The story itself is intriguing but the structure of it left me unable to connect with the characters. If the flashback scene, which is told as one continuous narrative that is far too long and happens far too late in the book, had been doled out piecemeal throughout the novel it would have changed things entirely. As it was, I could have cared less about these protagonists because I just didn't understand where they were coming from until it was too late for me to enjoy the tale. So frustrating.

Thank you to Candlewick Press who were kind enough to send me this ARC for review. ( )

When 17-year-old Meg Archer returns home to her mystical island after living with her mother on the mainland for ten years she finds herself in the midst of a struggle for survival. Having been bitten by mythical creatures from The Rift when they were children, both Meg and her friend Cal possess Rift Sight and are key to preventing the Rift from opening and allowing the wolves to destroy the Old Herd. This book was quite good but in my opinion is more of a second novel. It needs a prequel to better explain why the Old Herd is so important, what exactly is The Rift and where did it come from, more background on the characters and why they have the hint, they reason behind the drug testing and creating zombie animals... so many great concepts that felt a bit disjointed. ( )

Plenty of potential, the execution just wasn’t for me.

When Meg and her mother return to their former island home, it’s meant to be a short trip, strictly for financial purposes, however, very quickly Meg’s caught up with rangers, fortune hunters, a pharmaceutical company, mystical and zombie deer, as well as hounds, who, if they don’t kill you, their bites may imbue you with powers.

The supernatural, the medicine, the rangers, the fortune hunters, the backstory of Meg and her family’s separation, pretty much all of it remained vague throughout, I mean, yes, I had a basic understanding of what was going on, but for the most part, none of it was delved into with depth or detail, it seemed underdeveloped, lacking concrete explanations. With so much undefined, I struggled to feel fully immersed in it, particularly once the book took a turn almost entirely into action territory where more solid footing in the world of the story might have been helpful in holding my attention more than this ultimately did.

It may also have helped my emotional investment and my overall engagement with this one had there been more of an arc, more conflict beyond fighting off supernatural creatures. For instance, I wondered why afflict Meg’s mother with cancer if it doesn’t tie in to the story? If she’d been dying and could have benefited from the island, wouldn’t that have massively upped the stakes? If Meg had been torn between saving her mother’s life and siding with her father/the rangers she admired (and wanted to be), it may have provided some very necessary tension, if Meg had to deal with moral and emotional conflicts about something real world tangible, make tough decisions, maybe the plot would have felt like stronger and more involving.

Initially, I was intrigued by the character dynamics. Meg’s mom still seemingly harbored some feelings for Meg’s dad, Meg longed for a relationship with her dad, Meg was envious of Cal basically living the life she’d wanted, Cal felt unworthy and Rilke compounded that, there was a lot of juicy stuff to dig into here, unfortunately, so much of the interpersonal fell to the wayside after one particular attack, moments, confrontations I’d anticipated from the interesting set-up early on, between Meg’s parents, between Meg and her parents, between Meg and Cal, and Cal and Rilke, most of that became lost amid the action as opposed to being woven into it for what could have been a richer reading experience.

I received this ARC through a giveaway. ( )

A lot happened in this book. Just to clear it out of the way, there were a number of times the tense slipped from present to past when it shouldn't have and a handful of typos, but I’m quite confident those are wrinkles that will be ironed out in the final copy.

My main reasons for both enjoying and not enjoying this book is the world-building. It felt like I was supposed to have more information than I did at the start. The whole idea of the Old Herd, the Rift and all the magic that come with them is fascinating. It’s unique while still including well-loved traits of a fantasy story. The biggest issue is that it’s set in a fairly modern time. No amount of treaties or “please turn off electronic devices" signs would actually stop the government of any modern country for pillaging that land or teens from using cellphones. If it was simply set back in time, or clearly on a different planet it would have been more realistic. Well, realistic in the fantasy sense. It seemed the one island is the only magical place which makes no sense. The magic was not given a huge backstory, basically just “it’s been like that for a long time and at some point, humans started dealing with it".

While trying not to spoil what does/does not happen, I will say that I wish there was a little more backstory to the Rangers. We learn why they are there in the present, but the story of how they formed was pretty lost in the book for me. With that and with the love story was pretty basic, I still liked the characters and the variety of people on the island. This definitely felt like a character field book. I was pretty invested in their stories and their friendships.

Overall, it was really just a quick read with a world that I hope gets fleshed out more in a sequel or prequel, because the characters were built well and just needed that little push of information. ( )

Black Water is an island that's home to some kind of interdimensional rift, an ancient herd of magical deer, and a hereditary line of rangers with supernatural powers who are sworn to protect them. But the deer have a substance in their antlers that can be used to make powerful medications, so representatives of a pharmaceutical company are allowed onto the island once a year for a cull.

It seemed to me like an interesting genre-blending set-up, but I was rather disappointed by how little the novel does with it. The more real-world-feeling side of things is hugely underdeveloped, and the pharmaceutical company and its methods themselves are more magic than medicine and more plot device than either. There is a lot of scope here for some interesting themes about magic and science and capitalism and human need vs. environmental preservation, and such, but none of it really gets explored.

What we do get is readable enough, I guess. There's some action, some revelations, some romantic tension. But I have to say, none of it really gripped me at all. In the end, I'm mostly left with the feeling of a potentially interesting concept that didn't really go anywhere, or, more charitably, of a work by a writer who was interested in entirely different things about it than I was. ( )