Katherine Silva

I received an e-Galley ARC of The Wild Dark (Bk 1 of The Wild Oblivion), authored by Katherine Silva from Strange Wilds Press, for review consideration. Cover photos: Clément M., Sasha Freemind and Gauravdeep Singh Bansal/Unsplash. Cover design: Katherine Silva. Edited: Brenna Bailey-Davies. What follows below is my honest review freely given.

I rated this novel 4 stars. Where we go, or what happens to us when we die, has been a question asked over again and again, countless answers abound. How tantalizingly fearsome and just shy of impossible to grasp when you have a title such as The Wild Dark that touches on the subject.

I’d like to start off by stating how pleased I am to know there at least one more book planned. My mind at the end of this was exploded like a popped biscuit tube just a little bit from my trying to fit all the questions I had, not that I am complaining, the opposite in fact. It begins as all stories do, with the reader being brought in by the first words written down, in this case we are by the MC’s side as she gets spooked; so thrown right into the deep end, excellent (cue Mr. Burns meme).

We know what the MC knows, even less in some areas because she would shy away from a memory at times, leaving the reader aware piecemeal of this tragic event that is haunting her. Other times there would be whole chapters giving us insight to this understood turning point, which I found myself eating up, wondering how they tied into the current time chapters. I also couldn’t help but wonder who, if anyone, would appear to me if this event were to happen right now, and how I would feel about it either way?

There were some parts that felt too convenient for how everything came together, usually in just how the characters that needed to be around for the MC to interact with always seemed to be easily found plot wise. A lot of her confusion relied on her isolation during varies times in the novel, while this monumental and devastating event took place. So basic things would have been rendered moot: cell phone coverage being just one of them. But between cities the people she most would benefit from running into, she somehow manages to over and again. A little thing, but noticeable. The scenes in the forest, those have me filled with questions. Things began to move at a faster pace, as they often do, towards the end. They also seemed to go a bit sideways, more than they were already, which has me looking forward to book two.… (mehr)