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A review by alexiacambaling
The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg
3.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and 47 North!
The Will and the Wilds is kind of a Beauty and the Beast type of story without the kidnapping and Stockholm Syndrome. It’s about a girl, Enna, who’s haunted by mystings, the strange creatures who come from a different world called The Deep. She has something that they want so her and her disabled father’s life are in pretty constant danger since they live in the wildwoods where apparently a lot of mystings appear. To combat this, Enna summons a mysting named Maekallus to dispose of the mysting trying to kill her. His price? A kiss which can steal her soul.
The Will and the Wilds has a lot of interesting ideas. It’s a standalone book which has a smaller scope, which I think worked in some ways but really could have been expanded further. It has sparse world-building, which I guess does makes sense considering the scope, but I did wish it was expanded further.
While the world- as in the world which Enna lives in- wasn’t described in detail, The Deep kind of is. The world-building in this book was very focused on the mystings, the creatures who cross The Deep into the mortal world. It did make sense for the world-building to be more focused on that aspect because of the plot, I still wish we got a better sense of the world Enna lived in. I wanted to know more about it, especially in light of her desire to be a scholar.
Speaking of which, I thought that her dreams and ambitions got a little sidelined. Like, why did she want to be a scholar? Please give me more besides her consulting her grandmother’s notebook. Sometimes, there would be some passing reference to her wanting to go to the library or talking about scholars, but the narrative kept its focus on the romance. I also wanted more on the concept of souls. Like, what is the nature of souls in this world? Why don’t mystings have souls?
The villain was also practically a non-entity in this book. They get mentioned but don’t really appear until like, the last moment so it wasn’t as strong as it could have been. I didn’t feel the urgency in defeating the villain- the only urgency I felt was regarding Enna’s soul and Maekallus’ stay in the mortal realm. The conflict felt like it took a backseat to the romance.
As for the romance, I did like it. It was very Beauty and the Beast, only the one “captured” would be Maekallus who needs Enna to survive. The romance was a bit of a slow-burn and developed throughout the course of the book. There’s a subplot involving a village boy which kind of went nowhere and I wish was better executed, but it’s okay. I consider this more of a fantasy romance so I’m glad to see that the book does have a Happy Ever After.
Overall, I thought The Will and the Wilds was good. A bit of a mixed bag, yes, but still good overall. I can recommend it if you like smaller-scope fantasy with romance.
This review is also on The Bookworm Daydreamer
The Will and the Wilds is kind of a Beauty and the Beast type of story without the kidnapping and Stockholm Syndrome. It’s about a girl, Enna, who’s haunted by mystings, the strange creatures who come from a different world called The Deep. She has something that they want so her and her disabled father’s life are in pretty constant danger since they live in the wildwoods where apparently a lot of mystings appear. To combat this, Enna summons a mysting named Maekallus to dispose of the mysting trying to kill her. His price? A kiss which can steal her soul.
The Will and the Wilds has a lot of interesting ideas. It’s a standalone book which has a smaller scope, which I think worked in some ways but really could have been expanded further. It has sparse world-building, which I guess does makes sense considering the scope, but I did wish it was expanded further.
While the world- as in the world which Enna lives in- wasn’t described in detail, The Deep kind of is. The world-building in this book was very focused on the mystings, the creatures who cross The Deep into the mortal world. It did make sense for the world-building to be more focused on that aspect because of the plot, I still wish we got a better sense of the world Enna lived in. I wanted to know more about it, especially in light of her desire to be a scholar.
Speaking of which, I thought that her dreams and ambitions got a little sidelined. Like, why did she want to be a scholar? Please give me more besides her consulting her grandmother’s notebook. Sometimes, there would be some passing reference to her wanting to go to the library or talking about scholars, but the narrative kept its focus on the romance. I also wanted more on the concept of souls. Like, what is the nature of souls in this world? Why don’t mystings have souls?
The villain was also practically a non-entity in this book. They get mentioned but don’t really appear until like, the last moment so it wasn’t as strong as it could have been. I didn’t feel the urgency in defeating the villain- the only urgency I felt was regarding Enna’s soul and Maekallus’ stay in the mortal realm. The conflict felt like it took a backseat to the romance.
As for the romance, I did like it. It was very Beauty and the Beast, only the one “captured” would be Maekallus who needs Enna to survive. The romance was a bit of a slow-burn and developed throughout the course of the book. There’s a subplot involving a village boy which kind of went nowhere and I wish was better executed, but it’s okay. I consider this more of a fantasy romance so I’m glad to see that the book does have a Happy Ever After.
Overall, I thought The Will and the Wilds was good. A bit of a mixed bag, yes, but still good overall. I can recommend it if you like smaller-scope fantasy with romance.
This review is also on The Bookworm Daydreamer