you giving this a 5 stars after this description of it is so fascinating to me

i can't even focus on what you're saying. that's how much i adore the sylveon headband

I suspect a marketing-minded editor got involved and that’s what happened to the end of the book.

Tbh, this plot sounds like the author had two half-baked story ideas and an upcoming deadline

Never in my life would a book I had this much criticism for, get a 5 star rating, but that just goes to show, how differently we all rate books, and why reviews are so much more important than ratings

The first half reminds me so much of the village that i almost wonder if thats the reason why it takes such a drastic turn in the second half

i am SO glad i am lazy and listened to this instead of reading the book. because when you described it in the no spoilers section i was hooked and considered putting down the video and going to read it. soft magic setting mystery is my favorite genre by FAR so was super intrigued but i am both a romance novel and vampire novel hater (no hate to anyone who enjoys, just super not for me) and this could’ve made me actually throw the book at the wall

I'm glad I listened to the spoiler section, because if that specific monster reveal had happened to me I would have chucked the book/my phone out of the window. I HATE that twist personally. I loved your video about it though!

Oh man. I just finished this book and I have to say...waiting to introduce a secondary love interest until the last third of the book is a WILD choice.

This reminds me so much of a book I read years ago. It was about this guy who got shot in the head with a stray bullet outside a grocery store, survived but went blind, but then subsequently realised he actually could see ... but only at night. So he's at this rehab centre, exploring it at night, nobody believes him that he can see so he's exploring this ability in secret trying to figure out what's going on. And it absolutely captivated me, the way it was written it was so mysterious and like there was some kind of almost folklorish magic-in-the-real-world thing going on that fascinated me. And then abruptly we switch to another POV and its revealed that it's actually just psychosis, and he turns into the most stereotypical schizophrenic character you've ever heard. Like he was literally making tinfoil hats for himself. And the plot just went nowhere. Not only did it feel like a final boss of the "it was just a dream" plot twist, which i HATE, but the incredibly lazy depiction of schizophrenia on top? I literally threw the book across the room (which was cathartic).

Fantasy lover that I am, I would have preferred it stayed the lowkey magical book I thought it was originally ... but man, even if it had gone with the answer being schizophrenia, if it had continued in the same tone as the start where we are seeing from the inside as this guy is navigating his reality and what that's like - it still would have felt worthwhile and interesting. But it just wasn't. It was just like "nevermind he was crazy lol"

Reflecting on this ... while not losing focus and quality in the second half is something I think most of us would automatically be aiming for, the real takeaway for me is you really have to make sure your story has enough consistency before and after a plot twist. Like shifting the tone and changing up our understanding of the world and everything has to happen in a way that preserves, idk, at least the genre?? The vibes?? Of the original? So the kind of readers who enjoyed the pre-twist section are gonna enjoy the post twist stuff. I feel like I need to read more to really grasp what you can do successfully with big plot twists but this has definitely been an example of what you can't lmao. So thanks for a an interesting (and entertaining) video!

Ngl I was expecting a very different twist. After part one I was 99% sure the village was a modern day large scale experiment and that they called them bright eyes because they are wearing goggles or night vision equipment

i didnt know what the spelling of the mc's name was, so all this time i was thinking how odd that erin a craig named her mc "gruyere" as in the cheese 😭😭😭

having read the author’s other works, this sounds like typical erin a. craig. she doesn’t know what she wants her books to be, and the result is confusing and difficult to recommend to fans of genre fiction

Not me, a sci fi nerd, assuming the “bright eyed” thing was somehow an homage to Planet of the Apes
(And from that kinda assuming the people of the town were the ones who weren’t human/corrupted in some way and being kept in the town as a sort of prison, and the “bright eyeds “ were regular people?)

OMG...the Sylveon costume is so cute.

I thought I would potentially give it a read but then the “town where you are stuck forever and monsters are threatening the lives of the town folks…” it’s giving Silent Hill. Silent Hill is the singular most terrifying thing I have ever seen in my life even decades later 🙃 so I will be going for full spoilers and seeing if I can stomach this book 😅

Omg you discussing the fantasy/romance/mystery aspects is so important!! I acutally did the same mistake in my own book's draft. The mystery was solved wayyy too early for the reader to even care because the book was supposed to be a fantasy romance but I also needed some plot. Hence the mystery. And I may think that's what acutally happened with this book, too. Maybe the author intented it as a romance first story and struggled to mold the mystery and fantasy elements around it. That's certainly what happened to me and my book in the first phases.
But yeah, there should have been a stronger developmental edit to keep the suspense for as long as possibe to keep the reader intriegued.

my brain for your entire review: 🎤turn around, bright eyes…

Erin A. Craig is usually an easy go-to read for me, I especially like her Sisters of the Salt series and the moody, gothic atmosphere she creates in her worlds. I’ve also enjoyed her standalones, Small Favors and The Thirteenth Child, and I was really excited when A Land So Wide was announced. I immediately rushed to the bookstore on release day and got to reading … and I still haven’t finished the book. I think I’m at the 60 % mark, but I just can’t bring myself to care about these characters whatsoever. I was immediately intrigued at the beginning of the book, when we start with the character’s ancestors and then during the first chapter as well, but then it felt like the story was just taking forever to really get going? I found myself caring more about the chapters set in an earlier timeline than the main story. Also, I just don’t care about the main couple - both characters feel quite bland and boring tbh. The other love interest isn’t much more interesting, either, when his big secret was revealed, I found myself just shrugging, because from the way his character is written, it felt quite obvious to me what the reveal was going to be. So far, the book is a huge disappointment for me, I was so excited for it, but I just can’t bring myself to care. I even started re-reading the Raven Cycle to avoid having to finish reading this book … anyways, I really hope that this was just a one time thing and that Craig’s next book will be as good as her others!

Wait but if that's why the warding stones are the way they are, why did they start moving at beginning of the book??