The Wilding

by Ian McDonald

Five kids are on a sleepover in a restored wilderness project in Ireland. With them, three teachers and one Ranger: Lisa. She is 26, longing to leave her job, out of her depth and soon to find herself mired in a nightmare.

Strange things have been happening at Lough Carrow, a vast rewilding project on the site of a former commercial peat-bog. Livestock mutilations. Rumours, myths from the neighbouring villages. Strange, unidentifiable tracks. On the trek in to the sleepover site they sight animals that have not yet been introduced to the park - wolves, wolverines, things older. Things thought long extinct.

As they near the centre of the wilding a boy realises he's forgotten his meds. A teacher volunteers to take him back to the visitor centre. Sure, what could go wrong?

That night the camp is attacked. A teacher is dragged away. Lisa's group is marooned in the wild. It is night, the four remaining kids are terrified, they need to get back to the ARK, but the wilderness seems to be playing with time and distance and something is out there. Something hungry and hunting...

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Ireland

368 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2024

About the author

Ian Neil McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He used to live in a house built in the back garden of C. S. Lewis's childhood home but has since moved to central Belfast, where he now lives, exploring interests like cats, contemplative religion, bonsai, bicycles, and comic-book collecting. He debuted in 1982 with the short story "The Island of the Dead" in the short-lived British magazine Extro. His first novel, Desolation Road, was published in 1988. Other works include King of Morning, Queen of Day (winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), River of Gods, The Dervish House (both of which won British Science Fiction Association Awards), the graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, and many more. His most recent publications are Planesrunner and Be My Enemy, books one and two of the Everness series for younger readers (though older readers will find them a ball of fun, as well). Ian worked in television development for sixteen years, but is glad to be back to writing full-time.

Reviews

[Jamedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

The Wilding is a horror novel written by Ian McDonald, and published by Gollancz. A slow burn story that blends together elements from folk horror with a more modern terror, including a group of well-fleshed characters that are put in an extreme situation, becoming the prey of an ancient force.

Lough Carrow is a rewilding project in the depths of rural Ireland; Lisa, a Ranger that is longing to abandon this place, is taking a group of five kids and their three teachers for a sleepover night. However, after they are attacked by an unknown creature, they are forced to run deeper into the bog; progressively running into stranger manifestations, realising that the project has brought back something really ancient that is now hunting them.

In a first third of the novel, McDonald does an excellent job building the characters and preparing the atmosphere for the chaos that will be unleashed after; as a consequence, the initial part can be a bit rough in terms of pacing, but the payoff makes it worth-it. Lisa is a broken character after a traumatic event, that is alone in the world, and that however, will have to take the responsibility on this situation; a weight over her shoulders that, at many points, will logically take her to the border of collapse (I saw this novel comped with Midsommar, and I could see a bit of Danny in the character of Lisa). While the group that accompanies her is a bit secondary, I still enjoyed that, especially in the case of the children, they are fully developed, they are not just caricatures put there to die.

The atmosphere is excellently built, creating that oppressive and wild nature sensation that, when you are not in control, instils that fear of the unknown; McDonald weaves it together with folk elements to create an insuperable combination. As previously said, the pace is a bit of slow burn at the start, but once we overcome the first third, the story flows.

The Wilding is a great novel, especially if you want a modern take over folk horror; an excellent atmospherical proposal which I absolutely loved. I'm curious to see what brings McDonald in next novels!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟
Fast-paced Irish folk horror/cosmic horror that I got up extra early to finish because I was so gripped.

[Ray Pezzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacularly entertaining! This was far, far better than I expected. Yes, a pulse-pounding thriller, but also much deeper, more intelligent, more literate than you'd expect from the typical representative of the genre. When I got the book and looked at the author's photo on the dust jacket, I thought, "Hmm...I wonder if this guy can write?"

YES!!!! Sweet heavens to Betsy, this guy can write. I'm definitely going to read more from Ian McDonald.

"...she understood that she was seeing something ancient and implacable and undeniable. Nature was beyond human morality and sensibility. And there was not one nature. There were many natures, pools of life and experience and predation that sometimes spilled into each other."

"...the wild called to the wild - in the world and in the people who had driven it down into the bog - and it came seeping out like tannic bog streams. Bubbling up like marsh gas. The wild pulled itself free and remembered what had been done to it."

(Note for Americans: lots of unusual Irish names. Be prepared to Google "how do you pronounce ____?" I was fine with Lisa, Ryan, and Padraig, of course, but Saoirse, Eoin, and Ciara were learning experiences for me.)

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lough Carrow is a rewilding project on the site of a peat bog in the depths of rural Ireland. Lisa, a ranger, is taking a group of school kids for an overnight stay in the wild, but after a sudden attack, they are forced off course, driven deeper into the bog. There, they see increasingly strange and threatening manifestations, and realise that something very ancient is on their tail. I loved Ian McDonald's The Wilding's mix of Irish folk horror plus the more modern terror of the search and rescue officer's stories from the US Forest Service, as told on r/nosleep. I hope that other readers stay with this book, because its one issue is that the first third or so is very slow; some of this is necessary to carefully build the menace and establish the atmosphere of the bog, but I do think McDonald takes too long over introducing a raft of minor characters, almost none of whom end up being especially significant. His prose is beautiful but gets in the way a little in the opening chapters. Having said that, once The Wilding does get going, it does NOT let up, and it's seriously scary. It took me right back to the utter terror of reading Roald Dahl's The Minpins as a child and imagining being in the forest hearing the sounds of the Spittler approaching. I was interested to see that McDonald, a writer I haven't read before, has written mostly science fiction in the past, and I liked how he brought that sensibility to this grounded horror novel, giving us just enough information to make the threat feel specific - the taxonomy of types of sighting! - without tying himself into complicated explanations. Perfect Halloween reading.

I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review. 

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natural horror at its finest, this haunting tale of a camping trip gone wrong grips you, shocks you and leaves a lasting impression. Fans of eerie trees and vengeful land will want to get their hands on this.

Set in rural Ireland (and steeped in its folklore and superstition) it follows ex-con Lisa, who has learnt the lands of a rewilding project over months of community service and work. When she’s tasked with chaperoning a camping trip for a group of tweens and their teachers, she hardly expects the wilds to come to life, taking the shape of monstrous, predatory creatures intent on their demise. What follows is a terrifying chase across the bog and a fight for survival against ancient nature.

I have to admit I was not a fan of the first fifty pages or so of this book - I found them slow and too full of detail, focusing too closely on minor or unlikeable characters. However, as soon as the story got going and all the main characters were introduced, it absolutely hooked me, so I’d encourage you to stick with it if you pick it up - it’s honestly so worth it.

The central group is sharp and savvy, with survival skills gained in realistic ways. The monsters are scary and unusual and the atmosphere of claustrophobic horror is captured well through striking prose. The balance between the awe and the fear of nature is handled brilliantly, and the representation of various backgrounds and disabilities is sensitively managed.

It’s a perfect read for spooky season, especially for those who appreciate (and have a healthy fear of) the great outdoors.

Thank you to @gollancz for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Snakes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some solid creepy occurrences in this horror thriller with Celtic elements, but unfortunately this was mixed with some pretty dull moments, thus making it just an average read. Not my favorite McDonald.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wilding is very different to Ian McDonald's scifi, which I'm a big fan of, but retains the same sense of fun. It is set in a rewilding bog that was completely deserted during covid lockdowns and went a bit weird. The main character Lisa is a guide taking a group of teens and their teachers wild camping. The bog doesn't like this and isn't shy about showing it. Folk horror abounds! I found the setting evocative, the plot well-paced, and the atmosphere suitably spooky. I particularly appreciated the dark humour and vehicle chases, which you wouldn't think would be possible in a bog. The teenagers are an amusing and idiosyncratic bunch. Lisa makes a great Final Girl. RIP the teachers, farmer, and various people foolish enough to worship bog monsters. The tension is sustained well and some moments are genuinely scary. I enjoyed the denouement, although the ending left me wanting to know more details of how the bog went weird. Is climate change to blame?

The Wilding would make a great film, ideally directed by Danny Boyle. I immediately recommended it to the person I know who is most likely to go wild camping in a bog. That's not something I would ever consider doing myself - even without the additional perils depicted here, bogs are perilous and best left to the bitterns.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beauty and terror that welled out of this place took hold of Yeats’s mystic, holy Ireland, held it up and ripped it apart. Beneath its torn skin was old Ireland, deep Ireland, the Ireland buried in the bogs and beneath the fields of grazing, turned to leather and knot and iron-oak. Waiting down there. [loc. 2304]

Lough Carrow used to be a working bog: now it's a rewilding project, left to nature for two years during the Covid pandemic. Some of the locals mutter suspiciously about wolves being sneaked in while nobody was looking. Pádraig runs the Wilding, but most of the novel's from the point of view of Lisa, a young woman with a murky past, a stolen copy of Yeats' Selected Poetry and a place awaiting her at UCL. Lisa oversleeps after celebrating the latter, and thus gets landed with wild sleepover -- five twelve-year-olds and their three teachers, trekking through the bog and camping in its remotest corner.

The kids are a handful: all on medication, with mental health issues, traumatic histories and/or bad attitudes. But there are things even worse than adolescent children in the bog, and once Lisa and her cohort set off the pace of the story (if not of their trek) is headlong.

I heard the author reading from this at Worldcon and was gripped, though The Wilding was not quite what I was expecting. Lisa is a splendid character, backstory and backbone and some attitude of her own: her interactions with the kids shift in tone over the course of the novel but are always credible and human. The kids themselves are at first annoying but become individual, even likeable, with distinctive voices and very different perceptions of the world. The descriptions of the natural environment, of the silence and non-silence of the bog, of light on water and blurry motion at the edge of vision, are spectacular. And there are echoes of Yeats' poems throughout.

There's a reference to Pádraig 'checking for signs of incipient folk horror' when he touches base with the villagers, but The Wilding's horror is something older and weirder than a few peculiar locals. Some of those locals are very peculiar: I'm sure Dom Purvis and his maps and zones is a callout to Holdstock's Mythago Wood... McDonald has been one of my favourite authors for many years: though his scope here is perhaps narrower than in his best-known (SF) novels, his prose is as glorious as ever.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was brilliant throughly creepy, wonderfully well told and you really feel for the characters in this situation - I loved it

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great fun folk/nature horror! Set in a rewilded bog in Ireland. Some might say the bog has been overwilded! The entities are just so intriguing, and extra fun if you like trees!

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This horror novel centers on the rewilding of Ireland, restoring the natural bogs and fens that were largely wiped out in the last 200 years. A group of conservationists take a school group deep into the wild for an overnight camping trip. What could possibly go wrong?

From the first mutilated animal on, you can see where this is going. It doesn't make it any less effective. The suspense and horror build gradually; in fact the first true encounter doesn't occur until a third of the way through the book. Once it does, though, things fall apart rapidly and chaos ensues. The adults are trying to hold it together and get the kids back safely. The teenagers often turn into surprisingly effective assistants.

Because it's Ian McDonald, you can expect bold descriptions, clever metaphors, and snappy action. I felt it may have been a bit slow to start (as I said, it takes about 100 pages to warm up), and the adults don't seem to appreciate the trouble they're getting into until All Hell Breaks Loose, but once things start rolling it follows some familiar thrilling horror motifs, including unexpected separation of the group (and subsequently split POV sections), portentous noises and movements in the woods, and a climax that goes all in on the premise that the Wild is coming back to life.

About that climax, and the lead character of Lisa: She is doing penance for a low level crime by working for the group, but she is committed to bringing the kids safely home, and the climax reminds me of nothing so much as Ripley's Last Stand in the movie 'Aliens'. You'll know it when you get there.

All in all, a satisfying horror read and a clever repositioning on climate change and the rewilding efforts, both in Ireland and around the world.

[Jeff Frane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a very difficult time with my first few exposures to Ian McDonald. They were all set in some version of India, I believe, and for the most part I had no idea what was going on. Then for some reason, I took a chance at Luna New Moon which was challenging but absolutely enthralling. When the second book left the original story line, I was slightly disappointed but the final volume was again brilliant science fiction. Hopeland which I read last year may be the most brilliant sf/f book I've read over a lifetime of reading speculative fiction. The Wilding sounded terrifying and unsettling at a time when the whole world seemed terrifying and depressing, and I held off reading it for some months.

The book is definitely unsettling and the cover art looked like a haunted house story, which it isn't at all. I hate to associate McDonald with Lovecraft, but the story does have a sense of madness and unseen horrors, for sure. And it's brilliant and incredibly creative and tight. It simply hardened my conviction that Ian McDonald is the finest living writer of speculative fiction.

[Neve Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of, if not the best books I've ever read. If I were a book I'd be this one.

[Lynn Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 of 5 stars rounded to 4
https://lynns-books.com/2024/10/18/re...
My Five Word TL:DR Review: A Little Slow to Start

I enjoyed The Wilding. The writing is really good, very evocative and the author sets the scene very well. Yes, it was a little slow to start as we get to know the characters. To be honest, on the one hand, I’m not totally sure that all the character building was totally necessary as some of these characters are about to meet a grisly end, but, on the other hand, if the author just skimmed over these characters and gave them no depth it would be immediately obvious that their roles were going to be short lived, so, for me, it’s worth taking the time to get to know these people as it definitely makes their sudden demise much more shocking.

The premise of the story is a group of rangers and young adults, going into the wild to spend a night, at one with nature. It’s an unlikely group of characters in some respects. Lisa, the MC, is longing for a new start in life at University and in fact this little wilderness trek is probably going to be her last mission. The other young adults don’t particularly come across as enthusiastic (at least not all of them) about this little jaunt into the wild and have an almost bored, are we really doing this, attitude, but they’re going to get a sudden jolt of nasty reality in fairly short order.

The author sets the scene early. There have been unexplained attacks on farm animals and other unexplained incidences. The setting feeds into the atmosphere perfectly. This is a rewilding project based deep in rural island where the locals, the project itself and nature are struggling to come to a balance and, well, ultimately failing it would seem. There’s a lovely build up of tension, I would say that at one point I was on the brink of wondering when the action would kick in but then suddenly I was in the middle of chaos. When the proverbial hits the fan things go batpoop crazy. The wilderness seems to take on a mind of its own causing confusion and driving the party deeper into the bog. There’s bad weather, marshy boglands, bugs and that awful feeling of being watched coupled with the hysteria and panic created when people are desperately trying to survive. And there are some really unusual settings where our little group find shelter.

I don’t really want to say too much more for fear of spoiling the read for others. I enjoyed this, it had a slightly slow start but I think that initial build up makes the story more dramatic. There is definite horror and blood and guts. I don’t know whether I’d call this a folk story. It’s more like nature as a whole – showing us it’s power coupled with the journey of one character in particular – Lisa – who starts the story longing to move on before going on something of a self discovery jaunt herself, becoming very protective of the young people in her charge and throwing caution to the wind as she tries to keep them alive.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars rounded to 4 for the strange and dark appeal

[Maura Heaphy Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born/ Terrific eco-horror, with a Yeatsian twist. What's not to love?

Like Yeats' poetry, there are wheels within wheels here (or, dare I say it, gyres within gyres ...), as McDonald builds, layer upon layer (like the peat bog ...), an allegory of modern Ireland, and what happens when it encounters the eldritch horror which has been reawakened by the best of intentions.

I'm particularly impressed that McDonald managed to make his monsters rising from the West Ireland bogland genuinely scary. Since dabbling in the genre as a teen, I'm usually pretty resistant to "eldritch horror" (definition, in case you need refreshing, supernatural horror that "emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock." Thank you, Wikipedia.) I remember reading Lovecraft, and finding Cthulhu and his ilk distinctly underwhelming -- cranky calamari.

McDonald avoids this underwhelm response by, first, not being coy about the "gore or other elements" -- it doesn't take long before Lisa Donnan and her young charges see first-hand the terrible consequences of frail human flesh clashing with one of Lough Carrow's rough beasts. And this quickly establishes what's at stake here. (I always felt that Lovecraft, as well as being parodically overwritten, seems more like an academic exercise than anything to be truly frightened of. There's lots to be frightened of here ...)

And second, McDonald's monsters are firmly rooted in the history and ecology of the bog land -- patchwork creatures, stitched together from the human sacrifices that the bog has sucked into its depths, over the centuries. Ancient beasts that have passed into mythology. Old fireside stories, graphically illustrating the price to be paid by the unwary.

And then, put all this up against McDonald's cleverly layered "New Ireland" -- heroic Lisa Donnen, formerly driver for a Dublin gang, who is almost at the end of "community service" in the bogland for her crimes. The visiting schoolchildren in her care -- two of whom are refugees from much more recognizable horrors, one neurodivergent, all just a little spoiled and entitled, dependent on meds, and brand-name accessories, and constant reassurance from kind, dutiful teachers who infantilize them, just a little bit. (I imagine Éamon de Valera spinning in his grave ... Actually, is it possible that he was one of the creatures arising from the bog?) There is a creepy representative of the old Anglo-Irish ascendancy, some New Age types who are a distinctly rum lot, and an old timer who stubbornly tries to scratch a living from the hostile ground (and, luckily for some, keeps his old John Deere tractor in fine fettle. Yayy, old-style non-computerised tech!!). And, of course, the rewilding project itself -- nice idea, but

You Lough Carrow people, you don't know what you did. You called up the wild.

I enjoyed this immensely. And I highly recommended. it

[Elle Cheshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set at a vast rewilding project in Ireland next to a peat bog, five children and the wild-sleep team set out for an overnight stay in the wild. Except strange things have been happening recently… rumours and myths start to look less absurd when livestock mutilations appear and silt men are seen in the bogs.

Marooned at night, terrified after an attack and struggling with the strangeness time and distance the wild plays with, the group are being hunted by something hungry…

There is a well developed cast and the author spends time in the beginning to build them up, taking time before anything happens which does result in a slow start - about 100pgs. Lisa takes centre stage. She’s alone and looking for a way out of her current life, responsibility she doesn’t want is now hers in an impossible situation. The children were also all well done and well rounded people with distinct personalities.

The atmosphere was creepy and filled with that instinctual fear of the dark/ unknown that occurs in nature at night and the addition of folk horror was interesting in theory but personally I just struggled to connect with the story. There was nothing wrong with it, it had a fantastic set up and concept but I think it was wasn’t a match for me - The Irish names and locations pulled me out quite a bit too - but it’s by no means a bad book, just wasn’t for me.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian McDonald has been busy quietly becoming one of our best writers over the past couple of decades, and while a departure into horror isn’t likely to suddenly win him fawning accolades from the broadsheets, I’m happy to report that his prose is as good as ever here. There’s a little aside early on to tell you that isn’t folk horror - but it’s not exactly not folk horror either, with its parade of ancient forces rising out of the landscape (and what a landscape - the descriptions of the bog and the surrounding terrain are transportingly vivid). It doesn’t have the stately pace and low key weirdness of a lot of popular recent FH though - once everything kicks in here it goes like a train all the way to a climatic battle that is begging to be filmed. A lot of fun. Also worth noting that this is the second novel with a gerund for a title that I’ve read in the last few months. Horror’s back, baby!

[Etienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A deception. First, that one is on me. I mistake the author for another one... So it wasn,t the guy I taught it was. Not that I have anything againts him, it just wasn't the level I expected from the other one. Second, the beginning was really good. The setting, the mysterious elements, everything was on the table and I was hoping for the best. Unfortunately, along the way, the action was going nowhere, the characters were flat and unrealistic (reading poetry was being scare for your life... really?!?) and everythng jsut felt apart for me. It wasn't totally bad, but it was a really simple (to not say cheap) pop fiction, that was nowhere near the dark twisted tales I was expecting. I didn't like it and I would not recommend it!

[MR PADRAIG MAC DONNCHADHA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild in many ways. To the waters and the wild. Wild words, wild thoughts, wild actions. Wild landscape, wild plants and wild animals. Reading this book was like walking in the wild. I had to slow down sometimes, stop, reread the last sentence a little slower, adapt my reading to a different rhythm. The plot made me to want to read on as fast as I could to find out what happened next, but the sentence structure at times forced me to slow down and pick my way carefully through the words and the syntax.
The opening sentence reads like a line from a poem by Yeats.

[Anne Simonot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book very very much!! It was quite a creepy little eco-horror novel, with some touches of myth and folklore. I have read a couple of other novels in this vein, and frankly found them wanting. Not this one. The setting was unique and the situation the characters found themselves in was genuinely scary. Once I got well into it, I could not put it down. Recommended! (There are a lot of Irish names and placenames; I couldn’t be bothered to look up pronunciations. You may want to.)

[Darryl Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this mostly because Cory Doctorow had recommended it and I thought that was interesting since I don't often see him recommend horror. Perhaps that should have been taken as indicative. This was slow, plodding and sort of Hollywood. I didn't find it all that creepy and I struggled to read through it without dozing off. It's all atmosphere and very thin story.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded down, but idk why I didn’t like this more!! Irish folk horror is normally such a fave but this felt like kind of hard work. I think only so harsh because I was expecting to be head over heels for it, but idk. I just felt unsatisfied, despite the awesome horror creatures.

[Brick Top · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. Scary lovely great.

[ClaireJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise to this made me very excited! I love a thriller horror with some folkish elements to it but it was unfortunately disappointing overall for me. I think the main reason is I just didn’t click with the author’s writing style. The descriptions of what the characters were seeing just didn’t give me enough context to imagine what was going on leaving me confused. There were events that happened that had no explanation and characters that just vanished. Of course at times the beast or whatever the creature(s) were probably got to them but there were instances with a kind of cult who just didn’t really appear much again. I also never felt like I connected with any characters which is a big factor to me.

There were some unsettling occurrences but it wasn’t scary which is what I was hoping for! It just started slowly and never really picked up. I was just left baffled by the end. But we can’t love every book we read and please don’t let my review put you off, many readers had the best time with it.
It is just such a shame as I had such high hopes for it!

[Deborah Goulding · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars