Walk the Wild with Me

I’ll have to agree with those that rated this book 3 stars.

Why?
Well, the book was slow to start. Then it felt slow towards the middle. Then boom, last 20 pages in the book went through the rising action and climax in a blur. The plot hardly resolved itself and the end was abrupt and made a poor attempt at being heart warming. I’m honestly glad where Nick decided to go. Although it was slow, I honestly found the slice of life at the monastery between Nick and Hilde to be relaxing. Then of course we have the wild folk interactions with the adventure that felt thrown in randomly. It felt like a desperate attempt to remind the readers that yes, this is in-fact a fantasy novel with magic and fairies and pagan deities. The action felt more like unnecessary filler than anything important. Lastly, the characters. There were very few characters in this book that I felt a connection to, or had any feelings towards them. Nick felt like some child plopped into the hands of a few deities. He didn’t really do much else. I found myself more interested in Hilde’s story than the whole book. I feel as though Atwood did not put much effort into making me root for these character, or care for them for that matter. That said and minor spoiler, some character deaths did feel like unnecessary filler. Honestly, nobody had to die and the plot to remain unchanged. That being said, I picked up this book because I saw Herne was in it. He was not a major character in the plot at all, he was mostly in the background complaining over nonsense. He felt the most strayed from his original lore, being a huntsman of a king who nearly died to a wild stag. A sorcerer saves his life by mending the antlers of the stag to his own head. Upon his return to the court his mates reject and bully him into hanging himself from an oak tree. He was once a renowned hunter with a story of hardship lost to his own depression, and Atwood takes this lore and crumples it up and tosses it in the bin. She made him into a whining man child. She states at the start of her book in her acknowledgment that she references many upon many folklore to bring about the characters of the Wildwood to their most original form. If this is true, I’d like to see her sources for Herne.

Besides these critiques, I did find himself enjoying the slice of life at the monastery between Nick and Hilde. It was well written and it often felt like I was at the monastery with Nick and Hilde. This was not true for the forest, which felt necessary for a wildwood fantasy. I enjoyed her writing style as well, I didn’t find it hard to read as I often do with many authors.

I rate this a 3 out of 5 stars.