Finn, Kas and Willow have hunkered down for the winter in Finn’s home on the coast, hoping the savage storms raging around them will delay Ramage and his gang of Wilders hunting them down again. It’s been welcome, this rest in a familiar place, but both Kas and Finn made a promise and they know they have to keep it.

Finally they know they can’t put it off any longer. They set off in the search for Kas’s baby niece called Hope. The baby stolen by Ramage as his property. They need to find her, and the last people they saw with Hope were Ramage and a woman familiar to Finn. He knows where to look, but that means heading into the centre of Wilder Country.

The journey is dangerous, not only because the storm has blocked their path with smashed trees, but because Ramage’s men could be anywhere, ready to attack and fulfil Ramage’s threats. He wants Kas for himself too, and Finn dead.

On their long journey criss-crossing the countryside and back again, protecting Willow until they can return her to her parents, negotiating with another group of people keen to fight back at Ramage and dealing with small groups of Wilders, Kas pays back the pain dealt out to her, and Finn wonders if she’ll ever be the same.

More than they like or planned, Wilder men get the better of them. But Kas and Finn aren’t ready to give up. Fighting back again and again, on their own and with others against Ramage, they survive to fulfil their promise.

But the battle is far from over, and Kas and Finn know they have other people to protect and fight for. Lives are taken in this brutal war, but how many Wilders against how many of their own? The lives of Rowdy, Yogi and Willow’s dad Harry are on a knife edge. A report of Ray being killed in his own house, bowls Finn. Can he and Kas overcome the guilt, the deaths and their conscience in this war that Ramage forced on them?

Another thrilling episode in this trilogy. Kas is battle hardened with hate and pain at losing Rose and her baby, and Finn just wants to keep everyone safe. Facing Ramage is almost inevitable if they are to rescue Rose’s baby. Even though I cringed every time things go wrong or they are caught by the enemy, this filled the story with even more tension and authenticity.

After all, they are young teens, not battle hardened criminals like Ramage’s men. But with Finn’s knowledge of the country, some help from friends and others keen to wipe Ramage and his men from the Earth, they battle on.

Both Kas and Finn are dealing with a tumult of feelings and know they will have to make some choices regarding each other. This inner battle just makes this story even better, as they struggle through it to finally makes their own decisions.

There is a lot going on, but the storytelling isn’t rushed, providing enough detail to imagine their journey in and out of danger, but not too much that it slows the plot down. The more I got into the story, the faster I read, wanting to know how they were going to get out of their latest predicament. 

There is brutality and pain in these pages, but also tenacity, courage, recognition of what Kas and Finn mean to one another – despite their differences, and ultimately Hope. Can they go back to life how it was without Ramage?

I’m diving into Land of Fences, the last in the trilogy, to find out!

Author – Mark Smith

Age – 14+

Read the rest of the Trilogy (Click on a Cover)

(2017, Text Publishing, Australia, Apocalypse, Virus, Alone, Fear, Courage, Animals, Dog, Horse, Slavery, Brutality, Murder, Crime, Hiding, Fighting back, Attack, Hope, Love, Branding, Guilt, Promise, Baby, Survival, Action, Grief, Loss, Rescue, Series, Conflict, Blended Family)