Review Detail

Thank you to Harper Collins / Balzer + Bray for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

REVENGE AND THE WILD has an incredibly fascinating premise, and I knew I was going to be in for a ride once I started reading. This novel follows the story of Westie, who is a fearless main character who will go to the ends of the Earth to find and kill the cannibals who killed her family.

Modesto does a fantastic job with world-building and characterization of Westie and the other characters of Alistair, James, and my ultimate favorite character, Costin. I absolutely adored the fact that Westie was so badass and determined to catch the people who killed her family; we can’t forget her amazing metal arm (hence the steampunk theme in the novel) which can basically kill anything. (Doesn’t the arm remind you of Bucky Barnes?)

To add on, let’s talk about the amazing mashup of young adult genres! Modesto includes themes of magic, supernatural, fantasy, western, historical, adventure, and probably some more that I haven’t thought of. It’s so freaking amazing how Modesto was able to capture all these aspects of each genre, and if you’re worried about whether it affects the reading experience, it doesn’t. It only heightens it. And the plot twist at the end! Oh my goodness. It was so freaking good.

TW// rape: On the other hand, the only aspect of this novel that made this a 4.5 star novel instead of a 5 star one was the normalcy and prevalence of rape culture. I understand that many books want to make the world-building realistic and common, but it was more the little mentions and aspects of normalcy of how “boys will be boys,” etc. that really irked me.

Nonetheless, I wholeheartedly enjoyed this novel, which was complete with a badass main character, a wonderfully-crafted plot and characters, and fantastic world-building. Definitely add this book to your TBR! It’s not a book you want to miss out on.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars