Title: Wilde's Fire
Author: Krystal Wade
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: May 13, 2012
Pages: 324 pages
Series: Darkness Falls
Reading Level: 16+
Content: Cursing, Mild Sexual Content
Book Description
“There is no pain in this death, only peace, knowing I am going to die with the one I love the most.”—Katriona Wilde.
Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she’s ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out. When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she’s dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with more than just the frightening creatures in front of her.
Kate’s forced to accept a new truth: her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her. What’s worse, she has no control over her new future, and it’s full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made.
Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she’s ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out. When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she’s dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with more than just the frightening creatures in front of her.
Kate’s forced to accept a new truth: her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her. What’s worse, she has no control over her new future, and it’s full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made.
Will Kate discover and learn to control who she really is in time to save the ones she loves, or will all be lost?
By accidentally stepping through a portal and into another world imprisoned in darkness and war, Katriona comes face to face with the man she has been dreaming about for the past six years. Unsure if she should trust this man she has fallen in love with in her dreams, Kate is left to try to figure out where she is, who she is, and what is so special about her while worrying about her family back home. Not only that, her best friend, Brad, who stepped through the portal with her, now lies barely clinging to life after being attacked by creatures whose presence in this world has plunged it into darkness and Kate needs to find a cure before he dies.
Krystal Wade's debut novel is a delightful read. Written in the present tense, first person, it was an adjustment, but I quickly became engaged with the story. It seemed the first few pages were quick choppy sentences also. Fortunately, this did not continue throughout the story and the writing became fluid and more enjoyable. (Maybe it was just that I was reading late at night and was too tired to process the words correctly too.) The world of Encardia is nicely built with just the right amount of description so as to give you a vivid picture in your mind while not being over done to make you want to skip ahead to the dialogue.
Kate, Brad, Arland, and their relationships with each other develop and show growth and change during the course of story which we as readers want to see. I was glad to see Arland and Kate's relationship developed realistically over time. My one complaint with the characters was with Kate and her feelings toward Brad after she discovers he has betrayed and manipulated her. Her black and white feelings are a little too much for me given the situation of him almost dying and then knowing that she is never going to see him again when he is sent back through the portal.
Arland, Kate's dream boy...literally, and the wonderfully exciting, enticing, suspenseful ending to this first installment of the Darkness Falls series will leave you anxious to get your hands on the next!
