Wilder (The Chosen Ones, #5 (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Setting: Blythe, Washington - Cascade Mountains – Wilder Family homes in the forest; New York – Shea’s home, and Chosen Central – the Belows (tunnels and caves below) – Guardian’s Cave - Osgood’s Tower;Theme: Trial by fire to refine the character; facing ones fears; love – man for woman, man (and woman) for humankind, and man for family; fate; good overcoming evilCharacters:Guardian aka Aleksandr Wilder: 3 years ago, Alek went into a court to marry, and never came out – instead he was restrained by his bride and her cohorts, taken north, and experimented on and tortured (including the removal of skull bone to plant a tracking device and a plate with a hinge to give the doctor easy access to his brain), until he allowed himself to shift part way into wolf to escape… he woke up in the Belows of New York, and named the new Guardian of the Belows – to keep its residents safe, fighting off bad guys as well as demons; he has no memory of what came before, but is riddled with nightmares he can’t remember; the Guardian’s cave was built by an unknown entity, with a waterfall in one corner for cleaning and drinking, natural light during day, and glowing rocks at night, a ledge for a bedroom;Charisma Fangorn: connected to the earth, which sings to her – she wears a rock bracelet; but the earth is calling her to its depths, and she fears death if she goes, so she ignores it and her rocks are fading in strength; for 3 years she has been fighting hard, a losing battle, with the Chosen; she succumbed to and thought she loved Osgood’s agent sent to seduce her (learning about her desires from her adopted mother by paying her for the info)… but when he went to kill her, she defended herself killing him instead; ,she ‘falls’ underground, and can’t find her way out wandering for 3 days until exhausted and the demons being their final assault;Moises and Amber: Guardian’s helpers;Taurean: Guardian’s helper – but she is a bit crazy… she’s sees the world as it is, not as she wants it to be; she was of the aristocracy, but abused, and withdrew; in her craziness is truth… and she aids Charisma;Dr. King: dwarf doctor to the poor, abandoned, unloved, needy; though we don’t know until end, he trades knowledge of the Guardian’s doings to Osgood’s men in trade for access to necessary medical supplies; he treats Guardian, and Charisma;Smith Bernhard: crazed doctor, fascinated with the supernatural, willing to dissect and torture to learn more; Osgood’s man, and he considers Wilder his greatest challenge;Osgood: Satan inhabits his body; a month to the end of the 7 years… and since it appears the Chosen will not be able to stop him, he is eagerly looking forward to dominating the earth with his evilness;Jaqueline and Caleb / Aaron and Rosamund / John and Genny / Isabelle and Samuel: The rest of the seven – still working to unlock the angel’s feather (Isabelle, using her empathy, is able to open the safety deposit box in Switzerland – to carry out the sword shaped box undetected; overjoyed at Charisma’s return, and then with finding Alexsandr;Irving Shea / Dina: she comes to him in the end (he leads the Chosen, she is of the Others – intense love affair in their youth, but Irving betrayed her), mindspeaking with him; and with pushing of the housekeeper/Dina’s sister Martha, and not waning any of the Chosen to sacrifice themselves, Irving, with Dina’s agreement (looking forward to being together in the afterlife) open the box, releasing the feather;McKenna: the Chosen have warmed up to him, in spite of his plodding, formal, serious manners – and he is fond of them; he is to mentor the next Chosen;Vidar Davidov: what kind of creature is he? Unaging… knowing the past, and what the future needs; he gives Guardian a magical brew to unlock his memories once and for all;Konstantine Wilder and Zorana – and 4 sons and 17 grandchildren and 5 greatgrandchildren: A family that gave up shapeshifting and their pact with the devil to live in the US and to love one another… Vidar calls Konstantine when Guardian shows up, and the whole family goes to New York – welcoming him with open arms, not blinking twice at his half wolf form – and help in defeating Osgood;Summary:Bitten by a demon, rescued by Guardian, Charisma is unconscious for 11 days… and once awake, is easily drained of energy (the demon bite) – she is dying from it; but once awake, she and Guardian connect – talk – make love, with a few hiccups; Charisma is healed somewhat by the earth, burrowing into the floor of the cave – but she is ignoring the call of the earth, and gets Guardian to protect her at night from sleepwalking, not allowing her to leave;Once she is pronounced healed by a ‘playing both sides of the fence’ doctor, and learning the rest were home, she takes him to Vidar’s bar – and then heads home; the Chosen have one feather… they are happy to see Charisma, and hopeful when she tells them of a possible Alek… but when she wakes up all are gone… and Martha encourages her to go and help an orphanage run by nuns and overrun by demons… she goes, and is losing (even with the elderly nuns help), and Guardian (having been warned by Tauren, having been told by Dr. King – bursts out to her rescue… but then Bernhard’s men are there, with the police… they capture Guardian in a net and the helicopter is taking him… but Charisma snags it, and offers her knife – she falls off (to be retrieved by the nuns) and he cuts himself out, falls to roof and runs to safety; Charisma knows the demon poison is killing her, and while with the nuns, the Mother Superior listens to her, and counsels her to face her fear, and to do right… and the nun dresses her in a Chanel Jackie O light blue suit, and takes her to a door to the underground… where Guardian fits her and carries her to the sacred cave she needs to be in… and she ‘hears’ that she has a choice… to take the angel feather (that Osgood had buried in concrete at the bottom of the foundation of his 100+ storied building, but it magically sunk through the rock to this sacred cave) and a sip of the water in the cave for energy but the poison would eventually kill her – and take the feather to its companion and save the world – or to take a big drink of water and be cured and give a big drink to Alek, and he will be made man again… and reluctantly, knowing it means death for her, she does the right thing, and they return the feather to the Chosen… An Osgood and Satan are on top of his building – pulling in a storm, causing earth tremors, with his employees loading up the 1st floor to be his ultimate sacrifice – when a busload of Chosen, Wilders, Belowers, and wealthy (after a crazy bus ride) unload… with the goal of getting Charisma with the two feathers wrapped in her jacket (they seem to have chosen her) to the elevators and up to Osgood – and they know that the feathers and flight are part of the solution… and the couples are fighting side by side to get her to the elevators, to save as many people as they can.. and just she and Alek can go up… and he is ‘pulled’ out of the elevator to face his nemesis – Bernhardt and skanky ex-fiance – and he makes himself fully beast to fight them and get up to Charisma…And Osgood thinks he has won… has hurt Charisma… when an injured Alek joins them… and they take the feathers, touch them to his back and they grow into wings… and he carries her over the side, and somehow this dispels the storm, and Satan leaves Osgood’s body… and his building collapses (just after the last of the Chosen and humans exit)… victory… and as they are flying, the hair sweeps off his body, and he is returned to man… and she is healed of the poison… and she is pregnant (Osgood told her)… And 4 years later, all the women have 2 children (except Jacqueline who had a long recovery period for injuries in the building – but is now carrying twins to catch up)… and the news tells of some evil overload in China… but Samuel turns off the news, and tells them that it is up to the new Chosen to deal with it – and they are just to be available if asked… ahhhMemorable scenes:Konstantine’s speech – He gazed at the diamond in his crown, his Zorana, his wife… He gazed at his sons and daughters and his grandsons and his granddaughters, overflowing with welcome… they were is rubies and emeralds and pearls.The waterfall in Guardian’s cave – him watching her, thinking she doesn’t know he’s there… and later her watching him…Guardian getting to practice lovemaking he learned online on Charisma;The first night they make love… at first they are simply in bed to sleep – but they talk, and as she talks of her adopted mother’s exploitation of her, and he touches her bottom lip, she turns away – not from his touch, but from her discomfort of talking of her mother – and he interprets it as disgust of his form; later as she thinks he is asleep, she looks at him, touches his lip… and then decides to give him one kiss… and he can no longer hold back, but makes love to her … and turns from her after in anger – feeling as if she allowed it as a novelty, not as acceptance… and he goes out in the morning to fight demons, and counsels himself that though she is using him, sex for sex is okay and what he wants, mad at himself for getting angry – but when he returns, she sets him straight – once she understands his thoughts; I confess that I got sucked into the series and skipped and read this and Chains of Fire. The featured characters stories were engrossing and this novel in particular. The overall plot line at times seems choppy (between books and within the book) and developed superficially though it has potential. Whenever it is woven with the featured characters, it develops well but when they shift from the non-featured characters, it doesn't develop as smoothly and at times seems extraneous. I wanted to care but couldn't. This one is the best of the novels I've read in the series (I only skipped Chains of Ice). It does weave in elements a lot better between the couple plotline and the overall battle with Osgood.
What do You think about Wilder (The Chosen Ones, #5 (2012)?
LOVE all this author's books, and the "BEAUTY and THE BEAST" theme of this one was unique!
—elize
Nice wrap up of all the stories and how they saved the world. Must read all the series!!!
—Jen
GREAT Book would tell everyone to read it. Hope there will be more like them to come.
—Jen
Poor Aleksandr! Good ending for the series.
—hannahberr
