A review by aberhey
The Wildlands by Abby Geni

3.0

3.5 stars because this book tackles important questions, sometimes in incredibly moving ways, but also has many flaws.
It's not every day you read a novel about animal ethics and trauma. This book has a very strong beginning, I'm not sure I like the ending

Spoiler

both the zoo disaster and the epilogue. I find it hard to believe that nobody but Tucker died when so many carnivores were released into a city. The ideas the epilogue brought forth were interesting I guess, but the writing was cringe-worthy, trying to resolve a situation (the one that finally drives Tucker to complete madness) to which there is no resolve.

. What the author managed to do is to display different way in which people react to trauma, and discuss the problem inherent in animal ethics at length, in short: The lions are hungry.
I think Cora was very well-handled as a character. Darlene, Roy (Mr. Nice Guy) and Jane were a bit pale, they didn't come to life for me, but okay overall and had some good moments. Tucker, however, was inconsistently characterised. First he's an animal rights activist, then he eats eggs and complains that there's no bacon, then he's been a vegetarian for ages. Cora, in the beginning

Spoiler

of their road trip

, describes him as not talking down to her, always asking her questions, treating her as an equal. Yet we never see him ask a single question. He talks like a robot, giving out commands, preaching. You can't do this if you're trying to show a development in a character. I felt like the author was afraid to show this kind side of Tucker, relying only on Cora's word for it. But that's not enough. Also, how is he not a vegan - an extreme animal rights activist in 2017/18??? Another reviewer mentioned some errors concerning geography and local plants, that shouldn't happen. All in all, this book was certainly worth the read, and I'll be thinking about it a lot. I'm just not sure I like it.