Wilder Country

by Mark Smith

A devastating virus has left few alive. Finn, Kas and Willow must evade capture by Ramage's dangerous gang, and try to protect the valley. Finn knows it's really the girls protecting them from danger.

• ISBN10: 1925498530
• ISBN13: 9781925498530
• Publish Date: 28 August 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Publisher: Text Publishing
• Imprint: The Text Publishing Company
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 1
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sarah Says]

The lovely people at Text Publishing sent me a copy of Wilder Country and I’d hung off reading it as I had intended to purchase and read the first book first. Time was dragging on and ultimately, I decided to give this book a go without reading the first one. I’ve started other series with the second book in the past (by accident), loved them, and gone onto to read the rest of the series with no ill effect. While it was easy enough to pick up the pivotal events of The Road to Winter thanks to the aftermath of them in this book. I did struggle to form an emotional attachment to the characters. I am positive that this is because I’d missed all the character background and relationship set up from the first book. I really enjoyed the writing and the plot of this plausible dystopian world Smith has created and am looking forward to reading the third and final book, The Land of Fences.

At the start of the book we get a snapshot of what life has been like in the abandoned coastal town of Angowrie for Finn, Kas, Willow and Rowdy over winter. Through Finns narrative we get a little bit of a recap of how ‘The Virus’ killed practically everyone in Finns part of the world and all services went down (electricity etc.) and how everything descended into chaos with a vicious gang trying to rule over all that remains. Finn, Kas and Willow then set out just as winter is ending to check on Ray, Willow’s parents and track down and rescue Rose (Kas’s niece). What follows is a whole bunch of action packed high stakes drama.

Even though the plot, the landscape, the action/emotional scenes and character interactions were all top notch, I think my enjoyment was hindered by not reading the first book. Multiple times while I was reading this story (whenever Finn mentioned the previous winters), I found myself thinking ‘I wish I’d been with Finn through those winters and followed his growth’. And I would have, had I read the first book.

Wilder Country is a story of survival. A story of keeping promises. Do yourself a favour and go and read the The Road to Winter First, then come back and read this one.

[Kelly]

The desolate winter brought reprieve from the noxious, violent men who meander the barren Australian coastline. To survive, Finn, Kashmala and Willow depart Angowrie in search of Hope, abducted from her dying mother. Rose and Kashmala are refugees. Arriving in Australia as children, adults are placed within detention facilities, children and adolescents denied an education and placed in servitude. Contamination decimated Australia, survival communities ensuring democracy and liberation while Ramage intends retribution.

In Wilder Country, Kashmala and Finn journey the dangerous, forsaken landscape pursuing Hope, literally and figuratively, while avoiding capture. Finn is a character enduring tremendous growth. Rose and now Kashmala both revealing the plight of asylum seekers within Australia as the remorseless, misogynistic Wilder men claim ownership of surviving females. The premise of the Winter series is survival and the triumph against adversity, compelling characters and the balance of morality. Wonderfully written with a strong social conscious.