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"Deftly written, gripping and informative. Empire of Wild is a rip-roaring read!"--Margaret Atwood, From Instagram "Empire of Wild is doing everything I love in a contemporary novel and more. It is tough, funny, beautiful, honest and propulsive--all the while telling a story that needs to be told by a person who needs to be telling it."--Tommy Orange, author of There There A bold and brilliant new indigenous voice in contemporary literature makes her American debut with this kinetic, imaginative, and sensuous fable inspired by the traditional Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou--a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of native people's communities. Joan has been searching for her missing husband, Victor, for nearly a year--ever since that terrible night they'd had their first serious argument hours before he mysteriously vanished. Her Métis family has lived in their tightly knit rural community for generations, but no one keeps the old ways . . . until they have to. That moment has arrived for Joan. One morning, grieving and severely hungover, Joan hears a shocking sound coming from inside a revival tent in a gritty Walmart parking lot. It is the unmistakable voice of Victor. Drawn inside, she sees him. He has the same face, the same eyes, the same hands, though his hair is much shorter and he's wearing a suit. But he doesn't seem to recognize Joan at all. He insists his name is Eugene Wolff, and that he is a reverend whose mission is to spread the word of Jesus and grow His flock. Yet Joan suspects there is something dark and terrifying within this charismatic preacher who professes to be a man of God . . . something old and very dangerous. Joan turns to Ajean, an elderly foul-mouthed card shark who is one of the few among her community steeped in the traditions of her people and knowledgeable about their ancient enemies. With the help of the old Métis and her peculiar Johnny-Cash-loving, twelve-year-old nephew Zeus, Joan must find a way to uncover the truth and remind Reverend Wolff who he really is . . . if he really is. Her life, and those of everyone she loves, depends upon it.… (more)
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I really enjoyed this book and its interesting take on werewolf legends. Joan is a great main character, flawed but also fiercely likeable, and her love for Victor and determination to save their relationship is completely believable. The other characters, from Joan's raucous family to her friend and advisor Ajean to the people caught up in the revival group that is secretly hiding an ancient evil, are all wonderful as well. Author Cherie Dimaline's relatable characters helped make the story of possession and recovery genuinely scary at times and a fun read. I'm looking forward to her next book.
Joan has been looking for her husband for almost a year when she finds him preaching in a giant tent in a Walmart parking lot. He looks different, and clearly doesn't know her, but she's sure it's him. Victor and Joan had met in Quebec and she brought him back to her small Métis community of Arcand on Georgian Bay in Ontario, where her family was less than welcoming. Arcand is close-knit and Joan grew up with tales of survival and encounters with the rougarou, a werewolf-type of creature that keeps children from wandering or girls from walking home alone at night. So Joan sets out to bring her husband home, armed with the knowledge passed to her from her grandmother and great-aunts, and with the help of her twelve-year-old nephew.
This is a fantastic book, full of warmth and love for the Métis community, imaginative and well-written. Cherie Dimaline is an author to pay attention to. In the world of Empire of Wild the supernatural exists alongside the natural one and it's up to Joan to figure out how to rescue her husband. Joan was a great character to spend time with, she's determined and more than a little reckless and utterly sure that Victor wouldn't leave her. The secondary characters have depth and their own histories. Zeus, Joan's nephew, was so very much a twelve-year-old boy, with all the bravery and vulnerability of that age. Even the bad guys were so understandable and multi-dimensional. Yes, I really liked this one.
This is a meaty story of love and commitment set in a world that blends native metaphysics with western religion. Joan and her family — mother and brothers — are great characters, but it is her relationship with her Mere and her young nephew that stand out. Throughout, family ties and community provide the bulwark to defend oneself against the many dangers that lie without. The writing is full of enthusiasm, which sometimes overflows into a surfeit of similes. But once the final chase gets underway, the similes drop out and we remain fixed on Joan’s plight. A rollicking read, if sometimes uneven.
And gently recommended.
The author, Cherie Dimaline, is a fantastic storyteller. She has brought together folklore about the Rogarou (werewolf), indigenous traditions and religion, family, love, and devotion into a compelling modern-day fairytale. Interwoven through the horror story are themes of colonialism, environmental concerns, power inequality and the far-reaching effects of these on communities.
Joan is a strong, well-developed character, and her grief and desperation are palpable. However, that same attention is not paid to the other characters, and the Big Bad is certainly a caricature of the totally evil villain without a single redeeming quality. While that generally works for the style of the fable, it would have been nice to connect more to some of Joan’s family members and friends.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story and its setting. I would definitely read her next novel.
Joan is a First Nations woman investigating the disappearance of her
There is lots of action, but also deeper meaning, including the role of Christian Missionaries in supporting the exploitation of indigenous lands.
This may be the hardest book to review without saying too much. Cherie Dimaline has managed to mix together a traditional legend with a modern story of love, community, and the everyday struggle of existence in a
Anyone who loves contemporary fiction should read this book.
The other level of this story has to do with Indigenous land rights. Author Cherie Dimaline is Métis, an Indigenous group located in both Canada and the US that traces its ancestry to a blending of Native and European ancestry. The novel opens on a sort of poetic history of the Métis people of the town of Arcand, “the children of French voyageurs and First Nations mothers, and Métis people who had journeyed from Manitoba. The new colonial authorities wanted the land but not the Indians, so the people were bundled onto ships with their second-hand fiddles and worn-soft boots.” Continually pushed to the margins, their resilience is syncretic: “Catholic by habit, they prayed on their knees for the displacement to stop, for the Jesus to step in and draw a line between the halfbreeds and the new people. Those among them who carried medicine also laid down coarse salt as protection against the movement. This salt came from the actual bones of one particular Red River family, who drew their own boundaries when the hand of God did not reach down to do it for them.”
Despite the historical beginning, this book is about modern-day people. Like much of my favorite fantasy, it uses magical elements to tell a relatable, human story. Joan navigates relationships pulled taut between the twin poles of love and frustration as she struggles to work out what has happened to Victor. The flow of the story, while confronting pain, is overall fairly light—the bad guys are clearly marked out (though Dimaline is careful to enhance their stories with detail and purpose), and the supernatural element of the rogarou, a traditional supernatural beast that has served as a threat in the Arcand community for centuries, never ventures into real horror territory. I found EMPIRE OF WILD to be an enjoyable entertainment, but one with some real meat to chew on. I don’t want to explain just how those two levels of story, Joan and the land rights, relate to one another, since that would be a spoiler for a very solid aspect of the book, but I will say that their interplay adds depth and pleasure to the story.
One of the traditional beliefs is that of the rogarou, a werewolf type creature that is created by hate.
Joan, a Metis, has been searching for her missing husband for over a year. She
And then one morning, she wanders into a Bible-thumping tent meeting and is astounded to see her husband as a charismatic preacher. He insists he doesn’t know her; he doesn’t recognize his name. She fears that he is ill or has been brain-washed and vows to get him back. But the tent meeting has folded its tent and stolen away – and seems to be trying very hard not to be found.
In the meantime, evil is stalking the people around Joan. There is a horrific murder where someone she loves is torn apart by a wild animal. There is her beloved nephew who is clearly at risk.
I found lots of wonderful details about the Metis, their history and way of life. Woven throughout are many of the political issues affecting them today.
I loved the protagonist, Joan. She’s both ancient and modern and a woman to be reckoned with.
This is a story set in Canada, Ontario in the area of Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay. Arcand is a fictional town but made for a nice first chapter heading with JOAN OF