4.5 This was a complex read. Apart from the feminist and dystopian elements, it's an upper YA reader. It's the kind of book that it's best to experience (with time) and discuss even with more time and insight, but I want to point out that this is the first time I've read a book that describes well (emotionally) visiting a mother in prison. I think I never actually read such a scene in a book for young readers, and I truly appreciate it. Especially when the author says that the visitors are going to be inspected and will leave a part of them behind those doors (dignity, I suppose), but such a violation is worth it for a chance to see a loved one. That was a powerful set of pages because we are reminded that the person who is doing time is not the only one being punished. This scene is just one grain among other powerful scenes. It is a layered, complex, sometimes surreal story that is worth revisiting at different times in our lives.

This novel is so well-written and the characters are indelible. It is told on two timelines. The first timeline is about a young girl (Talia) who grows up in a community of women at an abandoned Catskills hotel at the top of a mountain, led by her mother (Pola), a fearsome leader wanted for murder and arson in the "flatlands". The second timeline occurs after that community is discovered and Talia must learn to live in the flatlands herself. The idea of a utopian feminist community in an abandoned Catskills hotel is so intriguing, but feels so far-fetched that you do not know whether to read it as fantasy or thriller. This book is kind of the inverse of all the male-drivem thrillers where men fight for truth anf justice and protect the women and children around them. That is not true in reality, but we accept it in the movies. Here women have escaped a world filled with male violence and have some success, but it feels like it could never happen. Maybe that says more about my expectations? Or that the story features the kinds of archetypes that lend themselves more to fairytale. Anyway, I love the story of Pola and Talia.

This is my first time reading a Nova Ren Suma book, and wow! What an intricate and layered story! I found myself getting sucked into the story of Talia, our FMC who, in the first chapter, is found by the authorities at the edge of a forested mountain and sent to live with her maternal aunt for some untold and suspicious reason. What quickly follows is a coming of age story tied up in a mystery as we try to figure out the answers to these questions: Why was Talia captured, what did her mother do that led her to run away and abscond to the mountains, and how and why did she end up getting locked up?

This story is separated into two: one story takes place in present day where we see Talia living with her aunt, coming to grips with the reality of her mother being incarcerated; the other story takes place in the past where we learn of Talia's backstory that showcases the wild and raw side of her upbringing and shares up to the point of her mother's traumatic arrest. Although this book focuses on Talia and her understanding and belief of the world around her, the setting of Neves (and the surrounding Catskill Mountains) was almost its own character, with how untamed and lifelike the forest acted. I was swept away at how ethereal and atmospheric the setting was, and at times was wondering if Talia had dreamed up her past experiences and life, since Neves almost seemed unbelievable. After spending the past few days with Talia and acquainting myself to her home of Neves, I will not quickly forget her story or her lived experiences!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company and Hachette Book Group for an early advanced digital copy of this book, and the chance to read and review it! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is a dream-like tale that skirts the edges of delusion. Nova's prose sings with wild poetry and feminist fury, painting a picture of community, escape, and the desperation it can take to get there, while exploring the very real world that puts women in a position of that same desperation, over and over again. This is a story worth teaching and studying, and reading over and over again to peel back new layers. I'll be recommending this to everyone I know.

I will read anything by Nova Ren Suma so of course I requested an ARC, thanks Netgalley. She is so good at writing mysterious worlds in which women (or teen girls) live. It feels magical and haunting all at once. Nothing like my life which is exactly the kind of novel I want to read.

I had a really hard time getting into this book. Perhaps I came with really high expectations. It just doesn't come together for me. Thalia is not an a dull character in dull situation, but I had to remind myself to return to this story. Perhaps it's a timing thing. The a bleak world, with a character stuck and confused and isolated is exhausting right now. Thalia is resistance, but not much in the way of action. Maybe I couldn't be in her head space and that of the world of the women around her.

First, I'd like to say a thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Wake the Wild Creatures.

It's just after 4am here in Los Angeles. Body aches and the chills, compliments of flu season, are keeping me awake.
I figure this must be the universe's way of telling me I have time, right now, to start this book.
I'm one chapter in, and I'm really loving Nova's writing style. It's truncated. But also flowing. I love a writer who makes a style their very own!
She brings the reader into the wild woods with such glaring details, right before she dumps you into the nightmare of suburbia.

That was my initial thoughts on Wake the Wild Creatures. And I continued to be enthralled by the characters and their surroundings to the very end. The story jumps timelines often, which is my only true complaint. I hope that Nova does a follow up as I'd love to continue to follow Talia on her journey through life.

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Nova Ren Suma once again delivers a haunting and atmospheric novel with “Wake the Wild Creatures,” a story that blurs the line between reality and magic, past and present, sanctuary and captivity. At its heart, this is a book about survival, female empowerment, and the lingering grip of the past. Before going into this review, I want to provide a content warning for SA on a minor (not actually depicted in the story).

Talia grew up in the Neves, an abandoned hotel in the Catskill Mountains that served as a refuge for women seeking escape—from violence, the law, or the world itself. To her, it was a sanctuary for women, a safe space. To outsiders, it was a cult. But when she was thirteen, the outside world caught up with the Neves. Her mother, Pola, was arrested for murder, and Talia was taken from the only life she had ever known to live with her distant relatives. Now sixteen, she struggles to fit into a society that feels alien, one that dismisses everything the Neves stood for. Her only goal is to return—to the Neves, to her mother, to the place she still believes is protected by a mystical force. But as she waits for a sign from Pola, she begins to question the truths she’s always held. Who betrayed them? What role did she play in the fall of the Neves? And is the magic that once shielded them real, or just a story she told herself to survive?

The book’s structure alternates between past and present, slowly unraveling Talia’s history and the rise and fall of the Neves. Suma’s signature lyrical prose immerses you in Talia’s fractured world, capturing the isolation, longing, and fierce determination of a girl caught between two realities. The writing style, at times, may feel disorienting, but it reflects Talia’s own confusion and trauma, making her perspective all the more compelling.

A key strength of the book is its exploration of female solidarity and togetherness. Talia’s growing friendship with her cousin Lake, initially reluctant and strained, becomes a touching element of the story, as the two bond over their shared pain and complicated family dynamics. The themes of found family and belonging resonate deeply, as do the questions the novel raises about freedom, control, and whether the Neves was truly a place of safety or another form of imprisonment.

While the magical realism elements are intriguing, they can also be ambiguous, particularly as the book reaches its conclusion. Throughout the book, you will find yourself questioning whether the Neves was truly cloaked in magic or if the mist surrounding it was simply a metaphor for the illusions we create to protect ourselves from harsh truths. The book did have an open-ended approach, which I appreciated.

Ultimately, “Wake the Wild Creatures” is a powerful and timely novel about resilience and the blurred edges between reality and belief. It is both a story of loss and a story of hope—of a girl seeking to reclaim the only home she’s ever known, even as she begins to question whether it was ever truly hers to begin with. Fans of atmospheric, thought-provoking YA fiction will find themselves captivated by Suma’s latest masterpiece.