A warning from the author:This series explores serious issues of male abuse of power, and female strength.I still cry, reading some passages, though I also laugh at others, and at others, cheer. But it’s not a light story, nor are the characters black and white. There are some very dark and abusive parts, though none graphic in my opinion. Basically: be guided by the reviews, before buying this … Basically: be guided by the reviews, before buying this book.)
IN 2036, magic returned to a world which neither needed nor wanted it. Several years later, an unusual young child is acquired by Dr Alex Harmon for his magic research at the Institute for Paranormal Dysfunction. He sets Sara to hunting an imaginary creature, unaware it is both real and far more dangerous than anyone could know.
Sara, too, though, has her own hidden depths.
She’ll need them.
At the Institute she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Godsson, one of the world’s most powerful mages – and an inmate. But when Sara’s unique magic finally unfolds, Dr Harmon discovers the deadly consequences of creating an archetypal Huntress. While from a place far beneath reality, where Godsson helped slay the Enemy of Mankind, some thing, or things, have come hunting. And their first targets are Godsson, and Sara.
[About the Author]
Luke J. Kendall failed to drown on five separate occasions on Sydney’s northern beaches. He worked in the IT R&D field while extremely happily married for 30 years to an adventurous mediaeval scholar 22 years his senior until her death in December, 2014.
Leeth’s story has been 25 years in the making.
Length: 134,000 words (approximately 460 pages).
Note:
1) If you inform me of errors in this book before anyone else, and email me, I’ll send you a free electronic copy of the sequel.
2) I will also send you a free electronic copy if you’re one of the 1st 50 people to write a substantive review (say, at least 50 words) – good or bad, just so long as it’s honest – and you email me that you’d like a copy!
Version history:
Release 2: Two typos fixed.
Release 3: Several typos fixed, twelve small sentence rewordings to improve clarity.
Release 4: Two rewordings, for clarity. One italic error fixed.
Release 5: Based on my reading of a proof copy of the print edition, found and fixed several small continuity errors, several typos, numerous small polishings of sentences, and change to US-style “quotation-punctuation”.
Release 6: General changes: hyphenate “N year old” as N-year-old” throughout; use numerals for time of day, not spelled out as words. 10 typos fixed. 3 small continuity errors fixed. About 70 small tweaks to wording or punctuation (many to avoid repetitions). Added a thank you to Louise Harris in the Acknowledgments.
Release 7: Updated the Release number and the draft sample chapter from the sequel to use the final text, following three rounds of critique from a professional editor. (@ThEditors).
Updated the title of the sequel to Harsh Lessons. (Shadow Hunt is the title for Vol. 3).
Release 8: Merely added review links into the Afterword/Publishing 2015 sections, and added a link to the sequel at the end of its excerpt.
Release 9: Fixed 2 typos, 2 small continuity errors, and did a final final polish for the Aurealis Awards 2016 contest: 74 other, mostly-small changes.
Release 10: Changed from single quotation marks to double quotation marks for dialog.
Release 11: Added thumbnails and links to the books in the series so far, and links for readers wishing to write a review.
Release 12: Updated links to point to (internationalised) Amazon sites instead of Goodreads. Updated book details page.more
I admit going into this read I was a bit skeptical. I had read other reviews which made me wonder if this book was going to be for me or not. I’m happy to say it was.
The mixture of magic and advanced technology was refreshing. The world created by the author was realistic and had all the neat worldbuilding aspects such as political presence, drugs, criminals, society, etc. These things really helped me get sucked into the world and made it feel more realistic.
Most of the complaints I read about this book is the mental and sexual abuse given to the main character Leeth. I’ll agree that some parts are very dark and twisted, but I think that’s what makes the book. Since we follow the girl from a very young age, we can see how these events shape her personality and intelligence. Psychologically, it’s fascinating to see how her mind grows under these circumstances.
The prose is well written and consistent with how different characters speak and interact with each other.
I’m definitely interested in continuing the series!
A little girl is kicked out of her tribe because of a vision that has revealed that this little girl will cause deadly harm to others. She is sent to live in the white man’s world.
A few years later she is adopted by Dr. Alex Harmon and taken to live at the Institute for Paranormal Dysfunction where he will study Sara and instruct her in the use of magic.
Sara spends most of her days exploring the institute and wondering into places that she had not been given access to. On one such mission she meets a man, Godsson who is kept behind a locked door.
On other days Sara can be found running around outside looking for an invisible monster that Dr. Harmon doesn’t believe is real. But is the monster that he sent Sara to hunt real or not?
Sara also has a little friend that she takes on her little adventures outdoors a little dog who is very protective of Sara and will attack anyone or thing that messes with his human friend.
Wild Thing is a very intriguing and interesting story that will pull you in from the first page and will hold you hostage with each and every adventure that Sara takes us on. The world building is so brilliant and amazing filled with magic, suspense and the mussing of a little girl as she grows into adulthood way too early.
Pick up your copy of Wild Thing today to begin the adventure with Sara.
This is the start of a very interesting series which looks at manipulation for power, greed and ego. Leith, has a way to go to navigate around both the humans and the events that would use her even against her will. Yet despite her innocence, she shows potential for strength, and growth.
A mixture of fantasy and science-fiction and definitely a series to watch.
Wild Thing: A cross-genre sci-fi/fantasy thriller (The Leeth Dossier Book 1) Kindle Edition
by L. J. Kendall
Thanks to the author for the gifted copy. I am choosing to leave a fair and honest review.
This book was mostly enjoyable. Clearly set in some future dystopia, where magic has come back. In this future, Dr. Harmon works in the Institute of Paranormal Dysfunction, a sort of insane asylum to the paranormaly inclined.
In order to reach his goal of creating another archetype, specifically the Huntress, Dr. Harmon adopts Sara from a rather parochial orphanage to use her under reported magickal abilities and his rather twisted relationship with his ward.
Other people appear and other beasties are seen.
At times, the descriptions the author draws, are amazingly poetic. Other times if feels as if the author is over writing.
The initial relationship between Sara and Dr. Harmon has a high level of Humbert-Humbert cringe and creepy. Initially, Harmon, in pursuit of proving his thesis, takes a less cringey role in her life. His purpose in adopting her is to lead and document her through something called the Unfolding, which is when her paranormal powers will appear. Harmon’s push to prove his thesis, he walks the edge of creepy teacher trying to see here Unfolding. Unfolding is an unfortunate choice of words. We can see that with prose like this: “He shook his head. She was beginning to make him think of her as something more than a mere child. If only she would Unfold! He brought his mind back to the matter at hand: her ‘ordeal’ tonight.” Harmon is a male abusing his power (which only gets worse) and then blaming the victim. It is clear that she holds no value to him as a person, only as an experiment. It is clear that she is no more than a trained experiment dog.
The characters were well presented. Speaking as someone who was a young woman, I can honestly say that Kendall mostly captures our inner dialogue in the younger Sara. When she hits seventeen, she seems slightly immature. This allows Harmon to take advantage in all the horrid ways.
The world-building is at times confusing because it takes so long in giving us the background for this dark dystopian future. Many of the post-apocalyptic/dystopias in most of the YA literature, like the Hunger Games or Divergent series lay out more breadcrumbs, so there is a ‘realer’ feeling to them. By the time we come to understand how this world came to be, we are about 30-50% of the way through.
As for a plot, it feels like a blend of Frankenstein, Brave New World and, of course, both the Hunger Games and Divergent. Underestimated girl is removed from a bad situation into a far, far worse situation. The story builds as we discover that Sara is far more than any one expects.
There is a third character running about. Godsson serves as the fulcrum to Harmond’s lever to force the change in Sara.
The most interesting character doesn’t appear until relatively late in the novel. Disten or rather the thing that was wearing a Disten-suit, is in pursuit of a new way of thought. The chase eventually brings him into Sara’s orbit.
The story has real potential that could easily appear in the next books in the series.
5 stars for the plot and 4 stars for the characterizations.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Thing-cross-genre-fantasy-thriller-ebook/dp/B019DQVR76/