer more straightforward narratives may find it challenging.

This was a 'dnf' for me. I couldn't get into it.
I usually love post-apocalyptic books, but for something about this one didn't sit right with me.
I couldn't quite buy into the story and didn't find the characters that interesting.

In short: this is the perfect mix of (near-future) science-fiction, fantasy, and horror.

I was so enamored with the concept of this book and I could honestly see the real world going in the direction of where this books takes us. I found the climate fiction angle (maybe even eco-horror?) totally plausible.

The characterizations are stellar, providing you with fully fleshed-out main characters and side characters. Really, the character dynamics were some of the best I've read in a long while. I teared up during several interactions, which rarely happens to me.

The text itself can be dense at times, with a lot of interiority and description, but the pacing doesn't slow even during the denser portions where there's minimal dialogue to rely on. It works well, in my opinion.

Thematically, the story draws on otherness, found family, biological family, healing, and finding the power to forgive yourself even while others cannot or will not forgive you, which enhances both the plot and the characters, tying these things together.

I won't forget this story for a long, long time.

Ethereal, ominous and a heartbreaking story of something that is entirely in our scope. This was a brilliant read.