Review: In the Wild Light

In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is, by far, the best book by Jeff Zentner that I've read since his auspicious debut in The Serpent King - not only because of how much it gets all the feels in all its pages, but also because of how many references to Zentner's previous novels this book has, confirming that all of them are set in the same 'verse. Lydia's an NPR host now, Midnite Matinee is a bigger hit show than ever, even the concept of Goodbye Days is brought up (as much as I rather disliked that novel compared to Zentner's others, it's still a good concept to bring in.)

The real kicker of this book, though, lies in its characters. They run the gamut from utterly hateable (Cash's disgusting roommate, the epitome of white-privileged preppy New England clearly a future political star, who crosses off every single "How to be the Worst Excuse For A Man in the Room" list item) to utterly lovable (Vi, a lovely Brazilian girl and Marvel fan, and Alex, who's into crew but also wants to do "Laundry Boys" comedy skits with Cash, and is a rare positive portrayal of religion in YA.) And of course Cash himself, and his loving grandparents who've raised him since his mom died young, and cherish him flaws and all (he does get prone to violence in the names of those he loves, like his best friend Delaney.) But you know what miracle Zentner pulls off? He takes the idea of a childhood best friends to lovers ship - one of my favorite romance tropes - and provides Cash with a love interest so perfectly chemical for him in Vi that he actually makes me NOT want to ship the kind of ship I would normally gravitate towards!

Proof positive, there, that Zentner is still one of the best in the business. But you know what would be even better? If, one day, he wrote an actual defictionalized version of Bloodlines. I'd pay good money for that!

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