Empire of Wild

312 pages

English language

Published Oct. 10, 2019 by Random House of Canada.

ISBN:
978-0-7352-7718-2
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4 stars (5 reviews)

Broken-hearted Joan has been searching for her husband, Victor, for almost a year--ever since he went missing on the night they had their first serious argument. One terrible, hungover morning in a Walmart parking lot in a little town near Georgian Bay, she is drawn to a revival tent where the local Métis have been flocking to hear a charismatic preacher named Eugene Wolff. By the time she staggers into the tent, the service is over. But as she is about to leave, she hears an unmistakable voice.

She turns, and there Victor is. The same face, the same eyes, the same hands. But his hair is short and he's wearing a suit and he doesn't recognize her at all. No, he insists, she's the one suffering a delusion: he's the Reverend Wolff and his only mission is to bring his people to Jesus. Except that, as Joan soon discovers, …

7 editions

Review of 'Empire of Wild' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is maybe a 3.5 rounded up. I had a good time, and I thought the ending was pretty strong.

I love when I can read some magical realism or fantasy that brings in the mythology, folklore, history etc. of another culture, so that was a big plus here.

This was the author’s first adult novel, and I feel like it shows. There’s a level of simplicity to the themes and the writing that feels more YA. Joan herself felt adult enough for me to be engaged, though. And there’s some sexually explicit content making it adult - it almost felt like some of that was included to make it an adult book, which was a bit odd.

I loved the use of the traveling revival tent and the way it highlighted the way Christianity can be weaponized, especially against Indigenous peoples.

I had a really good time, the stakes …

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5 stars