Review: Wildfire

Title: Wildfire
Author: Carrie Mac
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: January 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Into the Wild meets The Serpent King in this story about Annie and Pete, two best friends on a dangerous and emotional trek through the woods. 

Annie and Pete have been best friends since they were little. They know each other better than anyone, and they’ve been on more adventures than they can count–they even have a notebook filled with all the times they’ve almost died. But they always survive, because together, they’re invincible.

And they’ve always been just friends. But lately, Annie has been thinking that maybe friendship is just the beginning, and she’s been mentally replaying all the times they were almost something more.

Now they’re heading out on their next great quest: a ten-day backpacking trip through the mountains of Washington State, ending at Fire Camp, where they’ll learn to fight the area’s growing wildfire problem. The woods spark with the promise of adventure, but a freak climbing accident interrupts their progress, and as the wildfires close in and smoke envelops them, Annie and Pete wander farther from the trail. Carrie Mac’s gripping story of the power of unrequited love and the danger of the elements is harrowing, beautiful, and unforgettable. 

Review:

This was a heartbreaking story about friendship.

Annie and Pete are best friends who have experienced many tragedies in their young lives. They have both lost their mothers and Annie’s grandmother. They have also almost died many times. In this story, they embark on a hike through the forest. They intend to end their journey at a camp, where they will learn to fight forest fires, but they have to face many obstacles along the way.

I loved Annie’s narrative voice. At the beginning, the story jumped around a bit between a difficult time in their journey where Pete was sick and a few weeks earlier when Annie’s grandmother died. After a couple of chapters, I became hooked on the story. There were some parts of their lives, such as when and how their mothers died, which weren’t explained until close to the end of the story. That kept up some suspense since I was wondering what happened to them.

This story was heartbreaking and terrifying. On Pete and Annie’s journey, they faced unpredictable threats. They weren’t immediate threats, like wild animals, but more subtle things that threatened their lives. They were fairly close to civilization, but they were also too far to get help.

I became really attached to the characters throughout this story, which made the ending of it all the more difficult. This is a great book.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read Wildfire? What did you think of it?