Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > Wilderness Reform

The Query brothers love layers: Layers of meaning to their book titles, to names, to themes, to characters, and more. Maybe that’s Harrinson’s influence from being a screenplay writer? Who knows. All I know is that the layered meanings in their books is one reason why I absolutely love a Query brothers book. The other reason comes down entirely to the influence of Matt Query on the plot, worldbuilding, and writing: His depth and breadth of knowledge concerning wilderness and nature makes these books not only breathtakingly imagined, but wholly realistic in their scale and terror. When I was reading this book I absolutely knew I wasn’t reading an exaggeration of how dangerous or beautiful the Northern Rockies are, because I bet Matt Query backpacked those mountains before he and Harrison wrote this book (heck, they both might have).

A huge theme in this book is how adults not acting as they should, caring for the children in their communities and fostering their talents, leads to them having to scramble to make their own way in the world and run wild. That’s how our main character, Ben, gets sent to wilderness reform camp for the summer. It’s there where he finds adults are the same everywhere: they’re not truly invested in what’s best for the kids. They’re invested in what’s in it for them. So Ben has no choice but to make his own way and hopefully save a few other souls while he can.

I was really invested in the plot of this book and I actually love the Query way of slow-burn horror. The horror of it all is always made clear pretty early on–it’s just the intensity of the horror that keeps ratcheting up, and it gets so much worse as time goes on. The main issue I had with this book was the narrative style. It was a little too clunky for me, sometimes abruptly switching from third-person omniscient to third-person limited to head jumping. I still highly recommend it, but just be aware of the narrative.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Coming of Age/Horror/Supernatural Horror