Reviews and Comments

Firstly a quick warning that this isn't an entire story in itself, but the first half of a story that concludes somewhat ambiguously in the second book "Wolf Logic". I hope there will be a third on as while the main story wrapped up at the end of the second book I feel there were still quite a lot of loose ends.

I really liked the reversal of the usual chosen one narrative, that what makes the heroine Gia special in a magical family is her lack of magical powers, and it is this, not suddenly developing some magical ability, that allows her to become the hero by infiltrating the anti-magical organisation. If she does have a superpower it's likely to be her ability to accept and empathise with those different enough that many others don't. Magical ability is used effectively as a metaphor for neurodiversity or disability, and I also really enjoyed the melting pop of different folklore traditions the world building allows, with the central set up being that magical creatures were oppressed or eradicated in Europe and north America, and the survivors found refuge in a somewhat tolerant south Africa.

This was a fascinating book and very different from what I was expecting. For a start it's a historical novel set in the real world, in which ancient curses work and characters are visited by visions of their ancestors and deities, but it's far too realistic to be classified as magical realism. Perhaps because they are based on real figures, characters are complex and don't fall into neat narrative categories. Don Alonso is a harsh domestic tyrant who came closest of any of the conquistadors to recognise the humanity of the people he ruled over. Catalina struggles to reconcile the two sides of her heritage as a descendant of both colonisers and the people they almost eradicated, makes mistakes and occasional selfish decisions, often as a result of the way the society in which she is raised denies women agency.

I initially thought the book was leaning into the historical fiction trope of the love triangle, which then became a love square I suppose as another eligible male candidate presented himself, but refreshingly this then took a very unexpected turn and none of the characters behaved in stereotypical ways. Peoples' reactions to events felt very flawed and real. For me I think part of the appeal of fiction is that in a harsh and unfair world we can imagine things being better, and for that reason I found it a little unsatisfying how often sad situations occurred and close relationships were not mended because people couldn't trust and open up to one another, but that undeniably adds to the realism. It was refreshing too to see a more realistic depiction of people experiencing guilt, trauma and acquiring disabilities as a result of awful events, rather than carrying on as so often happens in escapist fiction.

I wanted to give this five stars - it's beautifully written, the worldbuilding is incredible and is incredibly fresh and imaginative where so much fantasy feels derivative, while still feeling grounded and believable. The narrative device of telling the three separate stories and only slowly revealing the clues to how they connect was incredibly well executed.

But while I couldn't put this down and tear myself away from the next twist or revelation, I realised I wasn't actually enjoying reading it that much. The story starts with the murder of a child and if anything only gets heavier from there. The book is an examination of what can drive someone to keep going when everything and everyone they love is taken from them again and again, and how they can continue living with themselves when they have been forced to do horrific things to survive. It's an incredible book, but not one I want to read again.

TW for self harm, suicidality, involuntary hospitalisation, child sexual and physical abuse, parental drug abuse and animal torture.

As a white person teaching bushcraft I'm going to start out by saying I picked this book up primarily to learn more about the different barriers people of colour face enjoying the outdoors, and no more than about half of the book directly relates to hiking the Appalachian Trail with the rest focused on her extremely difficult childhood and struggles with a racist society. It's not that I'm not concerned about that, but as a British person there's not a lot useful I can do about it unlike the peoples' experiences hiking, so the book was perhaps quite as relevant to me as I had hoped. It should also be noted that this book discusses some potentially very triggering issues the author has faced, some in considerable detail.

That being said it becomes required for outdoor professionals about half way in, when her experiences of her treatment as a hiker start to become very different from my own. I've always found travelling on foot to bring out kindness and a desire to help from the people I meet on the way, but always had an uneasy suspicion this might not have been the same if I had looked different from them, and this rather confirms it. Instead of the kindness of strangers she experienced "trail angels" (people offering lifts or snacks) failing to materialise, unwelcoming hostels with dog whistle racist posters, and a white man offering her a ride and a bed for the night then trying to threaten her into sex. She was racially abused by other patrons an a hostel and that was actually one of the more positive stories as at least the hostel management threw them out afterwards. She delivers an important critique of the white hiking community for tolerating this, leaving positive reviews for hostels and communities that are welcoming to them but turning a blind eye to them being dangerous for others. Even her final triumph summiting Katahdin was marred by the racist objectification she received in the bar where she went to celebrate afterwards.

I would have liked to read a little more about the barriers she faced to beginning her hike in the first place. She received a barrage of racist abuse in a Facebook group for asking for recommendations on hiking while Black, and was sponsored on her hike by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy after an employee of Middle Eastern heritage spotted this and empathised. She mentions that her pack weighed 11kg so she was presumably sponsored with some lightweight gear, I would have liked to read a bit about the challenges of acquiring expensive high performance equipment without sponsorship.

Overall if you're looking for a book about finding your place in the world through time in nature after the sort of childhood that's sadly probably not that unusual for a Black lesbian in a racist society, this is beautifully written and inspiring. This is an important read for anyone concerned about issues of racism in the outdoors, and a vital eyeopener for those whose experiences have been very different from hers, but sadly the people who most need to read it are unlikely to be the ones who do.

Is anyone else getting rather frustrated by the amount of superfluous detail in these books? If the author cut out all the architectural details of every single building Peter Grant goes into and the precise description including exact shade of every item everyone he meets is wearing the book would probably be about two thirds of the length, and this seems to be getting worse as the series progresses not better. It almost feels like he's trying to make up a word count, and particularly in this book I found it made it harder to follow the story, as well as occasionally disrupting the pacing - a dramatic scene where someone is shot is interrupted by a detailed discussion of the consequences of gunshot wounds for example. This is a shame because I've generally enjoyed the series and this book introduces some interesting new ideas and characters and ties up some loose threads, but I found it very difficult to stay focussed on the story.