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Novel by Amelia Atwater Rhodes

In the Forests of the Night is a vampire novel written by Amelia Atwater Rhodes, and published in 1999. It was originally entitled White Wine. Atwater Rhodes wrote it at the age of thirteen, but it was published on May 11, 1999, about a month after she turned fifteen. It is the first novel in the Den of Shadows series. It tells the story of a three hundred year old vampire named Risika and her struggles throughout her life, both before and after she was turned into a vampire. The novel is told in first person narrative by the protagonist, Risika. It was well received by critics. The title refers William Blake's poem "The Tyger", which appears at the beginning of the book. Atwater Rhodes' second book, Demon in My View, was published in 2000 when the author was 16 and is the sequel to In the Forests of the Night. Persistence of Memory, published in 2008, makes mention and features an appearance of the main character's brother.

According to Atwater Rhodes' official site, The Den of Shadows, In the Forests of the Night is one of seven novels that she had finished writing and is the first she published. The inspiration for the novel came from an assignment she received in the seventh grade when her best friend Jessica had chosen "The Tyger" for the assignment. The character of Risika was taken from the brief mention in Atwater Rhodes' unpublished novel, Red Wine. She began working on the novel in 1997, under the title White Wine. During the writing process, Atwater Rhodes suffered from writer's block and a computer crash, causing her to lose most of her work on the novel, and thus resulted in some changes to the plotline. In the original manuscript, the character of Ather, an antagonist, was changed to Aubrey after the crash. She finished the novel in August of that year and spent the next four months revising the manuscript. She then sent the manuscript in December 1997 and by mid February 1998 she met her agent, Tom Hart, who later called her and informed her that Random House would publish the novel on her fourteenth birthday; however, the novel was pushed back and released a little over a year later in May 1999.

In the Forests of the Night was first released in hardcover print on May 11, 1999, about a month after she signed her contract. It was later released in paperback in May, 2000.

The book is set in and around the author's home town of Concord, Massachusetts and in the realm of Nyeusigrube. The book centers around Risika who born in 1684 as Rachel Weatere, a God fearing seventeen year old who lived with her father, half sister, Lynette, and her twin brother, Alexander. Alexander lives in fear as he believes he is of the Devil as he is able to hear people's thoughts and cause things to happen, including manipulating fire, causing him to inadvertently burn his sister Lynette. Aware of her twin brother's powers and his dislike for them, Rachel tries to do her best to comfort him. One day, an unknown stranger appears at their home, who is later revealed as Aubrey and gives Rachel a black rose, which pricks her finger, drawing blood. That night, Rachel hears her twin creep past her room and she follows him to find him confronting two vampires, Ather and Aubrey, who had come to transform Rachel against her will into a vampire to get back at Alexander for interfering with Ather when she tried to feed on Lynette. In an attempt to stop Ather from harming her brother, Rachel confronts Ather but Aubrey grabs her brother and drags him off, while exposing a knife. Rachel tries to go after them but Ather grabs her instead and begins her transformation into a vampire. Three hundred years later, Rachel, now calling herself Risika, has a run in with Aubrey after accidentally trespassing onto his territory in an attempt to feed, he leaves her another black rose and a note stating, "Stay in your place, Risika." Fearing Aubrey, but not letting it on, she burns the note and leaves it where Aubrey can find it, and does not visit the Bengal tiger which she has named Tora, in fear that Aubrey would use Tora to hurt her. Eventually Aubrey learns of Tora's existence and in an attempt to get Risika to lie low, he kills the tiger. Wounded once more, Risika takes on the tiger's stripes in her hair and finds a note with the name "Rachel" written on it and covered with tears. Enraged and thinking the note a joke, she calls out to whoever left the note but no one answers. She then takes off, transforming into a hawk, to confront Aubrey, and a fight breaks out between the two and Risika realizes she can defeat him and transforms herself into a Bengal tiger and pins Aubrey to the ground. In desperation and not wanting to die, Aubrey offers Risika his blood, which opens his mind to Risika. Accepting this, Risika transforms back to herself and takes Aubrey's blood but before allowing him to leave she takes the knife he carries, which she had found out nearly 300 years ago contains magic from one of the witch's clans, and slashes him in his collarbone, avenging the scar he had left on her not too long after she had been transformed and tells him to remember the events of that day and warns him that even though she has taken his blood it did not make up for the death of Tora or Alexander. After Aubrey leaves, Alexander reveals to Risika that he is still alive and that he was the one who had left her the note. He reveals that the reason Ather changed her was out of revenge against Alexander for having interrupting her trying feed on Lynette. Believing he could help his sister, Risika informs him that she is happy as she is and the story ends.

Risika: The protagonist and narrator of the novel. Born as Rachel Waetere in 1684, she was transformed against her will into a vampire, when she was seventeen, by Ather in 1701 and lives in the fictional version of Concord, Massachusetts. The novel follows her journey three hundred years later as a vampire. She has a strong understanding and friendship with a Bengal tiger she named Tora. Risika can transform into a hawk, as she enjoys flying over the power of mental teleportation, which is most commonly used by other vampires. She has a long rivalry with her blood brother, Aubrey. After her battle with Aubrey and taking his blood, she becomes stronger and is open to his mind. She also is able to transform into a second form, that of a Bengal tiger. Risika has golden blonde hair and gold eyes that went completely black after she was transformed but she later regained them after she transformed into the tiger. She also changed her hair to contain the strips of Tora, after the tiger was killed by Aubrey, so that Tora would be with her always. Her original hair and eye color were inherited from her mother. Alexander makes an appearance in the novel, Persistence of Memory although Risika does not. It is mentioned that there is an issue going on between Risika and Alexander during the events of the novel.

In the Forests of the Night was applauded as "Insightful and imaginative" by Publishers Weekly San Diego Union Tribune called the novel "An impressive debut". School Library Journal praised it stating "This first novel by an author with great ability and promise is sure to be popular." Booklist stated that because of Atwater Rhodes being only fourteen at that time she published the novel and because of it content that the novel "may encourage other young writers to pursue the craft." The Houston Chronicle called the novel "an easy to read page turner." The novel is an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults.