by Cherie Dimaline
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2020
320 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
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.
"The novel is at times sad, at times humorous, and at times terrifying. Smartly written with believable characters, a tight plot, and breathtaking sentences, this is a must-read literary thriller." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This new work from Canadian Métis writer Dimaline...recalls Neil Gaiman's American Gods in its grittiness and humor as well as its depiction of gods and legendary creatures interfering in the lives of contemporary humans. Despite Joan's tendency to smoke and drink too much and make foolish choices, her dogged determination to reclaim Victor and her belief in their love make her someone to root for." - Library Journal
"An emotionally complex, at times mysterious, always enthralling book that skillfully weaves threads of colonialist legacy and trauma, familial bonds, human resilience and fallibility, and so much heart." - Book Marks
"Deftly written, gripping and informative. Empire of Wild is a rip-roaring read!" - Margaret Atwood
"Cherie Dimaline has written a wondrous and deeply felt novel about hypocrisy, power imbalance, and the strange, dangerous space between reality and belief." - Omar El Akkad, author of American War
"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
This information about Empire of Wild was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Cherie Dimaline is an award-winning Canadian writer. Her 2017 book, The Marrow Thieves, won both the Governor General's Award and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers and was named a Book of Year on numerous lists including the National Public Radio, the School Library Journal and the New York Public Library. A faculty member for the MFA in Creative Writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, her work continues to be published and anthologized internationally. Raised in the Georgian Bay Métis community, she now lives in Vancouver.
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