Based on the premise and the reviews, I thought I was sure to enjoy Kevin Powers’s Children of the Wild (Harper 2026). Color me wrong. I was so disappointed in this book. And quite honestly mad at myself for finishing it. But where did it go wrong? Historical fiction set in 1917, isolated rural valley in VA, a bit of a love triangle between the minister’s daughter, the son of the prominent Young family, and the wild boy found up on the mountain. And WWI. I should have eaten this one up, but it simply failed to deliver. Based on reviews, this is not a popular opinion – but here we are.
Let’s start with the minister’s daughter, Sam. She’s never fully developed. Her character shimmers and shifts, never fully deciding what it wants to be. This doesn’t seem intentional, and she seems more like a plot device than a formed character. Despite this, she has her own sections.
Then there’s Roy, the heir apparent to the Young family farm. He also shimmers and shifts, his character changing not from the things that happen to him or the situations he finds himself in but when the plot needs him to change to advance itself. He’ll punch someone and then two lines later, they’re best friends. He’ll say hateful things to his father and then be a voice of reason. There’s no growth in his character.
And then Ennis, the more interesting of the three. Ennis had the most potential, but the feral wild child from the mountains whose family was likely killed in a flood and whose name is likely not even Ennis never gets the story he deserves.
There are so many missed opportunities with all three of these “children” as they fight for their country, the valley, and each other. And there are also so many unnecessary and underdeveloped plot points. It reads like a skeleton that hasn’t been fully fleshed out and clothed yet.
I was so annoyed.
A Girl Named Tommi 