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rmlknisely's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment
Moderate: Miscarriage, Animal death, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
solanum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Cursing, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Blood, Child death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy
rachaelwho's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Colonisation, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content
Hunting, survival sexthevioletfoxbookshop's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Child death, Animal death, and Death
ginzura's review against another edition
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
merle_bookdragon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The book is divided into 7 parts and it started out really well until around parts 5 and 6 where it took a bit of a downward spiral. I do not want to spoiler too much but I think was mostly bothered me that nothing was explained, not even at the very end. There is no explanation as to what the state of the world is to make living in it so horrible except for "there is a lot of smog" but that's nothing new. Additionally, between time jumps, especially one character changes their personality quite a bit, which could have been explained. Without any explanation, I started to instantly dislike them and kept wondering what the hell had happened at this time. I understand that keeping readers in the dark is a common tactic but without any resolve, in the end, it is simply unsatisfying. For example, as a second book for my MA, I read The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He. In this book, I was also very confused for a long time because a lot of information is withheld from the reader for a long time. But in the end, you still receive an explanation, which might not make you like the story or the characters more but at least you learn about a motive. That was really missing in The New Wilderness.
Also, this is really just personal preference but
Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Sexual content, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death of parent, and Grief
kieranyes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The good is that the world building is really intriguing and original. Set in a mid-future scenario where pollution makes city air fatal, a small community attempt to survive in a state otherwise set aside for strictly managed nature conservation. This state is off limits; no people are generally allowed there and even microplastics and human bodies have to be retrieved or Rangers issue massive fines, kind of like an authoritarian Yellowstone. A small community is permitted to live there as part of a trial into populating the wilderness. Even the most rebellious characters appear to recognise their personal impact on the wilderness while they are there as important. This speculative future where conservation is a powerful bureacracy in an apparently futile attempt to offset environmental degradation was really interesting, but to be honest the ambiguous style doesn't really colour this in. We mostly pick up on this through the characters arguing about the rules of the study and references to how things have become less available. Characters never seriously discuss systemic drivers of why or how the world is, and don't seem to care about these even when their children become too sick or even die from air pollution.
The central tension is between a mother and her daughter, and an additional one between an academic and a thug. Ideas of returning to nature and reorganising society in hardship are pretty clear, through a complicated and at times strained mother-daughter bond. However, we don't really know what anyone looks like; for a book inspired by indigenous culture its pretty colourblind, I think in an attempt at universality. In the same way, all characters have the same or very similar kind of clunky and simple speech. This is why it reminded me of the Walking Dead, a show not known for poignant dialogue.
Its also just really bleak. I'm all down for a depressing read but this was kind of relentless.
Stacey Glemboski's audiobook narration was excellent.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Death of parent, Animal death, Infidelity, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
maddiebusick's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence