I was 100% not in the mood for this book and probably should have put it down as soon as I realized that. The thing is, it’s hard to put down a new release library book knowing you’ll have to go to the back of the lengthy hold queue. Still, I wasn’t in the mood for something whimsical and slightly cutesy, so I didn’t enjoy Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance as much as I think I might have at a different point in time. The plots aren’t at all similar, but this one had the same sort of feeling as The Storied Life of AJ Fickry, a book I very much enjoyed at the time.
This is the story of Weylyn, an unusual kid who ends up living with a wolf pack after his parents die. He eventually makes contact with the human world again, but he’s never really fully human after that. Although he finds friends and family along the way, everyone knows he’s just different. Weird occurrences seem to follow him wherever he goes. There are sudden storms, the sudden dissipation of storms, mysterious forests, and lots of odd animals.
The story is told via multiple narrators who together, tell the story of Weylyn’s life. Some characters were more fun to be with than others of course, but I kept wishing the book would slow down and stop hopping back and forth so quickly between perspectives. I felt like I didn’t have enough time to become attached to the side characters, or even Weylyn himself.
Should you read this book? I would say yes if you’re looking for something uplifting and like magical realism. Most of my Goodreads friends have rated this 4 or 5 stars, so I’m definitely the odd one out here.
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