Thank you to Net Galley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of A Fire So Wild by Sarah Ruiz-Grossman!

An unfortunately underwhelming novel that either needed to be longer, or heavily edited into a novella. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and the POVs moved way too rapidly to give a coherent plot.

A wildfire is raging in Berkeley while Abigail throws a fundraiser and not everyone escapes the blaze. Abigail, her wife, and their son not only deal with the loss of their home, but the upheaval of their family as the destruction forces them to come to terms with what they want and how they treat people and each other. A Fire So Wild explores family, home, purpose and climate change.

A really solid debut and work of climate fiction. The book is short and moves through a year pretty quickly. I liked the premise a lot. Sometimes it drifts into a bit of predictable land. It needs a little more oomph.

For a short novel, it took me quite some time to get into the story. I liked the characters but the writing was at a slow pace for me. Besides that it has interesting commentary on climate change and inequality. It has a lot to say for a short amount of pages.

“One had to celebrate things. Otherwise, what was life but a slow, mundane crawl towards and unavailable end?”

A Fire So Wild comes out 2/20.

I loved this book. Sarah Ruiz-Grossman, a former HuffPo journalist, has expanded her repertoire with a debut novel rooted in her reporting on California's fire season and the challenges related to its unhoused population. The book centers on X (short for Xavier) and Mar, high school seniors, one the child of recently divorced parents and one the only child of a couple simmering with tension. The characters are well drawn, complex and realistic. The destructive force of a raging wildfire and its impact on people of different social classes are both explored with nuance. It can be hard for news journalists to switch to creative writing, but Sarah Ruiz-Grossman has made the transition beautifully.

4.25 ⭐️

This short debut novel packs a punch, as the growing wildfire lays bare the vast disparity between how climate change affects the wealthy and the struggling. This was a gripping story that flew right by. I wouldn’t have minded a bit longer story in exchange for more character development, but it was still a good and worthwhile read.

Thank you Sarah Ruiz-Grossman, Harper, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.