The Messenger

by Kylen Gartland

Ameliora is a young gray wolf struggling with a disturbing recurring nightmare. In this terrible dream, she is pursued by a beast with horrible fangs who kills her each night just as she awakes from her horror. She tries to cope with the troubling scenes but is not completely able to hide it from her fellow pack mates. Most of them offer support, but some think she is just trying to avoid her duties.

During a hunt, a beloved motherly figure entertains the group by retelling an ancient myth of a dark-hearted wolf who bonds with the spirit of chaos and corruption to create a half-mortal that terrorizes the wolf world. In response, a pure-of-heart she-wolf bonds with the spirit of peace and unity to battle the evil beast.

Haunted by this story and how it might relate to her own nightmares, Ameliora slowly begins to discover her true character—and even her true purpose. As a prophecy comes to light, Ameliora feels the pull to venture out to answer an inner calling—and comes face-to-face with her destiny.

Filled with mystery, intrigue, and heroism, The Messenger is a rousing adventure from the opening page to the last.

Genres: Fiction

286 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 2015

About the author

Kylen Gartland (1995- ) was born in Bellevue, Washington. She began working on her first novel at the age of fourteen and was pursuing publication at age seventeen. She was raised on an urban farm setting with two younger brothers. A large amount of time was spent chasing chickens. She began attending Washington University in St. Louis in 2013. She currently spends most of the year in Missouri where she works with gorillas at the Saint Louis Zoo. In her free time, she writes articles for The Odyssey which include her first published work titled "Can You Eat That?". Her first major work was published in June of 2015.

Reviews

[Tabitha Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Messenger is an unexpected and intriguing novel which follows a pack of wolves on their daily and annual lives. Beginning with the simple pleasures in life, the hunt, the change of seasons, the new litter of pups, the story weaves and slowly twists, turning into a battle between good and evil. Who will win?

[Suilyaniz Cintron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished The Messenger and I loved it! The story tells of Ameliora, a young wolf and her quest to destroy Rangatha, an evil wolf who bonded with the spirit of chaos. She is accompanied by another female wolf named Versitha and a male wolf named Nadav but I won't go into much more detail so as not to spoil the story for those who haven't read it. The messenger is highly original, interesting, well written and I just wanted to keep reading to find out what happened at the end. A great read!

[Stefany Rattles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went ahead and gave this book a 5 stars!

It has a very engaging beginning to the story and it keeps you hooked. One thing you will notice right off the bat is that the character names are all unique and to me, they also fit them well. The descriptions were on point and events were explained thoroughly. The length of the book is good, if it were short it would have lacked depth and I think that by the way it was written, the story is as it should be.

It was definitely intriguing and it has a mystical kind of feel. I enjoyed reading about Ameliora and how she finds herself changing and growing into someone that you will admire. She has struggles that she must overcome but of course she is not alone in her journey.

I did feel like there was something missing but couldn't quite put my finger on it which is no big deal, Still, I recommend this book, it was a good read!
Hope to see more from Ms. Gartland.

[Joannes Rhino · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing I gotta say that the author clearly had a very good imagination. The main character, Ameliora, is well developed and well-crafted. The part where she discovers her true calling is something I really enjoyed about this book, and yet, I learned something from it. The Messenger has its way of hooking me to unwrap the mystery that lies in the character mind, which is something I was curious about. Human nature making us so curious, but when it comes to animals, it doubles up the curiosity. Overall, this is an excellent book. I won't give anything else away other than to say that this was a terrific read, very intellectually written, with a flair that I haven't seen.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book! With twists and turns that made me not want to put it down until the end. I am very pleased with the way that the author wrote this book and how developed these characters are!

[Donna Chadwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

really good book and l enjoyed reading this book and l was sent this book for review and l am glad l reed it and i was hooked on this book it was hard to put down once l started reading it and there is nothing like a good book l would highly recommend this book to anybody