Revenge and the Wild

by Michelle Modesto

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
I have some mixed feelings about this one. I will fully admit that the cover will go firmly into the "good" section, because look at it. But alas, we aren't here for that. I'd say that I liked this more than I didn't like it, but I did have some pretty sizable issues.

The Good Stuff

So, the characters in the book were pretty fabulous. They'd all suffered a lot, because this world basically sucked. Westie, the main character, had a mechanical arm because people tried to freaking eat her. Yeah, and succeed in eating her arm. And oh yes, her family. Messed up as that is, it was intriguing for sure and is a positive. Now, not only did I love Westie, but I loved the entire cast of supporting characters. Or hated them with a fiery passion, depending on the character in question. At any rate, I was definitely invested in their stories!

There's also a lot of adventurous plot happening as Westie plans her revenge (in the wild, no less, how about that?). Well, plan is maybe not the right word, because Westie just basically reacts to stuff without thinking anything through, so most of the time she's either trying to prove herself, or trying not to die. Or be eaten. Again.

The Not as Good Stuff

See, cannibals aren't the only creatures roaming the west. No, there are vampires, and magical Native Americans, and trolls, and a bunch of others that I am probably not remembering perfectly at all. I just don't know that they were all necessary? I mean, sure, the cannibals, because they are what threw the whole story into motion. But vampires and trolls (and elves, I think, maybe)? I just didn't really get why they were all involved. There wasn't really a good enough explanation for me to buy it. And there's a lot of different plot stuff happening too. There's political stuff, there's some issues with alcohol abuse, and survival, and wagon trails which makes me think of like, The Oregon Trail circa 1848. Which maybe it was supposed to, but I didn't really know, which brings me to the next issue.

I didn't really understand the world. I guess it was supposed to be historical, technically? But since there were mechanical arms and vampires and no real clues on what the actual time period was, I just kind of surmised the historical part from tags on Goodreads, so that's super professional.

I feel like maybe it all could have worked if there was time to build the world and the backstory and really introduce all the subplots and characters, but it just felt like a very brief overview of a lot of topics, and took away from the main story.

Bottom Line: It was entertaining and I enjoyed the characters, but some of the potential fizzled with plot and character overload and not enough pages to flesh it all out. Still, I was definitely invested enough to want to know how the story ended.

*Copy provided by publisher for review