A History of Wild Places

A Novel

By: Shea Ernshaw

Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan, Cassandra Campbell, Gibson Frazier, Cindy Kay, Pete Simonelli

Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

In this “riveting, atmospheric thriller that messes with your mind in the best way” (Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author), three residents of a secluded, seemingly peaceful commune investigate the disappearances of two outsiders.

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Often hired by families as a last resort, he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—and is soon led to a place many believed to be only a legend.

Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it…he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.

Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease—rot—into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed—and that darkness takes many forms.

“As spine-chilling as it is beautifully crafted” (Ruth Emmie Lang, author of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance), A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind.

©2021 Shea Ernshaw (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio

Great story, poor narrations.

The story itself is great. I enjoyed Shea Ernshaw’s first two books and even preordered A History of Wild Places on Audible. Despite this novel being her first foray out of the YA genre, she knocked it out of the park. I’ve come to expect engrossing, atmospheric reads from Ernshaw and I was not disappointed in the slightest.

My problem with the Audible recording of A History of Wild Places in that some of the narration was absolutely terrible. There are multiple narrators for the different characters’ POVs. The narrators for Theo and Calla were some of the worst I’ve ever heard. Theo’s narrator sounded like a robot. Siri honestly sounds more lifelike and has more tone variation than this particular narrator.

The narrator for Calla whispered so quietly that I could barely hear her even when using headphones. It was even worse when the Calla’s narrator tried to read lines spoken by male characters. Not only were the lines whispered, but the pretend male voice did not sound good and she would add in a random accent here and there and then drop it suddenly.

I listened to half the audiobook but then switched to a physical copy because I couldn’t continue listening to Theo and Calla’s narrators.

Enjoyed immensely

What lovely writing and message.
I was increasingly caught up in the characters and grew so fond of them.
Nice conclusion.

Pretty captivating

Very good story with lots of twists and turns! Wish they would have still used Travis’ original voice later on—that didn’t seem to flow between characters, and it bothered me.

Captivating

What a lovely story with dynamic narrators! I was captivated from beginning to end! I finished it in three days!

unsatisfying

the story was so-so - it took a while for suspense to build, and once it finally did, things got somewhat predictable. i never really cared about any of the characters, and i found the ending to be abrupt, disjointed, and unsatisfying. there were lots of interesting threads that were never properly explored, and predictable threads that dragged on forever. the narration was distracting. carlotta brentan, who voiced bee, is obviously not a native english speaker, which wouldn’t be an issue if she were the only narrator… but she sounded so noticeably different from cindy kay, who voiced her sister, that it was distracting. like, did no one listen to them before hand and think about the fact that they don’t even sound like they’re from the same country, let alone the same family? their actual performances were pretty good, with the notable exception of cindy kay’s “man voice.” OOOOF. i found her depiction of male characters to be grating and cringey. i can’t describe it any better than to say it sounds like, when it’s time for her to read a dude, she squints her eyes and puckers her lips and talks husky, like you can SEE in your head the physical manifestations of the voice, and it’s downright silly. sometimes you listen to an audiobook and the narrator is so good that you find new books based solely on that particular reader, you know? well, i’ll be *avoiding* books read by cindy kay because i cannot handle the way she voices male characters. overall a “meh” experience - the rare book that i might’ve been better off reading with my eyes rather than my ears.

A twist I didn't see coming

This was a pretty good story. Some twists I didn't really expect. Narration was done quite well.

Spirals into a web of twisted turns

I loved the multiple personal perspectives. Made for a delightful adventure for an afternoon read.

An odd story, great narration.

The overall story was a bit odd for me but the characters were really well developed and the narrators really pulled it together and made it an enjoyable listen. I’m mostly only a non-fiction reader/listener but this came up in my recommended list and I purchased with little research thinking it would be similar to my usual books which it definitely wasn’t lol. But those who do really enjoy fiction books and outlandish stories will probably like it. The ending did fall a bit flat, I wished there would have been a more exciting way to reveal the plot twist. Overall though 3 stars. Narration 5 stars, they were all great!

??

Still not sure if I'm satisfied, but I sure did rip through it. Pretty sure I enjoyed it even though at times I struggled to believe in the concepts.

Interesting book

This book was definitely intriguing. A little mystery, a little suspense. Overall a good story. I enjoyed the flow and the narrators were great