Kingdomtide
Kingdomtide by Rye Curtis
Reviewed by Mimi
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72 year old Cloris Waldrip survives a plane crash that kills her husband and pilot. She is left in the forest to fend for herself and thinks it is only a matter of time before she dies. There is however a guardian angel (of sorts), another person in the forest looking out for her. Half of the novel follows her survival. The other follows Lewis a slightly jaded forest ranger. She is on a mission to find Cloris but gets caught up in an odd and complicated relationship along the way.
Cloris makes your think about mortality and grief. She is a classic, middle American housewife who struggled with fertility at a time where he one job was to procreate. Without ruining anything, the points I found most interesting was where she was on the cusp of getting found but had an internal dialogue of what was the point as her husband had died and she didn't have that much longed for child.
It goes without saying that the suspense of will they, won't they find Cloris is there but as the novel is written from her perspective looking back, it's more the how than the if that keeps you engaged. It starts really well and there are some particularly gruesome moments that bring you in to the story of life and death. It didn't grip me all the way through though and it was only at the point of a significant twist towards the end that I felt back on track with enjoying the book.
