Reeling from the negative effects of humankind on the planet, the spirit of the Earth has become corrupted. Imbalance reigns supreme across every spectrum and “Mother Nature” is left with no choice but to react with extreme prejudice. On one of her many trips into the deep forest, Viola finds a special place that opens the door to this reality. What the budding teenager discovers is another world where the word “magic” takes on a new dimension.
Plot
Wild As The Wind is a unique young adult fantasy book in that it focuses just as much on the personal issues of the characters as the big world issues. This is a fun facet of the book, but it also significantly slowed down the pacing for a book that was already fairly long. For example, much of the first 20% of the book is focused on Viola and her brother living their everyday life and Viola discovering her love for soccer. However, once the magical world is introduced, I felt more engaged with the story and reading went faster.
Characters
This book has a large cast for being for the first book in a Young Adult series. Many of Viola and Sebastian’s friends, acquaintances, and foil characters are introduced, as well as multiple family members. I do believe there were characters that could have been condensed but they could play a larger role in later novels. Additionally, the teenage character’s dialogue didn’t sound as natural as I would have expected for a book in this age group.
Setting
The author did a great job with the description in this story. Since so much of the plot focuses on nature and human’s relationship with nature, it only makes sense that so much of the imagery would focus on the natural elements in the characters’ environments. The magical world Viola discovers is also exciting and well developed However, since this is a portal fantasy novel, we didn’t get to spend as much time in the magical world as I would have liked.
My Recommendation
Wild as the Wind is the first book in the A Pendale Tale triology. This book sets up a great concept and some unique aspects amoung others in this series. The plot did move slower than I expected and it felt that many of the characters could have been condensed to make the story telling more efficient. The author does a great job with his descriptions and the magical world devleoped was well done as well!
