Come Witness The Savage Spectacle Of 'Wild Boy'!

Sometimes, I like a little variety in the young fiction I read, and the best way I've found to do this is to look at fiction for a slightly younger age range. I've done this before on this blog, for example when I reviewed 'Wonder', and I'm always just a pinch fascinated to see the differences between what is classified by children’s and YA. However, from reading ‘Wild Boy’ by Rob Lloyd Jones, I have confirmed my suspicion that it is not in the enjoyment found by older readers.

'Wild Boy' ticks all the boxes a 10-year-old would like ticked in a book. Action, adventure, mystery and a heroic underdog to root for. From about the 1980s to the 2000s, there has been a huge shift in that, in the more recent films, in the end, everyone who is under appreciated demonstrates their value and is rewarded zealously for it, be that in popularity, sport or even singing, if you're Zac Efron. Wild Boy makes a perfect underdog and his partner in crime Clarissa passes well for a loveable rogue with a tragic past. Part of what makes this book so appealing is its cast of vivid Victorian-styled characters. This is not just the circus members, but in the work house and in the intellectual circles Wild Boy eventually uncovers. These perfectly painted caricatures cast themselves in roles that are often horrible, and visibly grotesque (it is a freak show, literally, at points in this novel), and really bring the story to life. This is helped even further by Rob Lloyd Jones' backdrop of creepy Victorian London, with twists and turns in setting so frequently, you may have to be a Londoner (which thankfully I am) to keep up.

This, I would say, was the books only disadvantage. With such a well-known setting as London, it's impossible to be vague about where you are placing your tale, but, at the same time, this double edged sword means you are unable to keep your reader following so vividly at points, without the aid of a map. This book also suffered a little from too much going on. This does, as I said, tick every box for a 10-year-old's idea of adventure - but is that such a good thing? Sometimes less can be more, and, though I'll admit the pace of the plot kept up, there were so many different settings running around at a point I was slightly lost. A little more description of each location would have gone a long way in helping this, but I guess something must be sacrificed in the name of a fast paced adventure, and setting is not the worst thing that could have been chosen.

All in all, I was really charmed by 'Wild Boy'. Something about it felt unique, which is pretty rare in fiction these days. It's been compared often enough to Sherlock Holmes, but this is selling it short as simply an emulation of a classic. 'Wild Boy' stands strong as a strong and fascinating read all on its own, not needing to hold itself as a mimesis,  but using well known elements to its best advantage.