Article contributed by Zoë Leonarczyk
Newly released, The Will and the Wilds is a magical retelling of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast. In a time where Beauty and the Beast retellings are plentiful in the market, Holmberg sets her story apart by creating a new otherworldly realm. This story is a fantastic read for anyone who loves fairy tale retellings!
As a self-proclaimed Beauty and the Beast retelling critic, I was hesitant going in to this book, but after reading just the first page, I knew this would be one of the few that I loved. I was immediately hooked with the fast pacing and magical style of the writing.
The mystings are reminiscent of the wild and dangerous fae, making the humans in the story terrified of anything remotely out of the ordinary. This parallel to the original fairytale continues to expand with the protagonist, Enna, being introduced along with her father. Enna has spent her life protecting her home and watching over her father. Plagued with the after effects of entering the mystings’ realm, “The Deep”, Enna’s father no longer remembers the fighter he once was. While in The Deep her father retrieved a stone that Enna now wears as a bracelet, warning her of any mystings nearing their abode neighbouring the wildwood.
After an attack by a Gobbler, described as pudgy slow moving mysting, Enna foolhardily enters a deal with Maekallus, a mysting she summons to help protect her and her father from another attack. Maekallus is a Narval mysting, which I of course just kept reading it as narwhal. Let me just say that once you read his description my little misread makes sense!
In typical fairytale sense, Enna and Maekallus’ deal goes awry and Maekallus finds himself stuck in the mortal realm, a place where mystings cannot remain for an extended period of time. While reading the description of how Maekallus looked after a day or so in the mortal realm, I kept finding myself comparing it to Howl’s little temper tantrum in the Studio Ghibli 2005 movie, Howl’s Moving Castle. Maekallus knows that he is dead unless he can fulfil his deal with Enna. Well, with a little bit of trickery, Maekallus convinces Enna to willingly give a kiss, needing a piece of soul to return from the “living dead.” Now what do kisses and souls have in common? It’s quite simple, a kiss with a Narval is a gift of your soul.
After some inner turmoil, Enna finally decides to save Maekallus with her kiss, believing it to be her best chance of survival. This perks Maekallus right up while Enna finds herself overly sluggish with a piece of her soul missing, but this is where the adventure truly begins. Will Enna’s gift of a kiss save them both or was their doom sealed with a deal?
I found Enna to be a typical heroine, often describing herself as plain and focused on survival. She sees herself as an expert of mystings and is constantly updating her encyclopedia of information on the mystings. I really enjoyed Holmberg giving Enna a dream, albeit one she believes is unobtainable, of going to a university and becoming a true scholar of mystings. I found it to be such a fun quirk of the book to bring in a form of official schooling to this world. Yet, as Enna points out, these schools are not too friendly towards females and would more likely than not never accept Enna.
Maekallus was a breath of fresh air for me. In these retellings the “Beast” character is typically very gruff and stiff, yet Holmberg threw this character map out the window and made our resident Narval her own. Maekallus has the quirk and trickster tendencies reminiscent of classic fae characters, including the original Puck. I really enjoyed this modification from the traditional, as I am often not the biggest fan of this character. But Maekallus immediately stole my heart and I can now say I am a fan of the Beast.
Be sure to check out this story of magic, adventure, and trust.
The Will and the Wilds is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A spellbinding story of truce and trickery from the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician series.
Enna knows to fear the mystings that roam the wildwood near her home. When one tries to kill her to obtain an enchanted stone, Enna takes a huge risk: fighting back with a mysting of her own.
Maekallus’s help isn’t free. His price? A kiss. One with the power to steal her soul. But their deal leaves Maekallus bound to the mortal realm, which begins eating him alive. Only Enna’s kiss, given willingly, can save him from immediate destruction. It’s a temporary salvation for Maekallus and a lingering doom for Enna. Part of her soul now burns bright inside Maekallus, making him feel for the first time.
Enna shares Maekallus’s suffering, but her small sacrifice won’t last long. If she and Maekallus can’t break the spell binding him to the mortal realm, Maekallus will be consumed completely—and Enna’s soul with him.
