Yeah, ok, I can dig it.
There was some romance, some fight action, some paranormal lawyering, vamps, a few magical mystery tour scenery moments, twisty turn events, and loads of different supernatural crawlies. Here, in a nutshell, are the good, the bad, and the ugly of I Am The Wild.
~Possible mild spoilers ahead.~
The good:
- The main lady (Eve) is a pretty good character, not super annoying or tstl. She has a good backstory, she kicks some butt, she seems a-okay.
- The story has lots of unpredictable twists and turns, and you can't reaaaally guess what'll happen next.
- The law aspect is a great one - makes for an interesting read.
- The world-building is lovely.
- The writing is great, and the book is definitely enjoyable to read.
The bad (or not really 'bad' bad, just things to develop, maybe):
- Occasionally, I was a tad confused with the characters' personalities. As in, who they were supposed to be. Some of them were rather solid, but a few kept changing, and I wasn't entirely sure what they wanted to be. Such fuzzy characters were, in my opinion, Sebastian, Elijah, and often Eve as well. For instance, Eve had these moments of sticking up for herself, which were cool (you go girl), but they felt somewhat detached from her and from the moment they were happening; she would just rage for a few lines and then casually go about her business. She also often seemed shy for no reason, and then other times she'd be very hands-on and bossy. I still don't feel like I know what she is truly like. I don't even know if she's supposed to be sweet and meek, or fierce and strong-willed. Or both?
- The romance, or the reverse harem, doesn't really feel like it's developing at all (and slow-burns are fine, but this feels like a platonic friendship deal). I mean, Eve feels some tingles here and there, but the relationships aren't really happening or growing (apart from maybe with one dude). There's no spark!
The ugly: (Hi, me again. The 'ugly' is more like 'ehh, annoying'.)
- Eve knows everything, can do everything, solves everything, etc. She is more clever and more experienced with law/courtroom tactics than super old vampires. And she hasn't even taken the bar, she merely has a law degree, which means she has never been an actual lawyer, yet she figures out and comes up with all of the key points in their case. Perhaps she is the 'Wise One', but this makes the men feel a bit pointless and boring.
- Eve is a unicorn!! Ok, so, no, buuuut.. Maybe? We don't know. No one seems to know what Eve is, other than a few cryptic supes. She tastes good, is powerful, made of light? She is the wild?! And she keeps repeating some (sorry, rather dumb!) line about "lumen". So I'm sure she'll turn out to be something superduper awesomesauce.
But hey, totally read this book, if you like law cases and not-too-romantic reverse harem books. Or just read it because it is good!