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A review by snarhooked
Wildlands by Brogen Murphy
2.0
This is an ok book, especially for younger middle grade readers. There is an adventure in the wilderness, encounters with wildlife and sisters (eventually) working together to foil adults.
It could have done with a fiercer edit as I think it would have a broader appeal if it was shorter. It could also have helped with the pace as I found myself getting bored of the story and skim reading sections.
The author clearly loves nature and wildlife but the rest of the writing was rather clunky. The storyline about why Astrid has distanced herself from her mum was given too much coverage. Everything that happened in the story seemed to come back to that, and it was blown up out of proportion. The characters and setting were underdeveloped. Indie was just there as a responsibility for Astrid and a contrast for her apathy about the Wildlands. I could envisage a future Britain where a large part has become a nature reserve, but not by the 2050's. The mentions of compostable plastic, limited meat consumption and Wintertide instead of Christmas likewise seem to be much more than 25 years away from the present. There were also so few signs of humans ever having lived in the Wildlands, I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the story.
If you are interested in a middle grade book about environmentalism and humans and nature being separated I would instead recommend 'Where the world turns wild' and the sequel 'When the wild calls' by Nicola Penfold.
It could have done with a fiercer edit as I think it would have a broader appeal if it was shorter. It could also have helped with the pace as I found myself getting bored of the story and skim reading sections.
The author clearly loves nature and wildlife but the rest of the writing was rather clunky. The storyline about why Astrid has distanced herself from her mum was given too much coverage. Everything that happened in the story seemed to come back to that, and it was blown up out of proportion. The characters and setting were underdeveloped. Indie was just there as a responsibility for Astrid and a contrast for her apathy about the Wildlands. I could envisage a future Britain where a large part has become a nature reserve, but not by the 2050's. The mentions of compostable plastic, limited meat consumption and Wintertide instead of Christmas likewise seem to be much more than 25 years away from the present. There were also so few signs of humans ever having lived in the Wildlands, I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the story.
If you are interested in a middle grade book about environmentalism and humans and nature being separated I would instead recommend 'Where the world turns wild' and the sequel 'When the wild calls' by Nicola Penfold.