I'm trying to process my feelings for this book. It started out as a strong four star. But it ended up going to a two star rating for me. Which makes me very sad. But it has to be so. At first I loved the writing. But then that started to annoy me a little, as there were several things that did not make sense, and that was distracting.
What I did love, however, was the setting of this story. I so loved that it took place in the past, late 1700 something. I loved that it took place in a village in a forest. This didn't have a modern feel, and I very much enjoyed that. I love stories with settings like this. Felt very mysterious at first, with dangerous creatures outside in the forest, beyond the village's warding stones that are keeping them safe. I liked that this book started with a peek of the history of this place, when the guy arrived at this place over a hundred years before. It was both exciting and a little gruesome. Made me more excited for it all. Which is why I am so sad that it ended up disappointing me so much. Sigh. I really wanted to love this precious book. But some things got to be too much for me.
This takes place in the small village of Mistaken. It tells the story of Greer. She is twenty-seven years old, though, if I'm going to be honest, I very much felt like she was sixteen. She wasn't very wise or smart. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or not. It's an adult book. But it felt very young adult to me. And yet, that is what I love, haha. So I didn't really mind it at all. But it would have been better to me if she had actually been younger, as she really seemed like she was. But even so. I did like her and I did not mind her age.
We get to know so much about Greer and her life. Her father is the owner of the mill in this town, and he makes more money than the rest of them. So Greer have had a good life. Her mother died seven years ago. She is not close to her dad. She had a sort of adoptive grandma, whom I adored, but we saw too little of her. She had a best friend, whom we also saw way too little about. They had an argument in the beginning that I did not like. And I felt like Greer was in the wrong for this, and she did not make it right.
Greer had always been different from the others in her village. She could hear almost everything. As in, she had super hearing. Which I found to be so interesting and I loved reading about those parts. It was fascinating and I loved that part of her. She also had the love of her life, Ellis. They had been together since they were young. And they were very much in love. I found their romance to be a little weird, and yet fully adorable as well. I loved that they were already together. And that they wanted to stay that way.
But this was not meant to be, according to her father. He wanted more for his daughter, as Ellis was not good enough for him. In this small place, they did not have enough girls when the first people arrived in the country. And so they made up the hunt. Every seven years girls above sixteen would hide in the forest and the men would hunt them. The girl they found they would marry. I found this all kinds of disturbing, to be honest. It was so creepy and wrong. Yet Greer did not think so. She was so excited for Ellis to find her.
But her dad ruined things. Greer was hiding, waiting for Ellis to find and claim her. She fell asleep in the tree for the whole day. That made no sense to me, honestly. Ellis never came. She left the tree and found him leaving the warding stones right before sunset, and not being thrown back. The town was protected by warding stones around the entire village. It kept the bright-eyeds away. It also meant they could never leave, not after sunset. The stones always dragged them back again. But not this time. Ellis disappeared.
And Greer was claimed by someone else. This disgusting man whom I hated with a passion. I wish he had not been included. It was just so annoying and I did not like it one bit. No one wants to go looking for Ellis. Greer is kept captive until the weddings the day after. Then she figures out a way to escape, after she learns some truths about how she can get past the stones safely. She sets out alone to find Ellis and bring him back home, so they can begin their life. She was all kinds of naive at first, before she learned.
I did like reading about Greer out in the forest. It was pretty thrilling to read about her out there exploring and making bad choices. But then she met a stranger named Finn. This is when the book went downhill for me. And how it made everything annoying to me, how it just simply changed how I looked at things. At first Greer does not like this stranger at all. She is scared of him and does not trust him. Well, that lasted for a few hours until she learned he knew her mom. And that they had some other weird connection too.
I'm not going to spoil this connection they had, but it was different and a little weird. I hated how she went from not liking this person, to suddenly acting like she was in love with him. She cheated on Ellis. Sure, it was just in a dream. I guess. It was a very realistic dream and she went all the way in it with this stranger. And I hated it with every part of my body. Sure, Finn could have been an interesting character and I could have enjoyed them getting to know each other. But Greer was with Ellis. They loved each other the most.
But no. Instead she is in the forest cheating on him with this guy she just met moments ago. I did not care for it at all. And ugh. Sorry for the spoilers. It is just bothering me so very much. I would definitely call it a love triangle. I saw someone say she would not have behaved this way if she was fully herself. And sure, I guess I agree with that. But I still hated it. I still do not forgive her. This book would have been amazing without adding that. It was not something for me. And I'm sad to say it ruined the rest of the book for me.
Which is why it ended up as a two star for me. But the story was interesting and exciting. I liked learning more about the bright-eyeds. What type of monster they were. How Greer was connected to them. All the secrets of her past. It was pretty great to read about. But that stupid romance thing ruined it all. I just can't get past it. I loved that Greer was looking for Ellis. I hated that she cheated on him with Finn. I liked all of the secrets. I liked many parts of this book. But disliked much too. Ellis was such a great person, though.
There were just so many small things about this book that bothered me. Nothing that really mattered, but it still annoyed me. How Greer was in the forest and it had been snowing. Yet she saw human bones all around her. Old ones. Did not understand how that was possible, as it was snow everywhere. I also wish the book had been more dangerous. Sure, the bright-eyeds were pretty creepy. But these villains were a little tame. I wanted more action and more danger and more pain and more bad things happening, haha.
I should probably also mention the weird religious aspect of the book. At least it seemed that way to me. And it did annoy me a bit too much. The book begins with Greer giving gratitude to the Benevolence. To the mysterious creatures who kept them safe for all those years. Who kept the bright-eyeds away. They all gave offerings to these unseen creatures. Praying to them. And Greer was very much a believer. This bothered me a little. It was weird to me, how they worshipped these creatures without ever seeing them.
I also felt like the ending of the book was a little weird and rushed. I wanted to know more details about the town at the end. I wanted more of the people. That bothered me. Another thing that was weird to me was the names of the characters, haha. They all seemed so random and weird. But I still enjoyed it. The book also took ages to read. It was slow with not much happening. And yet I really liked the first half of the book. It was slow but also exciting. Then that second half ruined it, of course. Wish it had not been.
The biggest thank you to the lovely PRH International for this free eARC
copy of A Land So Wide to read and review via Edelweiss. I'm so very thankful. I wish I had loved it more. But I am still glad that I read it. Took me a while to get started on it, but finally made it. And I am still getting different editions of the book to own, as I adore Erin and the cover is lovely. Still hoping to collect the print ARC one day as well for my collection. Even though I did not love this book, I think you should give it a try. As you might love it more.
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