WILDly

WILDly

T. Swanpoel

Fantasy, sci-fi

180 pages

Teen

Warnings: Violence

When moving into her varsity dorm, university for all of us American readers, a mysterious man named Duncan awakens something in Valerie that she didn't know she possessed. She now has a great connection to the Earth and Duncan and her new friend at varsity, Alex, are fighting for it. Valerie has to decide what side is good and help fight in a battle to defeat the other one.

Writing Style: 4/10

The style wasn't terrible, but the were a few things were very problematic with it. First of all, you're just thrown into this world without learning anything about the characters. I also have no idea where this is supposed to be set. I don't have any issue with it being set in a different country (probably where the author is from), but it helps me engage in the story, particularly when I need to realize that their slang is different than ours, such as varsity meaning university. In addition, I couldn't there were words that seemed out of place, as in they were too advanced for the writing. Occasionally, a word I had never heard was thrust upon me and I have a feeling that I wasn't the only one who was confused and trying to figure out what was going on. Finally, there were a number of spelling and grammar mistakes. It wasn't anything so bad that it made it unreadable, but it was enough to warrant suggesting a proof reader.

Plot: 8/10

The plot was very good. Valerie starts not knowing of her connection. She's just a normal girl that is going to varsity and is hoping to have some fun. Everything quickly begins changing and the plot is fast paced. Between trying to determine which side is the one Valerie needs to align herself with and then how to make her powers stronger to fight the other side, there's always something to keep you enthralled.

Originality: 9/10

The connection to a celestial body isn't exactly a new idea, but the way Swanpoel went about it was original. This was a facet of this alternate version of our universe that had to be thought about very carefully and be fleshed out. Not only do Valerie and the some of the other characters have a connection to a planet, star or other celestial body in our galaxy, but they have powers associated with it also. Some of these powers are dependant on their connection, Valerie can change the weather based on her moods, and some are based on just the fact that they have a connection at all, such as healing. This combined with a hierarchy and a ruling class makes for a very original story.

Enjoyability: 6/10

As much as I loved the plot and the originality, there was a major problem with the enjoyability. It's too fast paced. There's never really any downtime to get to know the characters. It's only a few pages in before Valerie meets Duncan and her awakens her connection. She then wakes up in a hospital and feels as though there's something wrong with the nurse and escapes. At no point during any of this do we really learn anything about Valerie, other than she's adopted. This continues throughout the entire book. There's not a lot of interaction that not based strictly around the issues at hand and I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters at the end. I feel like not thrusting us into the world of danger so quickly or taking a step back at some point and allowing Valerie and her varsity friends, Lisa, Alex and Jennifer, some time to get to know each other and their interests would have helped immensely. Even just some time with some of the other, more elusive characters like Benjamin or Duncan would have made it easier to get attached to Valerie.

End- 4/10

I really felt as though I had to come down hard on the end. I have no idea what happened. Three characters could have died and I have no idea if any of them did or not, although I have my suspicions. There was a twist that I did like and that brought the score up a little bit, but it was just too muddled and there was no real wrapping up. I feel like some closure in a story is necessary and there wasn't any in this.

Overall- 31/50

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