Book Review: The Dark Wild by Piers Torsday (The Last Wild #2)

 

Been a while since I read book one. Let's continue with this series. Spoilers ahead.

Note: I was unable to write a proper review for book one as I was sick when I read it. But I did like it, just not a whole lot. Just as some context going in. I may re-read book one for a review at some point, I may not. 

Kester, the boy who can talk to animals, continues his journey in this book as he goes to look for his friend Polly, who has a special item that would be the answer to all their problems. On his journey he comes across an underground rebellion of surviving animals who are dead-set on taking over the surface world and killing all humans standing in their way. 

This book just had me pretty much hooked from start to finish. I don't know how it it did so because it isn't a particularly standout book to me, the story is interesting but a bit basic and the characters are also pretty simple yet effective. But it just works. I was just so into following Kester on his journey to find the Iris and stop Stone and Dagger.

So yeah, like I said this story does have pretty simple concepts and characters in it. We've all heard of the hero who doubts himself, or the "animals rise up against humans" type of story. But this book, despite having simple elements and familiar tropes from time to time, just makes it work. I really found Kester to be a great protagonist to follow. He's flawed and shy, but also has a strong moral compass and will do what is right even if it is hard. That's an admirable main character to follow.

The baddies are also really effective at being baddies, from Skuldiss to Stone to Dagger the dog with metal teeth. These characters legit feel like threats that shouldn't be underestimated.

If I do have a critique for this book, it's that the author could've done more research into taxidermy. At one point there's a scene where Kester gets to witness a character taxidermizing a squirrel, and it's just not done how it goes in real life at all. The skinning is made to look way too easy, they don't even bother tanning the skin, they instantly wrap the skin around the manikin and put in some glass eyes and call it a day. And all of this takes up a few mere minutes in-universe. Yeah...that's just not how taxidermy works. It is a long and detailed process, not just something done in a couple of minutes while skipping important steps. I'm not expert on taxidermy by any means, but I have done it four times as a hobbyist (including having worked on a squirrel myself) under the guidance of an actual taxidermist, and the way taxidermy was described in the book was just ridiculously oversimplified and rushed. 

Ah well, otherwise I greatly enjoyed this book. I look forward to the finale in the third book. 

Rating: 4.5/5