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Tentacular: Urban Fantasy: The Wild Files
Warning! The city has gone completely feral!
Hi, I'm Zara, a slightly snarky American scientist living in Australia. Yesterday? Perfect life, perfect love, perfect job. Today? My lover's dead, I've been framed for murder, and the detective grilling me is sprouting slimy white tentacles like it's the latest fashion trend. Oh, and I think he wants me for dinner.
My escape plan? A magical, French-speaking red rat with attitude. Together, we'll dive into ancient tunnels below the city and cross into realms no human should ever see.
Think Dresden Files meets CSI — with tentacles.
Hi, I'm Zara, a slightly snarky American scientist living in Australia. Yesterday? Perfect life, perfect love, perfect job. Today? My lover's dead, I've been framed for murder, and the detective grilling me is sprouting slimy white tentacles like it's the latest fashion trend. Oh, and I think he wants me for dinner.
My escape plan? A magical, French-speaking red rat with attitude. Together, we'll dive into ancient tunnels below the city and cross into realms no human should ever see.
Think Dresden Files meets CSI — with tentacles.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 20, 2025
7 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 19, 2025
Tentacular: Urban Fantasy: The Wild Files
By: Alastair Wells
Publisher: Independently Published
Published Date: November 20, 2025
ASIN: B0FZGYRS2V
Page Count: 308
Triggers: Murder of a romantic partner, police interrogation, gaslighting, body horror style tentacles, mild gore, grief.
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Skull Dread Rating: 💀💀
What Did I Just Walk Into?
Picture this. You go from "science girl with a startup and a boyfriend" to "prime murder suspect being questioned by a cop whose head has basically turned into a calamari platter." Also, only you can see the tentacles. Then a giant red French rat shows up to rescue you and suddenly you are neck deep in a secret world of guardians, squid heads, and things the Dullards cannot see. That is the energy of Tentacular and honestly, I am not mad about it.
Here’s What Slapped:
Zara Wild is delightfully done. Competent scientist, emotionally wrecked girlfriend, very confused fledgling not quite chosen one. She is smart enough to problem solve but still human enough to panic when her whole life gets nuked in one afternoon.
The tentacled cop interrogation scene. Peak unhinged urban fantasy. The horror is there, but wrapped in that "am I actually losing my mind or is this really happening" flavor that works so well.
Pierre the rat. A large red rodent with a French accent and attitude for days, functioning as both familiar and chaos engine. Every time he showed up it felt like the book poked you and said, "Yes, we are leaning all the way into the weird. You are welcome."
The vibe. It really does feel like Harry Dresden crashed into a CSI episode, then someone yelled "more squids" and walked away. Crime scene, ancient DNA, magical guardians, and a heroine who has to clear her name while figuring out why she can see the things nobody else can.
Friends and foes swapping places. The way Zara realizes some people are absolutely not on her side while others quietly slide into the "ride or die" category gives the story a fun, twisty edge.
Series setup. The ending gives you enough closure for book one, but leaves plenty of questions. Now that Zara can see the squid heads, there is no going back, and the world feels bigger than what we have seen so far.
What Could’ve Been Better:
There are a few spots where the ancient DNA and science bits get a little dense. Not enough to ruin anything, but occasionally you may find yourself skimming the lab talk to get back to the tentacles and talking rat.
Zara is sharp, but now and then she lags a step behind things the reader has already guessed. It works for the "my life exploded overnight" vibe, yet there were moments where I wanted to gently shake her and slide the clues together faster.
Some of the bigger mysteries about why she can see these beings are still pretty vague by the end. It is clearly a deliberate series choice, but if you like everything tied up in book one, you may have to breathe through the urge to demand answers immediately.
Perfect for Readers Who Love:
Urban fantasy with a high weird factor
Harry Dresden style snark mixed with crime scenes and evidence
Talking animal guides who steal the spotlight
Secret worlds hiding in plain sight, just out of view of the "normal" people
Murder investigations where the cops might literally eat you
Reviewed by Robin for Robin’s Review
By: Alastair Wells
Publisher: Independently Published
Published Date: November 20, 2025
ASIN: B0FZGYRS2V
Page Count: 308
Triggers: Murder of a romantic partner, police interrogation, gaslighting, body horror style tentacles, mild gore, grief.
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Skull Dread Rating: 💀💀
What Did I Just Walk Into?
Picture this. You go from "science girl with a startup and a boyfriend" to "prime murder suspect being questioned by a cop whose head has basically turned into a calamari platter." Also, only you can see the tentacles. Then a giant red French rat shows up to rescue you and suddenly you are neck deep in a secret world of guardians, squid heads, and things the Dullards cannot see. That is the energy of Tentacular and honestly, I am not mad about it.
Here’s What Slapped:
Zara Wild is delightfully done. Competent scientist, emotionally wrecked girlfriend, very confused fledgling not quite chosen one. She is smart enough to problem solve but still human enough to panic when her whole life gets nuked in one afternoon.
The tentacled cop interrogation scene. Peak unhinged urban fantasy. The horror is there, but wrapped in that "am I actually losing my mind or is this really happening" flavor that works so well.
Pierre the rat. A large red rodent with a French accent and attitude for days, functioning as both familiar and chaos engine. Every time he showed up it felt like the book poked you and said, "Yes, we are leaning all the way into the weird. You are welcome."
The vibe. It really does feel like Harry Dresden crashed into a CSI episode, then someone yelled "more squids" and walked away. Crime scene, ancient DNA, magical guardians, and a heroine who has to clear her name while figuring out why she can see the things nobody else can.
Friends and foes swapping places. The way Zara realizes some people are absolutely not on her side while others quietly slide into the "ride or die" category gives the story a fun, twisty edge.
Series setup. The ending gives you enough closure for book one, but leaves plenty of questions. Now that Zara can see the squid heads, there is no going back, and the world feels bigger than what we have seen so far.
What Could’ve Been Better:
There are a few spots where the ancient DNA and science bits get a little dense. Not enough to ruin anything, but occasionally you may find yourself skimming the lab talk to get back to the tentacles and talking rat.
Zara is sharp, but now and then she lags a step behind things the reader has already guessed. It works for the "my life exploded overnight" vibe, yet there were moments where I wanted to gently shake her and slide the clues together faster.
Some of the bigger mysteries about why she can see these beings are still pretty vague by the end. It is clearly a deliberate series choice, but if you like everything tied up in book one, you may have to breathe through the urge to demand answers immediately.
Perfect for Readers Who Love:
Urban fantasy with a high weird factor
Harry Dresden style snark mixed with crime scenes and evidence
Talking animal guides who steal the spotlight
Secret worlds hiding in plain sight, just out of view of the "normal" people
Murder investigations where the cops might literally eat you
Reviewed by Robin for Robin’s Review
November 6, 2025
I really enjoyed this book, it was a bit different, the kind of fantasy I love.
The heroine is Zara, she has a boyfriend, she works in a small startup DNA lab, she is successful and she joint owns the company. Things are going well, until they aren't. The death of her boyfriend and the accusation she was at fault sends her world spinning, particularly as the people doing the accusing are not human and for some unknown reason she can see that.
Quite how or why is left to speculation at the moment but probably connected to her ancient DNA work. As she comes in to contact with talking rats and all manner of guardians, she tries to clear her name after escaping using the rat (Pierre), to do so. The ending is fun and sets itself up for the next in the series, because now you can see people who have squids on their head, you can't unsee it can you?
People she thinks are friends are not necessarily friends and those she thinks aren't become friends. It is an excellent story. Love it.
The heroine is Zara, she has a boyfriend, she works in a small startup DNA lab, she is successful and she joint owns the company. Things are going well, until they aren't. The death of her boyfriend and the accusation she was at fault sends her world spinning, particularly as the people doing the accusing are not human and for some unknown reason she can see that.
Quite how or why is left to speculation at the moment but probably connected to her ancient DNA work. As she comes in to contact with talking rats and all manner of guardians, she tries to clear her name after escaping using the rat (Pierre), to do so. The ending is fun and sets itself up for the next in the series, because now you can see people who have squids on their head, you can't unsee it can you?
People she thinks are friends are not necessarily friends and those she thinks aren't become friends. It is an excellent story. Love it.
November 23, 2025
I received this book as an advanced reading copy from the author. Sorry, starts out a bit slow and I was curious about where things were going. It’s it seems to focus on one character named Zara with her interactions with her scientist friends and her lover Owen, who appears to have been murdered. Sara picks up a new friend and then the challenge is on to save the world from tentacle headed humans. The action really didn’t seem to pick up until about 60% in for this reason I gave it four stars.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews