Into the Heartless Wood Audiobook By Joanna Ruth Meyer cover art

Into the Heartless Wood

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Into the Heartless Wood

By: Joanna Ruth Meyer
Narrated by: Tara Novie, Ethan James Lynch
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The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths.

Deep in the wood lives a witch queen and her eight tree siren daughters. For centuries, they have harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow their ever reaching kingdom of ash, birch, and oak.

Owen Merrick lives at the edge of the forest, mapping the stars for the king in his father’s observatory. For years, he has resisted venturing over the garden wall, until one day he must enter the woods to find his missing sister. But one of the witch’s tree siren daughters, Seren, decides to save his life instead of end it. Now, no matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop thinking about her - the birch-bright hue of her skin and the way violets bloom in her hair. Every night, he goes into the wood to meet her, and their love for each other grows.

But when the constellations shift, the stars foretell an inevitable war between the witch queen and the king. With Seren compelled to fight for her mother, and Owen forced to join the king’s army, they are plunged into the heart of a conflict that seemingly no one can win and that might destroy both their kingdoms forever.

©2021 Joanna Ruth Meyer (P)2021 Insatiable Press Dark Fantasy Fantasy Literature & Fiction Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy
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Joanna Ruth Meyer is a talented word-weaver, and this story is wonderful all on its own. "Into the Heartless Wood" is an imaginative, spellbinding tale filled with well-rounded characters and vivid scenery for the mind's eye to explore. (Plus, Meyer does an excellent job of blending the fantastical with the scholastical; her elegant diction is a pleasure to read and/or hear.)

Tara Novie and Ethan James Lynch bring Meyer's characters to life (and death) in all the best ways; though I usually prefer the written word for my fiction, it was an unexpected pleasure when Novie and Lynch yanked me headlong into the world Meyer created. The voice acting switches back and forth between multiple characters, which was organic and fun to listen to. Novie + Lynch have great synergy together. Great work!

I won't spoil the plot, but you won't be able to take this story out of your earholes once you get started...

Storytelling at its finest

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Magical, heartbreaking, sweet. I think I felt every emotion reading this and it had me in tears multiple times. On my list of favorites!

Magical

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"Into the Heartless Wood" is a delightful fairy-tale. There are many familiar fantasy tropes here—the woods, sprites, spirits, Queens vs. Kings, forbidden romance—but they never feel tired. Meyer does her best to inject life into each trope and deliver a rich, unique experience. She mostly succeeds.

Despite some minor flaws, like the repetitiveness and sometimes poor use of alternate narration, "Into the Heartless Wood" proves to be a solid, engaging read.

Tara Novie heartfully voices Seren/the Monster, and Ethan James Lynch provides the voice of Owen. Lynch's accent is over-done at times but mostly hits the mark. Novie has a soothing, pleasant tambor and is delightful to listen to. A solid narrator.

Overall, recommended. It is more than the sum of its parts.

A charming, well-told fantasy tale

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I just couldn’t get into it, I didn’t care for the narrators, the excessive use of “irrevocably” was annoying, love the store but the writing was a little juvenile. Sorry.

Just not that into you

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Great story that keeps the listener engaged and invested in the characters from beginning to end.

Captivating the whole way through

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The crafty skill of the author took me to a place where I wasn’t prepared to go but I happily embarked on this journey fully and completely. As the story evolved, I became more deeply engrossed in the characters’ development. The selflessness, heart, soul, and mystery really made this audiobook “hard to put down”. I found myself listening to chapters over again throughout to take in the beauty again of the words but also the voices. Beautifully narrated by two incredibly gifted actors. I am ready for the movie and wouldn’t want to see Seren played by anyone other than the beautiful and talented, Tara Novie.

An Experience You Don’t Want To Miss

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a great idea ruined by overacting, some ridiculous choice in accents, and repetitive internal monologs. the big bad is unbelievably powerful in the beginning but loses any sense of danger as plot armor takes affect.

monologs and overwrought performance

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Overall liked the plot, but felt that some of the writing was immature at times. Some lines edged into a book written for middleschoolers IMO, but this was incongruous with the inclusion of gore aplenty and some romantic/sexual tension (albeit brief). Also, way too much repetition of lines from earlier in the book as if the reader (listener) is a juvenile that needs their hand held. Loved the female lead's voice, but found the voice for Owen in particular to be rather annoying. Despite that, I really enjoyed the story from start to finish. I really enjoyed that we got a point of view from the "monster." There's a sweet romance included, but I'd say the focus is more on the world & plot. I would recommend this book for fantasy lovers.

A Compelling Story About How Divorce Ruins Families (IYKYK)

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I really enjoyed this book. I wasn’t a huge fan of the women’s narrative, she paused with a waver in her voice, I get why she did it but she did it way too much and annoyed me a bit. I do recommend this book though, it was a very interesting and lovely fairytale.

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Struggled to finish this book. It did finally reach a point about 2 hours from the end where it became a story worth listening to.

Not my favorite

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