*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

A great thriller - I would recommend it!

Emma Seckert’s debut is darkly gorgeous, a folkloric tale of grief, trauma, and a community haunted (maybe literally?) by the past. The novel follows Leigh, who returns home after her father’s death, and Iain, who is struggling with trauma and loss. The island is invaded every fall by the sluagh, crows who may or may not be otherworldly spirits. Seckert recounts the story in lush, dark prose. I loved this book and will eagerly read whatever she writes next!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

Dnfed at 50%

I think this is a case of right book wrong time? Or maybe it was just too weird for me I don't know. This should have been a book that checked every box for me. Historical magical realism on a remote island in Scotland is right up my alley after all.

This book is eerie and beautifully written but it was also a bit of a slog with the pacing. The ARC jumped around a lot between characters and it didn't tell me where one character's chapter ended and another one began and sometimes their voices would just blend together. Sometimes there were flashbacks and it wasn't always clear. So I spent the first 50% of this book extremely frustrated.

I do still want to know what happens so maybe one day I'll pick up the finished audiobook or a finished print copy and hope that changes the experience.

Set during post-World War II, The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel is a gorgeously atmospheric historical folk horror.

The story takes place off the coast of Scotland on a small, isolated island where everyone knows each other and is filled with superstition. Every October they perform a ritual to commemorate the dead. However, when the ritual goes awry, sheep begin mysteriously dying and people are going missing, and the whole island is shaken.

At its core, this is a character-driven story about trauma and grief, and as such, it’s a little bit of a slow burn because it spends time on establishing characters and their relationships with one another.

However, the story hits its stride around the halfway point and delivers on a satisfyingly cathartic and haunting end.

This is a haunting tale of love, loss, and regret. Set in post World War II, Leigh Wells returns to the small island of her childhood upon word of her father’s death. Upon settling in, Leigh can’t help but take notice of the change, or lack thereof, that has set in, none more noticeable than that of the slaugh.

Once a tourist attraction for the island, the crows that only appear in October have taken a turn for the deadly. And when one of their own goes missing hours after killing one, no one even bats an eye. Except for Leigh and Iain MacTavish, a RAF veteran set in the past. Working together, they search for their missing friend, but instead only turn up question after question.

I thought this book was really well written and the storyline well developed. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me, but I do think that for the right person this will be an amazing read. I was just expecting more fantasy from it, instead it felt more like a true fiction book with a dash of fantasy intermingled.

This book will probably stay with me, in my thoughts, for quite some time. It's haunting, dark, but also extremely hopeful. 

When Leigh Welles has to come back to her island home after her father dies she has to face an island that has been taken over by the sluagh--crows that may or may not be embodied spirits. 

Set off the coast of Scotland, right after WWII, this island is haunted--not just by the sluagh--but by the ghosts of WWII. The islanders haven't been able to move on after several of their men--boys have died. And those that did come back? They're haunted by what they've seen. 

The sluagh are taking over the island. They randomly attack people, they take over houses and barns, and the islanders are not sure how to stop them. They've just been getting worse over time. 

And then a boy goes missing after attacking the sluagh. 

Leigh and fellow-islander, Iain, do what they can to find him. 

Again, this book is haunting. And the message behind it wasn't clear until the end. Throughout the book, the author painted such a picture that it felt cinematic in its presentation. 

I am so glad to have read this and been immersed in it. Part horror-part suspense, the island setting and fascinating characters had me hooked from the first page.

This is my first book by this author. It enjoyed it quite a bit and loved the authors writing style. I was captivated by the search for answers and scared at times.

Completely atmospheric and haunting, with evocative language and beautiful prose. Completely spell-binding and absorbing. A real treat and an excellent potential autumn read.

There’s so much to recommend this book—the writing is evocative and skillful, the sense of setting is palpable. It’s a dark folkloric tale set on a remote island off the coast of Scotland that features characters grappling with the emotional aftermath of WWII as they battle a murder of evil crows terrorizing their town—seemingly a slam dunk for my personal preferences. I appreciate Seckel’s post-war take; it deals more in adding to characterization than detailing atrocities, but it feels like the book needs a good edit—the pacing drags to the point that I found myself disconnecting from the characters and their plights by the mid-point. Overall, I’m glad I stuck with it, but it’s not a book I’ll revisit. It’s still a very solid debut and I’ll absolutely look forward to whatever Seckel does next. Gratitude to NetGalley and Tin House for the arc.

This book feels like it’s in need of some serious editing and even restructuring. I don’t think it’s ready to be published. The first half is an unbelievable slog with the alienated, echoing emptiness of the worst of Kazuo Ishiguro’s work with none of the skill for beautiful language. The characters are shells, the setting barely perceptible, the magical realism shoe-horned and superficially conceptualized. There’s a sort of deus ex machina genre shift at the end that admittedly makes the second half far better than the first, but it feels a bit like the author wrote herself into a corner rather than a planned thing. She should have just written the first half of the fantasy romance book she clearly wanted to write.

On a personal note, I found the use of the liberation of Dachau as a device to move along the plot to be at best unconsidered and at worst exploitative. Having read my fair share of WW2-based historical fiction, I’m increasingly of the opinion that people who didn’t live through WW2 probably have no business writing novels about it, especially if they’re trying to make some sort half-assed point about violence and compassion in the modern world.

In short, this was a wild disappointment 😜 but thanks nonetheless to NetGalley for the eARC!

Emma Seckel created a very unique book. A little mystery. A little magic. A little romance.

In post-WW2 Scotland — on an island as far North in the North Sea as you can get, lives a community deeply rooted in superstition and grief.

I’m finding it difficult describing what I’ve just read. You have to experience it for yourself. The Wild Hunt is pretty slow-paced, mostly vibes and the inner thoughts of characters. The third person omniscient narration makes it had to track sometimes. None of these things are particularly bad.; they just are.

The characters are very lovable, and I found myself deeply invested in their happiness.

I feel like this book did a really good job at being a small town historical fiction novel, but did a poor job at leaning into any of the folklore or myth that it promised. I think that the setting and characters were strong, but the mythological undertones beneath the plot didn't go quite as far as they needed to go for me. I didn't understand how certain things were connected, like the sluagh and the war. And there were some things that happened in this story that never get an explanation, or at the very least a follow up?

The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel is a complicated tale that draws on local Scottish lore and small town suspicion to reveal the true human nature of war and death. I found the premise interesting but it was difficult for me to really get into the story. Leigh and Iain are sympathetic characters but I found them lacking in much depth aside from their shared trauma of World War II. While the book was full of dark atmosphere and mystery it didn't end up being as compelling as I'd hoped for. I do love crows and the imagery of the sluagh combined with the creepy birds was a great creative choice; very Stephen King!

3.5 stars

The Wild Hunt is a beautifully written and haunting story, but the pacing was a bit slow for me and it didn't quite hold my attention because of that. I did love the folklore/mythology and all around creepiness though!

According to Celtic legend, the arrival of the slaugh, crow-like creatures purported to carry the souls of the dead, brings with them an ill omen. For an island heavily riddled with secrets and loss after the end of World War II, the slaugh have become aggressive additions to daily life. In Emma Seckel's riveting novel, The Wild Hunt, Leah Welles has returned to the island to bury her father. After a few years on the mainland, she now faces a community even more steeped in secrets and past hurts. Now the slaugh are back in force, a local youth disappears, and mysterious things are happening across the island. With the help of Iain MacTavish, who is fighting his demons, Leigh is determined to find answers despite fear and hostility from the locals. What they discover uncovers layers of myth and mystery and changes the world around them. In this masterful novel, Seckel draws the reader into a riveting look at a community, mythology, and the connection between life and death. Beautifully written, it is a page-turner from end to end.

I was drawn to this book by the post-war time period and the lure of Celtic mythology. It is deeply atmospheric and beautifully written. I was torn when it came to the star rating and am rounding up from 3.5 stars. Although it is a beautiful book, I found the main characters dreary. Granted, this is a dark book, but I found it difficult to become invested in the leads. I absolutely loved the symbolism of the sluagh as the darkness within us, contrasted with the desperate need for hope in such a dark time. I think one of my challenges wjth the book is that I personally would have been more fulfilled by a story in which the symbolism remained symbolic and did not veer into the lane of literal. I think that actually stole some of the magic from the story. That, however, is my personal taste and not a failing of the author. I did find the ending a bit trite. The author expertly built the drama and tension throughout the book, but I found the resolution overly simplistic and too convenient.

With all that said, Ms. Seckel is a talented writer with a wonderful imagination and I will be eager to read her future works.

Many thanks to Tin House and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

Extremely absorbing, THE WILD HUNT will bring you in from page one -- and it doesn't let go. I especially enjoyed the author's deft handling of inter-personal conflicts, especially in a small community, and her layers of tension. This novel is embued with a lovely sense of place and an evocative atmosphere. The plot is satisfying as well -- perfect for fans of literary mysteries.

Leigh Welles has just returned to her small island after living in the mainland of Scotland. She’s back to bury her father. Leigh’s mother abandoned the family when she was young and her brother hasn’t been the same since WW2, so Leigh is all alone.

It’s the beginning of October and with it comes the Sluagh (legendary bird-like creatures). They have been haunting the village for years and seem to be more riled up than normal. When a local boy disappears after angering the birds, Iain MacTavish, a local veteran who is dealing with his own loss, helps Leigh in her search for him. Together they will discover what secrets the island holds. Will they find a way to appease the Sluagh?

This is my first book by this author. It was a good read. I was captivated by the search for answers and creeped out at times.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you had nightmares after watching Alfred Hitchcock's movie, The Birds, you might want to skip this book! A young woman returns to the small Scottish island where she grew up after the death of a her father. Set in post WWII, there is much unhappiness for those whose family members did not return from the war. Our main character returns just in time (October) for the Slaugh, crows with supernatural powers who return yearly and wretch harm on both people and their homes. What follows is a town trying to move on from the past and dealing with this yearly occurrence. The book is not the easiest to read, nor is it for the faint of heart. Several Scottish words I did not know and I have to look up their meanings. I enjoyed the book and I will be recommending to my friends, especially those with interest in Scottish history and mythology.

You get two sides to this book. On one side you have an isolated community that has been left reeling after WWII ends. On the other side you have the supernatural crows, called Sluagh, that plague the island for the month of October every year. I don't think the two sides were every brought together in a satisfying way. By the end of the book, I had just as many unanswered questions as I did when I began. The writing was very atmospheric and haunting, but it was also choppy and repetitive making some parts drag and others enigmatic. I think this book would be a great October read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House for access to this arc.