In the Forests of the Night
by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

In the Forests of the Night, Atwater-Rhodes’ first novel, which was written while she was only thirteen years old, is an engaging tale told from the heroine’s point of view in first-person. The book’s title is a line taken from a poem written by William Blake, entitled “The Tiger”, and fits both the character and the story remarkably well. Which, I confess, is something I doubted when I first read this book.

The story’s heroine, Risika, a three hundred year old vampire living in modern day Concord, Massachusetts has a very jaded and solemn view of humans and life in general. In fact, for all intents and purposes, it appears as though she has spent the last three hundred years just existing. But of course, nothing can remain unchanged forever. One night, after visiting Tora the Bengal tiger at the city’s zoo, Risika accidentally strays into another vampire’s territory while chasing that evening’s prey. While in the vampire’s territory she is spotted by a human lackey and looses her prey. Rather than back down, Risika chooses to show that she is not “afraid” of Aubrey, the vampire whose territory she is trespassing upon, and feeds off of the lackey who caused her to loose her prey. In doing so, Risika sets into motion a string of confrontations between herself and Aubrey, a vampire who is not only stronger than her, but the one who killed her twin brother and whose mere presence frightens Risika.

As the story progresses we are able to see Risika finally cast off the fear that has held her stagnate for several centuries and grow into her own. Upon the conclusion of the book, not only does Risika grow into her power, but she finds herself as well. Her need for blood and eternal youth aside, this makes Risika a character that anyone, especially young readers, can identify with. The story also touches upon the ambiguous moral grounds of good versus evil as Risika struggles to understand that not everything in life is black and white.

One thing that truly impressed me about this story was the fact that Atwater-Rhodes did not feel the need to clutter the tale up by throwing in unnecessary romantic entanglements on the sidelines that would ultimately detract from the story. Instead the focus stays where it should be, Risika’s long over due “coming of age” and the events that made her who she is.

Despite being centuries old however, Risika comes off as a teenager herself and never once appears to have aged mentally since the death of her mortal self. Considering how old she is and the fact that she has supposedly lived amongst humans for the majority of the time, she does not carry a sense of age about her. There is nothing in her attitude and persona that links her with the history that defined her. In all honesty, all of the vampires introduced to us have a modern air and utterly lack influence from the eras that created them. Other characters, who are as equally old as Risika, or even older, also sport this same flaw. It’s almost laughable when Risika refers to Ather, the one who made her, as her “dark mother”. It’s very difficult to connect the word “mother” with Ather when the only glimpses of this character we have been given are those of an arrogant and posturing woman who, for all intents and purposes, comes off more as the “Queen of the Campus” rather than “Queen of the Damned”.

There were also a few minor inconsistencies in the book as well. Some of Risika’s thoughts and actions contradicted previous statements, and without explanation, the author plowed on. For example, at the beginning of chapter twelve Risika states that after she became a vampire she never returned to her home again¹. Yet in the very first sentence in the opening paragraph of chapter fifteen, Risika contradicts this by stating that she did in fact return home after a few years². In that same chapter Risika states that when she returned no one saw her and yet a few pages later it is revealed that her father did see her, although he dismissed it, and again in chapter seventeen it is mentioned that he sees her, although he does not recognize her.

It was conflicting statements like these that raised the question of whether or not the author truly understood where her story was headed. Not to mention the fact that it made taking anything that Risika said at face value a tad difficult since the reader begins to expect a contradiction to every “fact” a page or so later. And of course, it just utterly annoys and confuses the reader as well!

Now, since the copy I’ve read and reviewed was first printed back in 1999 and there has been at least one reprint since then, it is possible that those problems were ironed out, although it is doubtful. For the most part, In the Forests of the Night is a quick and easy to read tale that will amuse young adult readers as well as more advanced readers. However, the sheer childishness of Risika and story contradictions will keep it from ever becoming a “great read”.

Joana’s rating: (3 out of 5 stars)

1. First edition, chapter 12, page 80: “After the day when I lost my mortal soul, I never went back to my old home”. [↩]
2. First edition, chapter 15, page 100: “I did not return to my home for three years, and when I finally did, no one saw me.” [↩]