A History of Wild Places Review

A History of Wild Places disappointed me. I had high hopes for it because I’ve enjoyed the rest of Shea Ernshaw’s work. But this just didn’t work for me, so let’s talk about it.

Travis Wren can find lost people. He has an unusual gift that lets him see the last places someone has been through one of their possessions. The family of renowned author, Maggie St. James hires him as a last-ditch effort to find their daughter. This leads him to the community of Pastoral-a commune founded in the 1970s. Years later, Theo, a lifetime member of Pastoral, finds Travis’s truck outside of the community and this leads to the unraveling of the world he thought he knew.

My Thoughts on A History of Wild Places

So here’s the thing. I loved A History of Wild Places to start with. Travis’s gift was interesting, and I love a good missing person story. I loved his determination and I loved seeing the events from his perspective. But then he goes missing and everything changes.

After Travis goes missing the story is picked up from Theo, Calla, and Bee’s perspectives. They’re all members of Pastoral, so it paints a good picture of what life in the commune is like. Even during the shift of perspective, I was really enjoying the book. I loved the forest setting and learning about the commune, but then things seemed to get off track.

I’m not going to spoil anything so this next part will be vague. But something happens in the story, and I immediately knew the turn it was taking. And I spent the whole book thinking no surely not. But I was right.

From that point I was like well maybe it will be worked out in an interesting way. But it wasn’t. Everything felt forced. Plus, the part I was interested in the most, Travis’s gift, was hardly mentioned in the rest of the book.

A History of Wild Places had a lot of good things going for it. But in the end, I just didn’t like the way it unfolded. I’m so sad that this one didn’t work for me.

My Rating: 2/5

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