Beautiful young girls are being kidnapped, one of whom is 17 year old Avikar's sister, Jeslyn. After already losing one sibling, he and his best friend, who is also courting Jeslyn, take off on a quest to rescue her. Along the way, they find a hidden world only talked about in fables and a ruler, Lucino, of that world...who wants theirs as well.

From the first few chapters, action is non-stop in BROKEN FOREST. While I love a fast-paced novel, this one may be too fast-paced in the introduction. By page 30, Jeslyn is already kidnapped and Avikar and his best friend are already on the quest to rescue her. It didn't leave enough room to get to know the characters, especially with the POV switching from three people. It took a while to sort through who was who and what was actually going on between all the action. Without getting a decent feel on the personality of the characters sooner, it left confusion about some of their decisions later on.

After getting to know the characters, Jeslyn is a girl who won't/can't rescue herself. I got frustrated with her several times, though I see how her character helps soften Lucino, her kidnapper. I'm glad the author, Eliza Tilton, created Raven, a kick-butt love interest for Avikar to balance the female power level out. Avikar himself is on the immature side, but he has decent depth.

Behind the heavy plot, the world in BROKEN FOREST is original and nice. There are non-humans and mystical forests, both of which I highly approve of. I would have liked to see more world building of it, but the world building that it has is good.

This is a new series, and while I liked it, I'm not sure if I would read the sequel. I think I would if there is more character development and world-building and a little less action.