The Wild Court
E.G. Radcliff
North Street Book Prize 2022 (view all the winners)
Honorable Mention, Genre Fiction
Critique by Jendi Reiter
E.G. Radcliff's novel The Wild Court is the concluding volume of a high fantasy trilogy about Áed, the young half-faerie king of a human realm known as The Gut. He and his advisor Eamon are both secretly in love with each other, but too shy to declare themselves. Because of his fae heritage, Áed has the power to create fire with his hands, but those hands are also crippled from torture he endured when he was a street urchin with no knowledge of his royal heritage. Throughout the adventures in The Wild Court, Áed copes with his unique mix of strengths and vulnerabilities in a realistic and moving way.
The story opens on the night of the autumn festival, which is violently interrupted when a war between fae courts intrudes through the Veil that separates the faerie and human realms. (Courts are like aristocratic families or factions that have complex, shifting alliances.) This barrier is thinnest during the four seasonal sabbats. To protect his human subjects, Áed and his chosen family—Eamon, adopted teenage son Ronan, and Ronan's fae girlfriend Erin—must cross the Veil to try and resolve the faeries' civil war.
First-round judge Annie Mydla said, "Most of the story takes place in the warm darkness of the faerie woods, giving it a Shakespearean sense of timelessness. One of the best Genre Fiction entries this year for tonal unity and a sense of authorly mastery." Annie praised the story's "gently romantic tone" and "effortless foundation in queerness, disability, and biracial identity."
With such a glowing recommendation, I had to visit The Wild Court for myself. On my first try, I set the book down after a few pages, frustrated by the lack of backstory to orient me in the characters' relationships or the political landscape. I'm very glad I returned to it, because I was won over by the rich and strange details of the faerie realm and the sensitive emotional development of the characters.
Áed not only matures as a king who must wield the tools of warfare and diplomacy with equal skill, he also begins to build trust with the faerie side of his family, in a tentative and messy way that reminded me of real-life stories of adoptees discovering birthparents. Not to give spoilers, but there's a point where an apparent antagonist is revealed to be a victim of psychological abuse, unwillingly manipulated by the real villain. Radcliff skillfully and compassionately depicts their ordeal of brainwashing and emotional blackmail.
By the book's end, I had inferred sufficient backstory to be engaged with the plot and satisfied with the resolution, but I still didn't feel that enough was done to bring readers up to speed. I didn't know why the kingdom had an odd name like "The Gut" or how the Maze and the White City related to it politically—neighborhoods, fellow city-states? I shouldn't have had to wait 300 pages to learn that the often-referenced Ninian was Áed's first male lover, who is dead. The name is gender-ambiguous so I was even more confused until this revelation. Áed and Eamon are supposed to be in their mid-20s, I believe, so I didn't understand why Áed had a teenage foster son. All the main characters read kind of "young" in my opinion, more like YA protagonists, which I don't think was the intent.
Writers of series fiction should assume that some readers are picking up the story partway through the series, and that most would welcome a refresher about essential plot points after waiting a year or more between books. A great role model in this regard is Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" novel series for middle-grade and YA readers. It's worth studying how he recaps previous books' events in short, funny paragraphs woven into the action at the beginning of the next book.
The cover design was eye-catching, with gold type and crossed flaming axes on a dark background of a Celtic knot. It flawlessly conveyed the genre and vibe of the story. Stylized grayscale illustrations added charm to the text. The relationships and atmosphere in The Wild Court lingered with me after the tale was done. I want to go back and read Áed's early adventures!
Read an excerpt from The Wild Court (PDF)
Buy this book on Amazon
