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Book Review: Rebecca Ross’ novel Wild Reverence is poetry in prose with a sliver of romance
Author Rebecca Ross’ novel Wild Reverence entices readers of romance, but falls flat due to its ambition and crippling reliance on painting elaborate pictures.
A love that transcends realms, comes wrapped in magic and has the cosmos as its vehicle is the kind of projection one aspires to heave about as the eyes race through the pages. Author Rebecca Ross’ Wild Reverence promises all that, only to leave you with an overwhelming sense of yearning and searching till you reach the point at which the saga attempts to turn into just a shadow of what it promised to be. But, if fantasy as a deep read infatuates you, there is a strong chance you may see the author's point, given the heavy hand of mysticism that grounds the book.
Running over 500 pages, Wild Reverence is the story of Matilda, a divine creature, connected to the love of her life, Vincent, by nothing but dreams — that is until they meet to save the mortal world from the wrath of Gods. When the protagonists are introduced, Vincent almost instantly makes an impression with his enamored, well-meaning gait of going about things. Matilda on the other hand, has not much working in her favour except her divine status and her uber-noble mission which anyway take over the plot eventually.
The thing is, Wild Reverence's greatest fault is its ambition, second only to its crippling reliance on painting elaborate pictures. The insidious tendency to turn every second paragraph into poetry will tire you long before the enamour of word play catches up to you. Overwrought prose may not be a crime but having a protagonist whom you just can’t get behind will have you clenching your teeth. Not to say you don’t find yourself rooting for Matilda but it’s only in the shadows of the book’s men. If you feel like you’re being swept off your feet, it’s only the perceptive interplay of the tug of war between the mortal, the immortal and the divine though there are no distinguishing qualities as the plot continues to muddle. At some point of time you’ll get used to the jargon, even finding the beauty in them, but that’s only because the plot fails to keep you even subconsciously occupied.
The takeaway — the plots may be chalk and cheese but Wild Reverence will leave you feeling the same complex emotions that The Summer I Turned Pretty’s asinine love triangle did. Is the exhaustion of that worth a 500-page trot? We leave you with that question.
Title: Wild Reverence
Author: Rebecca Ross
Publisher: HarperCollins
Price: ₹699
