Wildlight
Robyn Mundy
Stephanie has been exiled to an Island for the final year of her high school in her parents’ quest to recapture peace. Her time is split between her school work, her art and taking weather readings of the lighthouse. When Tom shows up, Stephanie’s days take an interesting turn and it seems like she’s found her first love.
I always wanted more. It wasn’t enough for me that Stephanie’s brother was dead. I wanted the gruesome details. And it wasn’t enough that her mother wept, or that there was something interesting going on in the deal with her grandparents, that we never found out about.
The time period passed rapidly. Too rapidly. I didn’t get any sense of the days dragging on for Steph at all. It felt like I only really heard about her at the interesting points, so what she views as an exile from the mainland is just a really short period for us readers.
Frank is scary, I’ll grant you that. But Tom is really just a wuss. Sorry Tom. But why can’t you stand up for yourself? Really? It’s too hard? And when you decide, it’s like you can’t make sense of it and you want to wander off. That’s about as spoiler-free as I can be.
How did I really feel about the ending? Satisfied? Actually no, but I was ok with that. I think. I don’t know! Tom’s struggle seems real, while Stephanie hardly seems to have changed. It was nice seeing the future, but it was left so open-ended.
It wasn’t the fast-paced novel I thought it would be. 3 stars.
