A review by pdestrienne
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline

dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

A story about a fierce, obsessive love that feels believable. I see the comparisons to Gaiman and the feel of the story as far as having a scrim of unreality over the real world, with a battle against something malevolent and supposedly Christian but also ancient was reminiscent of Stephen King, but Dimaline is doing her own thing within that type of horror. The thing that was the hook for me and that held the whole thing together was the community and family aspect - it's not a sanitized version of the perfect happy community; these are people who are just themselves and hurt each other and fight and have what may be described as "earthy" senses of humor, and they know that life is awful sometimes and that familial and romantic love is complicated, and they show up for each other. Their rituals work because they believe and trust in their ancestral knowledge, and to see it reduced in the revival tent as "praying to animals", preached by someone whose soul has been compromised and kidnapped, was very chilling. The pacing is tense and stressful, even though I was immersed in the story I would avoid picking up the book because I was afraid of what would happen to the characters, because Dimaline guarantees no safety for anyone (and in fact the ending bears this out... will there be another book in this world?). I do think that the portions written from the perspective of Heiser and Celine feel much more hollow and stereotyped but I also think that this is because their lives are hollow and following a stereotype? 
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