The Wilde Trials

Book Reviews

Jun 5

The Wilde Trials
By: Mackenzie Reed

[Fulfilled ‘A book with a cover the colors of your favorite athletic team’ (aka Iowa Hawkeyes) prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]

[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]

“I’m going to the Wilde Trials. For two weeks, it will be me, the forest, and these fifteen people. One of whom is a bully, another who used to be my best friend, a third who used to be my boyfriend, and a fourth who is annoyingly loyal to said ex-boyfriend. Great.”

I mean. Yeah. This book is wild.

I read Reed’s debut novel, The Rosewood Hunt, and enjoyed that one a lot (for a YA novel). Unfortunately, her second novel, a similar world to the first book (even mentions Rosetown), didn’t hit me the same.

I did like that there was less swearing than the first book and more positive familial relationships, however, I think the biggest downside for me was that the plot of the book would have been much better in a dystopian or sci-fi setting rather than a realistic modern-day world.

The whole book centers around The Wilde Trials which is an invitation-only event for seniors at a private ‘rich people’ high school in which they compete for a $600,000 prize. But they go out in the forest, sleep in an abandoned estate and compete in dangerous challenges and there is not a single adult around.

At first it didn’t seem like a big deal, but the more the story progressed the more outlandish the situation became. Fifteen high school seniors supervised by three college kids in the wilderness? There wasn’t even a medical team on hand just in case an accident happened.

Not to mention, a kid had literally just died during the last trials (the main character’s ex-boyfriend’s brother so it’s a big plot point). The author is very clear about how the school ‘fixed’ a lot of things— which largely meant walling off a section of the estate and putting caution tape around it— but just saying ‘its safer now’ a hundred times, doesn’t actually mean it’s safer. There’s no way a school already in hot water for an unexplained death can legally run the trials with no supervision or medical team. That’s insane.

One of the challenges they are climbing up a cliff face. Yes, they get harnesses and the ropes were installed by professional climbers. But the contestants are responsible for clipping themselves into the harnesses and no one is there watching. One of the ropes is almost frayed through (well, because, sabotage) but don’t they realize that adult supervision prevents sabotage and keeps a lot of accidents from being serious?

If this was a different world, something dystopian or sci-fi, then it would be more understandable that these kids are competing in potentially fatal challenges without adults. I don’t know entirely why it would be more acceptable, it just would.

In the last challenge the prize money was literally bagged up and placed throughout the forest for the competitors to find and bring back as part of the challenge. Who in their right mind would send out $600,000 in cash with 18-21 year olds into a forest with no adults and expect that it would all come back alright?!

Oh, and by the way, the main character didn’t even tell her parents she was going out there and competing. They had no idea. Sure, she’s 18 years old and legally an adult, but this is a school-sanctioned event. Parents being unaware of a student participating in two-week long trials in the woods with no adult supervision is also ridiculous.

Oh, and by the way, the college kids in charge of the whole thing? Well one of them decides to change up what the challenges are last minute. Because of course they would have the freedom to make up whatever they want and one of them could just change everything and decide to not tell the other ‘supervisors’ and there’s no problem.

I wanted to like the book. I like that the main character, Chloe, wants to win because her younger sister has cancer and her parents can’t afford the medical bills because they paid to send her to a private high school. It’s a good heroic premise.

I liked that she was being blackmailed about a secret which kept her from bringing the saboteur to attention. That was something that made a little sense and added some mystery.

I don’t mind that there is the romantic thread of her and her ex-boyfriend competing with each other where they absolutely hate each other but you know they most likely don’t and will probably end up together again. I don’t even mind that I predicted part of the ending at only 5% of the way through the book. Some of those things are to be expected in a YA novel.

But I just could not get past the ridiculousness and insanity of the whole situation. Because so much of the plot and the suspense of the book revolved around the trials and the outcome of the trials. The implausibility of everything wrecked the tension. I like high stakes, but I want the stakes to make sense.

For example, the YA novel Heist Royale is about teenagers in the modern day world competing in dangerous missions in which there isn’t a lot of oversight or rules. But it takes place in the context of the thieving, dishonest, dangerous world. So it works. The setting and context of The Wilde Trials does not work.

I like the seven traits that they structured the trials around:

“The seven traits the trials are based on each year are strength, collaboration, wit, ambition, fortitude, agility, and adaptability.”

I think in a different context these traits could have been fleshed out more and really been showcased in the trials and in the character development creating a deeper experience and invoking more investment from the readers.

There was definitely potential to the idea behind this book; it just fell short.

It probably makes me a boring adult. Maybe young adults— the target audience— reading this book will have no qualms with the lack of adults. That’s fine. I understand that my interest in YA books tends to be more particular than most. I’m okay with that.

You can discern if my concerns match your concerns or if you are hyped up for the adult-free zone of The Wilde. Go crazy.

Recommendation

I’m sure there are people who might like this book, but the outlandish context and execution of the trials was too over-the-top for me to stay engaged with the story and the characters.

This was a book I was happy to get over with.

I did like her first book so it’s possible I’ll give this author another chance, but this book will definitely make me more wary of her next one.

Unless you are more into the romance and teenage relationship side of things, I would not recommend this one.

[Content Advisory: 29 f-words, 34 s-words, 5 b-words; a few prominent characters are LGBTQ and in relationships; a teenage couple has sex in the back of a car but it’s not described]

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

This book released in January, 2025. You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.