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grhays's review
5.0
I loved this book every bit as much as — and maybe more than — The Lightkeepers. I wouldn’t have guessed that possible. It was a beautiful, elegant, devastating read from start to finish. The final scene was more moving than anything I’ve read in recent memory and it easily brought me to tears. Additionally, I’m not usually a fan of epilogues, but this one brought me exactly what I needed.
There’s so much to be said for Geni’s deft exploration of animal rights, environmental justice, sibling and familial relationships, humans’ encroachment on the natural world (and by contrast, the inevitable influences of Nature on our everyday existence), identity and self creation/self destruction, etc. Her control of narrative craft astonishes me and there’s a great deal to be learned about writing from her work, from character development to POV choice and POV shift. Her forays into the uncanny are captivating, too. I’m eager to experience this novel again and again.
There’s so much to be said for Geni’s deft exploration of animal rights, environmental justice, sibling and familial relationships, humans’ encroachment on the natural world (and by contrast, the inevitable influences of Nature on our everyday existence), identity and self creation/self destruction, etc. Her control of narrative craft astonishes me and there’s a great deal to be learned about writing from her work, from character development to POV choice and POV shift. Her forays into the uncanny are captivating, too. I’m eager to experience this novel again and again.
panda8882's review
5.0
Parnassus rarely disappoints in their First Editions selections, and this was no exception. What a beautiful novel with an interesting premise that was developed perfectly. This would be a great book club discussion pick.
sarahsbookshelves's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Counterpoint Press and Edelweiss for an advanced copy of this book.
The publisher described The Wildlands as a literary thriller…and while I don’t think that’s quite accurate, it is a fast-paced story about children that have lost literally everything trying to find their way again. This story touches themes far and wide…humans’ place in the ecosystem, environmental terrorism, children surviving on their own, the media spotlight, Patti Hearst-esque Stockholm syndrome, and complicated sibling relationships. There was lots in this book that reminded me of other books I read, but it all came together in its own unique way…making it very hard to find a single read-alike for it. It has the love of animals and nature of Where the Crawdads Sing, the focus on media attention following a tragedy of Before the Fall, and the family manipulation of Wiley Cash’s This Dark Road to Mercy. There’s also some similarity to Christian Kiefer’s The Animals. The place where I really did see the “literary thriller” come out was the ending, which was surprising and riveting, if not a tad improbable. A solid start to Fall book season! P.S. the publisher’s synopsis gives away way too much of the plot for my taste…I went in pretty blind and recommend you do too!
Visit https://www.sarahsbookshelves.com for more reviews.
The publisher described The Wildlands as a literary thriller…and while I don’t think that’s quite accurate, it is a fast-paced story about children that have lost literally everything trying to find their way again. This story touches themes far and wide…humans’ place in the ecosystem, environmental terrorism, children surviving on their own, the media spotlight, Patti Hearst-esque Stockholm syndrome, and complicated sibling relationships. There was lots in this book that reminded me of other books I read, but it all came together in its own unique way…making it very hard to find a single read-alike for it. It has the love of animals and nature of Where the Crawdads Sing, the focus on media attention following a tragedy of Before the Fall, and the family manipulation of Wiley Cash’s This Dark Road to Mercy. There’s also some similarity to Christian Kiefer’s The Animals. The place where I really did see the “literary thriller” come out was the ending, which was surprising and riveting, if not a tad improbable. A solid start to Fall book season! P.S. the publisher’s synopsis gives away way too much of the plot for my taste…I went in pretty blind and recommend you do too!
Visit https://www.sarahsbookshelves.com for more reviews.
bookwoods's review
4.0
Abby Geni is a brilliant writer who excels at exploring the workings of a human mind through our interactions with non-human animals. Her debut novel The Lightkeepers is one of my all time favorite books, so I was quite nervous to read The Wildlands. But they're very different: whereas The Lightkeepers is psychologically intense without much plot, The Wildlands is similarly intense but in a plot heavy way. It centers around four siblings who are left destitute after a tornado hits their hometown. Soon after the catastrophe one of them disappears only to return years later as a radical activist and taking the youngest sister, Cora, with him.
I found the way Geni writes the perspective of the twelve-year-old Cora truly impressive and believable: how she’s susceptible to new ideas, trusting but smart for her age. But even more fascinating is the exploration of how trauma can make good intentions spiral out, to show how activism for a deserving cause can go terribly wrong. Part of me doesn’t want stories of environmental and animal rights activists as law breaking terrorists to exist, but I never felt like Geni was trying to enforce that stigma. Instead The Wildlands focuses on the individuals and their psychology, not activists as a whole.
The novel is often described as an ecological thriller, which I do find appropriate to a certain degree - the short chapters and intensifying events certainly make it thriller like. But for this to properly succeed as a thriller, the ending should have been more unpredictable, and I personally would have preferred there being less plot and more of the descriptive writing I learned to love in The Lightkeepers. As it is, The Wildlands seems slightly lost at what it tries to be. Still, that aside, the themes and characters make it a gripping, unique novel well worth a read.
“The Wildlands were something new. ‘Unfit for cultivation.’ That means no people, no civilization. Wild and Tame and Domesticated and Feral – any living thing without a place on the food chain – all the outliers found their way there. All the lost and lonely animals went to the Wildlands.”
I found the way Geni writes the perspective of the twelve-year-old Cora truly impressive and believable: how she’s susceptible to new ideas, trusting but smart for her age. But even more fascinating is the exploration of how trauma can make good intentions spiral out, to show how activism for a deserving cause can go terribly wrong. Part of me doesn’t want stories of environmental and animal rights activists as law breaking terrorists to exist, but I never felt like Geni was trying to enforce that stigma. Instead The Wildlands focuses on the individuals and their psychology, not activists as a whole.
The novel is often described as an ecological thriller, which I do find appropriate to a certain degree - the short chapters and intensifying events certainly make it thriller like. But for this to properly succeed as a thriller, the ending should have been more unpredictable, and I personally would have preferred there being less plot and more of the descriptive writing I learned to love in The Lightkeepers. As it is, The Wildlands seems slightly lost at what it tries to be. Still, that aside, the themes and characters make it a gripping, unique novel well worth a read.
“The Wildlands were something new. ‘Unfit for cultivation.’ That means no people, no civilization. Wild and Tame and Domesticated and Feral – any living thing without a place on the food chain – all the outliers found their way there. All the lost and lonely animals went to the Wildlands.”
sarahc3319's review
3.0
The frantic mental tug of protecting and supporting family knowing they have committed acts that hurt others, including yourself. The similar conflict of animals' right vs. people's rights to hunt, go to zoos, etc. With these two central themes, The Wildlands is a family drama with a strongly political tone.
1of3bookgirls's review against another edition
4.0
Living in Oklahoma and reading a book that is set here gives the subject matter extra punch. I enjoyed reading about animal activism gone awry. There is lots of complicated family stuff in here too. I liked it!
duffymn's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. I devoured this one in a day. Tragedy, loss, and Stockholm Syndrome, all from the point of view of a 9 year old heroine and her 19 year old guardian sister. Super well-written, engaging, and timely.
meeshreads's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book! Kind of anxiety-provoking a handful of times, but hard to put down. A near perfect ending, too.
callum_mclaughlin's review against another edition
5.0
Abby Geni’s first novel, The Lightkeepers, was my book of the year in 2018. A few years prior, I thoroughly enjoyed her collection of short stories, The Last Animal. Needless to say, I entered this with a daunting mix of excitement and nerves. Thankfully, it stood up to my own high expectations, cementing Geni’s place as one of my favourite authors.
In The Wildlands, we follow four siblings, their mother long since dead. When their farm is destroyed and their father killed by a Category Five tornado, they must scrape by in a cramped trailer under the care of eldest sister, Darlene. Tucker, the only boy, struggles to cope with their loses, and flees soon after. Three years later, he resurfaces, badly injured during an act of eco-terrorism that saw him detonate a bomb in a cosmetics factory known to test on animals. Enlisting the help of youngest sibling, Cora, the two go on the run. With Tucker determined to bring Cora round to his extremist ways, and Darlene determined to find and bring her home, we begin to build towards an inevitably tragic conclusion.
The thing to love most about this book is its characters. They are all distinct and richly drawn; complex, flawed, and utterly believable. My heart was so taken by Darlene. Forced to grow up beyond her years, under constant pressure, and largely shunned by her community (who judge her for selling the family’s story to the press in order to make the money they needed to survive), we realise just how much she has sacrificed and suffered for the good of her siblings. Tucker, too, is a fascinating character. Through him, Geni examines the dichotomy between action and intent. Few would discourage Tucker’s desire to end animal cruelty and put humans in their place, but his increasingly violent means are never glorified. To present a character who is at once both sympathetic and damnable takes true writerly skill and narrative depth, but Geni pulls it off with aplomb.
I also noted some subtle though brilliant commentary on the pervasive quality of toxic masculinity. It’s no surprise that Tucker, the only boy, is driven to violence and rage by his unchecked emotion, sitting in stark contrast with his three sisters’ reactions. Once nine-year-old Cora is taken under his wing, he cuts her hair short, dresses her in boys’ clothes, and gives her a false name, as though her identity, and very femininity, are literally being consumed by his influence. Ostensibly, this is a means for them to avoid police detection, and a game of make believe that Cora initially finds fun. As the behaviour she finds herself drawn into becomes increasingly violent and unsettling, however, she becomes confused as to who or what she should be, wrestling with her two selves. Soon, she is eager to reject her boyish alter-ego, and the dangerous world it is forced to inhabit.
As with The Lightkeepers, I loved the thread in here about the power of storytelling, and the way we use it to protect ourselves from ugly truths. In this case, Tucker recounts his and Cora’s actions to his little sister, painting them as heroes, using the wonder of a good story to manipulate her into carrying out deeds she would otherwise abhor.
There is a very brief correlation drawn by one of the characters between bodily mutilation and a damaged psyche. In general, the ‘bad on the outside = bad on the inside’ trope is not good, but in this case, it felt like a genuine reaction from the character that made sense given context that I don’t want to spoil – rather than any internalised prejudice. I just wanted to flag it up quickly, since it’s a thematic device that irks me when handled poorly.
The prose itself is lovely, without ever feeling overdone. A sense of time and place are evoked incredibly well, the progression of summer and its mounting heat reflected in the palpable swell of tension as we move towards an unforgettable climax. The sense of conclusion was also incredibly satisfying, from a narrative and thematic standpoint. In it, Geni explores the kind of relationship we could have with nature, embracing necessary evils to work towards something better.
All-in-all, I found this utterly enthralling. It’s a powerful look at the bond of siblings; a searing critique of man’s false sense of power over nature; and an exploration of the animal instincts in us all to both lash out when we no longer understand our place in the world, and to protect the ones we love.
In The Wildlands, we follow four siblings, their mother long since dead. When their farm is destroyed and their father killed by a Category Five tornado, they must scrape by in a cramped trailer under the care of eldest sister, Darlene. Tucker, the only boy, struggles to cope with their loses, and flees soon after. Three years later, he resurfaces, badly injured during an act of eco-terrorism that saw him detonate a bomb in a cosmetics factory known to test on animals. Enlisting the help of youngest sibling, Cora, the two go on the run. With Tucker determined to bring Cora round to his extremist ways, and Darlene determined to find and bring her home, we begin to build towards an inevitably tragic conclusion.
The thing to love most about this book is its characters. They are all distinct and richly drawn; complex, flawed, and utterly believable. My heart was so taken by Darlene. Forced to grow up beyond her years, under constant pressure, and largely shunned by her community (who judge her for selling the family’s story to the press in order to make the money they needed to survive), we realise just how much she has sacrificed and suffered for the good of her siblings. Tucker, too, is a fascinating character. Through him, Geni examines the dichotomy between action and intent. Few would discourage Tucker’s desire to end animal cruelty and put humans in their place, but his increasingly violent means are never glorified. To present a character who is at once both sympathetic and damnable takes true writerly skill and narrative depth, but Geni pulls it off with aplomb.
I also noted some subtle though brilliant commentary on the pervasive quality of toxic masculinity. It’s no surprise that Tucker, the only boy, is driven to violence and rage by his unchecked emotion, sitting in stark contrast with his three sisters’ reactions. Once nine-year-old Cora is taken under his wing, he cuts her hair short, dresses her in boys’ clothes, and gives her a false name, as though her identity, and very femininity, are literally being consumed by his influence. Ostensibly, this is a means for them to avoid police detection, and a game of make believe that Cora initially finds fun. As the behaviour she finds herself drawn into becomes increasingly violent and unsettling, however, she becomes confused as to who or what she should be, wrestling with her two selves. Soon, she is eager to reject her boyish alter-ego, and the dangerous world it is forced to inhabit.
As with The Lightkeepers, I loved the thread in here about the power of storytelling, and the way we use it to protect ourselves from ugly truths. In this case, Tucker recounts his and Cora’s actions to his little sister, painting them as heroes, using the wonder of a good story to manipulate her into carrying out deeds she would otherwise abhor.
There is a very brief correlation drawn by one of the characters between bodily mutilation and a damaged psyche. In general, the ‘bad on the outside = bad on the inside’ trope is not good, but in this case, it felt like a genuine reaction from the character that made sense given context that I don’t want to spoil – rather than any internalised prejudice. I just wanted to flag it up quickly, since it’s a thematic device that irks me when handled poorly.
The prose itself is lovely, without ever feeling overdone. A sense of time and place are evoked incredibly well, the progression of summer and its mounting heat reflected in the palpable swell of tension as we move towards an unforgettable climax. The sense of conclusion was also incredibly satisfying, from a narrative and thematic standpoint. In it, Geni explores the kind of relationship we could have with nature, embracing necessary evils to work towards something better.
All-in-all, I found this utterly enthralling. It’s a powerful look at the bond of siblings; a searing critique of man’s false sense of power over nature; and an exploration of the animal instincts in us all to both lash out when we no longer understand our place in the world, and to protect the ones we love.
melannrosenthal's review against another edition
5.0
Cora, the youngest of 4, never knew her mother who died just after giving birth to her. She has been raised by her oldest sister Darlene, who stepped into the place of their parents after a tornado rips through town, taking away their father and making the siblings orphans. Just months later, the only boy, Tucker, runs away, leaving the 3 girls to fend for themselves. The most tragic family in Mercy, OK gets hit by yet another horror on the 3rd anniversary of the disastrous "Hand of God" tornado: 9-year-old Cora disappears.
Darlene stays close to the police officer following the case, demanding updates and insisting that the FBI get involved as the summer months pass and except for a couple phone calls from Cora, they make no progress in locating the girl or the suspected kidnapper, their brother Tucker.
The story flawlessly weaves in heartbreak and morality to the fight for the humane treatment of animals, shining a light on what really matters when you're forced to choose between your own life and doing what's right. Geni's writing here absolutely blew me away. Her scenes and descriptions of place/emotion were so visceral that I had to pace myself, and take breaks to just think about the actions of the characters and the force of Geni's words. So good.
Darlene stays close to the police officer following the case, demanding updates and insisting that the FBI get involved as the summer months pass and except for a couple phone calls from Cora, they make no progress in locating the girl or the suspected kidnapper, their brother Tucker.
The story flawlessly weaves in heartbreak and morality to the fight for the humane treatment of animals, shining a light on what really matters when you're forced to choose between your own life and doing what's right. Geni's writing here absolutely blew me away. Her scenes and descriptions of place/emotion were so visceral that I had to pace myself, and take breaks to just think about the actions of the characters and the force of Geni's words. So good.