The Last Wild - Hardcover

Torday, Piers

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670015547 ISBN 13: 9780670015542

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2014

Synopsis

In a world where animals no longer exist, twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes sometimes feels like he hardly exists either. Locked away in a home for troubled children, he's told there's something wrong with him. So when he meets a flock of talking pigeons and a bossy cockroach, Kester thinks he's finally gone crazy. But the animals have something to say. And they need him. The pigeons fly Kester to a wild place where the last creatures in the land have survived. A wise stag needs Kester's help, and together they must embark on a great journey, joined along the way by an overenthusiastic wolf cub, a military-trained cockroach, a mouse with a ritual for everything, and a stubborn girl named Polly. The animals saved Kester Jaynes. But can Kester save the animals?

About this title

About the Author

Piers Torday was born in Northumberland, which is possibly the one part of England where more animals live than people. After working as a producer and writer in theatre, live comedy and TV, he now lives in London – where there are more animals that you might think. The Last Wild is followed by the sequel (and concluding volume) The Dark Wild. You can find out more about Piers and follow his blog at www.pierstorday.co.uk.

Reviews

Gr 3–7—"When the rest of the world grew too hot, and cracked open in the sun, everyone came to live on this cold grey rock." In a future world that is largely without animals because of a terrible virus, 12-year-old Kester Jaynes, who hasn't spoken since his mom died, is called by the cockroaches to help save the last enclave of wildlife from the deadly plague. At first, Torday's interesting, imaginary world seems to be full of inconsistencies, but he takes pains to make a cohesive speculative environment for the characters to develop within. The prose is extremely British, which can be a barrier for reluctant readers, and while the characterization of Kester is strong, the plotting and atmosphere fail to deliver enough peril to make this novel a true a page-turner. Nonetheless, this gentle, dystopian adventure is a good introduction for students who may not have encountered environmental morality tale tropes, such as talking animals, an epic quest, and an evil corporation out to destroy the world. A solid choice for students who are too young for Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008).—L. Lee Butler, Stoughton High School, MA

In a world where there are no more animals (only a few rogue “varmints”), Kester Jaynes finds himself in an unusual position: a cockroach is asking him for help. Kester, who hasn’t spoken since his mother died, answers the entreaty of the cockroach (and some persuasive pigeons) and escapes to the forbidden wild, where a few animals have been hiding. It is up to Kester to save them by finding a cure for the deadly “red-eye” disease that has wiped them out. Torday weaves an intense narrative of survival and adventure akin to a sci-fi Brian Jacques tale and with great appeal to animal lovers. Underlying Kester’s wilderness exploits, however, is a story of corruption and greed, as the powerful Selwyn Stone stages a calculated takeover of society through manufactured truths and the henchmen he employs to enforce them. The plot becomes slightly repetitive at times, but overall this is an enchanted adventure with a message of empowerment and hope that ought to sweep readers along to the planned second volume. Grades 4-6. --Julia Smith

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I grab my chair, ready to bat the birds back out again, back to wherever they came from, when they start to speak—all of them talking together in a deep voice, more like singing than talking. Like a choir, direct in my head—just like the crackle from the cockroach in the Yard, or the whistle from the spider in the Doctor’s room, only this time there’s hundreds of voices speaking at once.

And I really can hear what they’re saying.

*Kester Jaynes, we have been sent to find you.*

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670015547
• ISBN 13: 9780670015542
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336