A review by zed_dog
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson

adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

I loved this book stylistically— the hodgepodge of language; the weird, almost stream-of-consciousness structure (I had to rewind the audiobook a few times in some sections to figure out what was going on, but I didn’t mind); the scenes between the two lovers were deliriously beautiful—just enough suggestive description to capture a powerful, tender connection. These scenes were sparse enough that, as another reviewer said, the reader ends up sharing Demane’s longing. 

The reason I’m not rating this more highly is
that it turns out to be a massive case of Bury Your Gays. I can see why Ashante Wilson chose to kill off the side-gay couple for the sake of plot, because killing one gave the other a reason to leave himself vulnerable to monster attack…but I do not understand why the Captain had to die. Why does he die?? Was it suicide-by-jaguar? Was it an accident, the moment of distraction when Demane calls out to him? I didn’t get why he gave up.


Like, I foresaw heartbreak: Demane having to stay in the wildeeps to replace the evil sorcerer, and Captain choosing to leave him—it definitely seemed like Demane’s hope about persuading him away from his violent vocation was a doomed one, but I thought it would be because the Captain felt a sense of duty to keep protecting the Brothers, and would always choose to do things in the hardest, most self-sacrificing way possible—he’d never have gone away with Demane just to let himself be happy. So if the writer wanted heartbreak, they already had a character-driven way to do it—I just don’t see a character reason or a plot reason that the Captain  had to die.
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