Wildlord


Publication Date: 1 Feb. 2022
Format: Paperback / softback

ISBN 9781912417971

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    A gripping, moving teen fantasy about young love, dark mystery and magic.

    One summer morning 16-year-old orphan Tom Swinton receives a strange message from his uncle James, calling him to visit his Suffolk farm.

    Tom quickly realises something is menacing Mundham farm: but does it come from outside, or from within? Tom discovers old diaries written by a local rector’s daughter, which describe her meetings with Rohenga, a member of a supernatural race known as the Samdhiya.

    When Tom meets one of the Samdhiya, he begins to uncover the secrets of Mundham Farm. The pressure mounts, and Tom finds his loyalties under threat. On the one hand he is offered infinite power; on the other, freedom. Which will he choose?

    Tom must now face up to his parents’ deaths, and expose the truth about his uncle, and his relationship with the Samdhiya. Who are these extraordinary creatures, and what has his uncle kept hidden for so long?

    Information

    Book Type: Senior High
    Age Group: 14 years +
    Traffic Lights: Amber
    Class Novel: No
    Good Reads Rating: 4.5/5
    Literary Rating: 4.5/5

    Review

    Tom Swinton isn’t expecting much out of his holidays. The other boys at his boarding school are going home, but Tom, who is an orphan, will have to stay on the school grounds. But then he gets a mysterious letter from a man claiming to be a relative—which is strange, since as far as he knows Tom has no extended family. 

    Following the instructions in the letter, Tom travels to Suffolk and finds a farm ringed by a moat. He’s shot at by an arrow when he arrives—a warning shot from someone in the surrounding wood. 

    Inside the house is James Swinton, the owner, who is seemingly delighted to meet Tom, but at the same time is distant and strange. There’s also Zita, who runs the house—a young, upper-class woman, she’s the last person Tom would expect to be filling a domestic role. Even stranger is Kit, the groundskeeper: a young man with silver eyes, silver hair, and a thick and sometimes archaic accent. Something’s afoot, but no-one will explain to Tom who the people in the trees are or why it was so important for him to come.

    Tom discovers a diary kept by a woman called Margaret Ravenwood who lived in the village in the mid-19th century. It details her romance with Rohenga, one of the Samdhya, or Good Folk. When Kit takes Tom out to inspect the perimeter, he realises he’s been drawn into something beyond his understanding. Kit takes Tom’s hand and coaches him to repeat a phrase, and they pour power into a broken barrier—a ward. Tom clearly has magical potential. Later, he goes out to help Zita gathering herbs in the forest. He sees a hare being chased by James’s dog and calls out “Stop!”, freezing the two animals in their tracks. He lets the hare go. Strangely, James later remarks that he made the wrong decision. 

    As Tom investigates further, he learns that James is not just a relative—he is his ancestor. James Swinton captured a Samdhya with the help of Kit, his servant at the time, and stole their power to gain eternal life. Zita came to the house in the 1920s, and has the power to “visit” people—project herself out of her body for a short period. Zita and Kit are bound to servitude, and none of them can leave the farm. Tom also learns of James’s power to visit events of the past. James shows him both wonder—hinting at his own history—and horror—the day Tom’s parents died at sea. The hare he freed was none other than Margaret Ravenswood, who joined the Samdhya in the 19th century. Most importantly, he learns that the Samdhya are trying to get inside to free the captive but can’t because of the moat. 

    Tom enters into a treaty with the Samdhya’s leader Rohenga—the Wildlord—and declares his intent to free the Captive in exchange for his life. But he’s caught between two warring forces that both wish him ill. In a pulse-racing final confrontation, Tom, Zita and Kit manage to free the Captive, trap James, and convince the Samdhya to leave them alive. 

    This complex and mysterious fantasy novel incorporates elements of English folklore. 

    Themes of deception, greed, justice, debts, and power imbalances are interwoven throughout the book, both in the Good Folk and in the human characters. Ideas about legacy, responsibility and family are shown through the struggle between James and Tom; Tom distrusts James yet wants a family, and James sees Tom as a resource to be disposed of—but he can only be killed by someone from his family, meaning that Tom has power he can’t control. 

    Ideas of loyalty, guilt, class and abuse of power can be seen in Kit’s story, as he is forced to do James’s bidding, often violating his own morals. The impact of isolation and immortality is most closely examined through Zita, as she is able to visit the outside world and watch her loved ones age and pass away. By turns thrilling, unsettling, and fascinating, this is a fantasy book that will stay with readers for some time. 


    Themes

    deception, greed, justice, debts, power imbalances, legacy, responsibility, family, loyalty, guilt, class, isolation, immortality, folklore, magic


    Content Notes

    1. Mention of James and a friend sneaking whisky onto the school grounds. (p. 11). James drinks port (p. 34, 70, 73, 162). 20-year-old Zita drinks cocktails throughout. 2. Language: bloody x 1 (p155). 3.Infrequent mild to moderately graphic violence. 4. James, Tom, Zita, Kit, and the Samdhya all use magic and there are fantasy and folkloric elements throughout. Kit, James, Tom, and Zita often mutter words while using magic, but these are not referred to specifically as spells or incantations (p. 44, 63, 75, 77). James and Tom travel to the past by touching a small wooden box (p. 100). Zita disguises herself when she Sends herself, and appeared to Tom as a boy (p. 56). When James tries to make Kit help him take one of the Samdhya captive, he calls James a sorcerer and a servant of Beelzebub and begs for forgiveness for his sins (p. 126). 6. Implied romantic connection between Tom and Zita, though this does not resolve. Zita teases Tom, asking if he’s seeing anyone, and when he says there girls in his life she says that shouldn’t matter because “there’s plenty of chaps who like one kind or both” (p. 64). 

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