Readcommendations

by Andrew Wichland

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. The blurb was exciting, the cover absolutely gorgeous, making it look out of this world, unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Was it going to be an alien story, a human story, or both? Wild Hearts: The Coming Night is a fun, action-packed novel with excitement and friendship to last a lifetime. If you love aliens and teenage heroes, you’re going to love this book!

Summary

Ian Dragan can still remember life before the Wraiths came. Now, the spectral aliens have laid waste to the galaxy, consuming every planet in their path. Next in line is Dragan’s homeworld: Centauries IV.

The remnants of the intergalactic alliance have placed their hope in the latest brainchild of  Shurgal: the Cybersuit, a shifting experimental battlesuit bristling with weaponry. On the front lines of his home, Dragan stands alongside this metal warrior, ready to fight and die. But he did not anticipate Overlord Kizor. A Wraith of terrible power, Kizor turns the Cybersuit upon its allies, and Dragan finds himself leading a handful of survivors off-world, memories of his burning planet fresh in his mind. Things go from bad to worse when the slip gate—their only avenue of escape—sends his ship hurtling into the distant past. 

Now, stranded on a familiar planet known as Earth, Dragan and his warriors wait for revenge. After a long wait to the present Ian can’t contact their or their allies last surviving military fleet when Earth is discovered, or the Wraiths will crash down onto Earth like a Tsunami. But when Shurgal crash-lands, bringing more Cybersuits hurtling to the planet’s surface, five Earth teenagers will stumble upon them and find themselves drawn into the conflict: the Wild Hearts. 

An exciting science fiction adventure about, survival, friendship, and courage.

Musings

I really enjoyed the premise of this novel: the idea that human teenagers can take a strong role in an intergalactic war is one of my favorite tropes out there. I love everything about rag-tag teams learning their skills, bonding together, and saving the universe.

The stand out aspect of this novel is the characters Wichland creates. Blair, a wheelchair-bound orphan struggling with the foster system, is a badass, stubborn fighter and the girl I related to most. Aisha is a blind Muslim girl, and my absolute favorite character: she’s strong, smart, and wicked fast. Before Aisha, Blair, Alec, and Hunter find the Cybersuits, they’re like the characters from the Breakfast club, on their way home from detention; after, they bond and form an incredible team that can take on anything.

I also loved the concept of the Cybersuits. More powerful than an exoskeleton, they now allow Blair to walk and Aisha to see, but can change ‘modes’ based on what DNA they’re given: for example, they can take on the sharp claws and brute strength of a Tiger, if it comes in contact with one. The team must learn to use the suits in order to take on the greatest threat the galaxy has ever seen: the Wraiths. Capable of possessing any living being, they’ve almost decimated the Centauri civilization and are hell-bent on taking over the earth as well. Only the teenagers stand in their way.

A few things irked me in this book, though, and a lot was hard to follow, especially in the beginning. The Centauri might have been sent into the distant past, but the author doesn’t do much with that: all the character growth seemed to have happened in the last quarter century (characters falling in love, loss, etc) so I don’t understand what they were doing with all five thousand years of their hiding on earth. Five thousand years is enough to build a civilization, fall in and out of love with a dozen characters. It’s an insanely long amount of time.

The perspectives switch between Ian (the Centauri leader) and Alec (the leader of the teens), which was a fun way to see the entire action. However, I had a lot of trouble connecting with both POV characters. Ian’s backstory, for example: he marries Terra (in the 1990s) and then she disappears – all within the course of two lines. So when Ian struggles with her loss in the book, we as a reader have a hard time believing it.  He drinks to forget a character we know absolutely nothing about.

The hard time I had connecting with Alec came from how much more interesting the characters around him were. Alec is the leader – but I have a hard time figuring out why. Blair and Aisha have must more backstory and growth than Alec or Hunter, which makes me wish badass Aisha was the leader.

I believe the book could have been fleshed out a whole lot more, answering our questions, developing the human backstory, giving us a reason as a reader to fall in love with these characters: something Wichland does perfectly with Aisha and Blair. I want to know why Terra was the love of Ian’s life to connect with him better.

Even so, I’m excited for the next book. I want to read what happens next! The friendship between the characters was fantastic, the action was fun to read, and the villains despicable. It played out in my head like the Power Rangers! Let’s see what happens next to these Wild Hearts!