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A review by chrissie_whitley
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
4.0
Jake Whyte resides alone in a weather-beaten farmhouse on a rugged British island. Her only companions are her unruly collie, Dog, and a flock of sheep. But something sinister has been targeting her sheep, filling her with terror. As rumors of a formidable beast circulate, and more sheep end up dead, Jake's enigmatic past is revealed through flashbacks, encroaching on her present sense of peace. Evoking isolation, resilience, and the quest for redemption, All the Birds, Singing masterfully portrays a secluded life filled with hardships, glimpses of beauty, and the pursuit of salvation.
Wyld built such a strong sense of place and person in Whyte and her sheep farm — the atmosphere practically thrummed with tension by the end. While I don't love present tense, I can accept the use of it here as a contrast between the present day (in past tense) and the backwardly unfurling of Jake's past (told in present tense). The juxtaposition helped anchor the story, and the awareness of Wyld using this tool with purpose and thoughtfulness helped elevate this from the all-too-often place of relegated gimmick. Plus Wyld's writing was wonderfully, refreshingly top notch.
My only issue was with the ending — all that tension didn't release properly and the story sort of simply petered out.
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Cat Gould|7576340|Cat Gould|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]: Gould did such a masterful job alongside Wyld's brilliant writing that I struggled to shake her accent even from thinking in some semblance of her Aussie accent in my head.
Wyld built such a strong sense of place and person in Whyte and her sheep farm — the atmosphere practically thrummed with tension by the end. While I don't love present tense, I can accept the use of it here as a contrast between the present day (in past tense) and the backwardly unfurling of Jake's past (told in present tense). The juxtaposition helped anchor the story, and the awareness of Wyld using this tool with purpose and thoughtfulness helped elevate this from the all-too-often place of relegated gimmick. Plus Wyld's writing was wonderfully, refreshingly top notch.
My only issue was with the ending — all that tension didn't release properly and the story sort of simply petered out.
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Cat Gould|7576340|Cat Gould|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]: Gould did such a masterful job alongside Wyld's brilliant writing that I struggled to shake her accent even from thinking in some semblance of her Aussie accent in my head.