Wild Dark Shore
Charlotte McConaghy
3.5/5
Synopsis
A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A storm gathering force.
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island’s researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain.
Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore. The family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, but it seems she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s there. And when Rowan stumbles upon sabotaged radios and a recently dug grave, she realises that she’s not the only one on the island with a secret.
A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love.
Genre
Mystery/thriller/literary fiction
Content Warning
Violence, 2/5 spice- sexual content, suicide
Okay, I have to say this right off the bat. For the first hundred pages or so, this was giving me serious X-File vibes, specifically season 1, episode 8: Ice. I even for a moment considered aliens, though it was clear that was not the direction this book was taking. What can I say #Iwanttobelieve.
What I Liked
Setting
The setting of “Wild Dark Shore” was beautiful. Desolate, but beautiful. I loved that there was such a focus on the animals that lived on the island. I also loved that they were so comfortable with the few humans that lived there. The storms and the imminent sinking of the island really added to the atmosphere of desperation to survive. It really drew me in and painted a very vivid picture of what the characters were experiencing and feeling.
“Sloping green hills and valleys. Mossy mounds. Rocky seat cliffs. And crystal blue lakes nestled within it all. It is like walking through an ancient, untouched paradise.”
Characters
I didn’t necessarily love the main characters, but I did like the kids: Raff, Fen, and Orly. Especially Orly. Probably because he’s precocious and sweet, yet still innocent and naive in other ways. Fen had the best character arc out of the three of them, and I wish she’d had more chapters.
“I know Dad loves me. I just don’t know if he can see me.”
Themes
Characters lead into the themes, which, from other reviews I’ve read, are rather polarizing. It really hits you with the global warming, and at times it can feel a little preachy, but Rowan has good reason to be so angry about the changes the Earth is experiencing, not to mention she has a bit of a pessimistic life view, so I can understand why it was written the way it was.
I thought that the theme of family was done well through Dominic’s point of view. He is a single father who’d do anything for his kids, and even though he doesn’t always do it right, he loves them deeply. I also appreciated the sibling relationships, especially Fen and Raff. They all really care about each other, and in some books, the siblings don’t even act related, so it was refreshing that they interacted and showed a lot of love for one another.
The final theme was grief, and I appreciated how each character felt their grief differently and dealt with it in different ways. It was also interesting that there is a lot of talk of ghosts being on the island. Not just human ghosts, ghosts of animals killed by whalers and sealers. (Not visible ghosts, more the feeling of them). The entire island is brimming with grief. Not everyone can face their grief and move on from it; some carry it for years, and this book showed that beautifully.
“I was not expecting the island to feel so haunted.”
Plot
The plot is interesting enough; it starts off strong with Rowan washing up during the storm and finding a family that used to be in charge of caring for the research centre, but now are essentially closing up the island. I didn’t know much about seed banks going into this, so that aspect was interesting, and also a little discouraging when you add on the global warming outlook. I did feel like it could have been added to, there were times when I felt like things should be revealed or moved quicker, but I talk about that more in pacing below.
What I Didn’t Like
Characters
I didn’t love the characters Rowan and Dominic. Not because they didn’t have good character arcs, which they did, but because of how they interact with each other. The miscommunication trope is a big turn-off for me in books, and unfortunately, these two characters can never just tell the truth.
Dominic was my least favorite. Yes, it comes around to him protecting his family, but the big reveal happened with less than fifty pages left, and I felt like it should have been sooner, or done in a different way. Maybe it had just been unraveling at a snail’s pace, and then so quickly it felt like it all came to an end too soon. Too rushed. Also, even though Rowan and Dominic both thought the other was lying, they still grew closer than I expected, and it felt forced. Not a natural progression of their relationship.
Pacing
The pacing wasn’t necessarily slow, but I felt like they had a long time to wait for the boat to get the seeds off the island. For a place that was being taken by the sea rather quickly, they sure left it a long time before another boat was coming back to get them. So, the first half of the book felt a little meandering. Like it wasn’t really that urgent to prepare to leave, or get the seeds packed. Even with the consequences from the huge storms, they still kind of went about their day to day with no urgency.
Overall, I gave it 3.5/5. It had potential, and there were things I loved about it, but it just wasn’t for me. According to Goodreads, I’m in the minority, so I’d say if you’re interested, give it a go and let me know what you think!
If you have a book you’d like to recommend, please leave a comment below! Happy Reading!
