“The birds are singing… I’m here to stay.”
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: N/A, it’s clean
Content Warning: It revolves around parental abandonment, but also includes car accident, pregnancy, and injury details.
“The Wilderwomen” follows, well, the Wilder women—Nora, and her daughters, Zadie and Finn. Well, it mostly follow Zadie and Finn, as Nora has been missing for the last 5 years. But Zadie and Finn aren’t your normal 23- and 17-year-olds, respectively—they’re somewhat magical. Zadie can see the future (of sorts), while Finn can relive other people’s memories, something they call “echoes”. So when, after being missing for so long, Finn can sense an echo from their mom, she convinces Zadie to go on a roadtrip, as she’s sure Nora wants to be found.
I feel like I could’ve enjoyed this book more at another point in my life. For instance, a year ago, I loved reading some nonsensical magical realism (I’ll blame it on me rewatching Jane The Virgin), but right now it just didn’t resonate with me.
Don’t get me wrong, “The Wilderwomen” is exceptionally well-written, and will keep you hooked, I just felt like I wasn’t fulfilled after reading this book.
Zadie and Finn are very likable characters, but I couldn’t care less about Nora, so I was just annoyed half the time. I liked the Sixes, the people who have a sixth sense, that they met in their roadtrip. I loved loved loved the writing. I just didn’t love the story as a whole.
I would recommend this book to readers looking for an escape, a magical read that’ll make you question if you’re the sane one or if magic is really real. If you’ve enjoyed other magical realism reads like “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by T.J. Klune or “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig (which also has a character named Nora, lol), then you’ll love “The Wilderwomen”.
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ARC provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.
andrea's galley 