The Wilde Trials / Mackenzie Reed / Book Review

THE WILDE TRIALS

Chloe Gatti will do whatever it takes to win the Wilde Trials, the elite competition held by her boarding school every year. Only a select few seniors are chosen each year to compete in a series of mental and physical tests designed to showcase Wilde Academy's core values. The winner gets money--lots of money. And that's money Chloe needs to help pay her little sister's medical bills.

Chloe might have been chosen as one of this year's competitors, but the competition has never been steeper. She's working against kids who are smarter, who are richer, who are more popular. She'll be playing this on her merit alone. And of course her competition includes her irritating ex-boyfriend Hayes.

When Chloe starts getting blackmailed during the competition, she turns to the only one she can think of: Hayes himself. Hayes, who broke up with her because she wanted to compete. Hayes, whose brother died in this competition several years ago. Hayes, who isn't really here to compete at all--who is looking for help to uncover what, exactly, happened to his brother. Hayes, who she thinks is delusional... until all of the pieces start to click.

THOUGHTS

Usually I come to a book like this with some trepidation. High melodrama isn't really my thing. But this book balanced the melodrama with its riddles and challenges so well that I had a blast reading it!

PROS

On Your Toes	Mackenzie Reed does a really great job of stringing you along with the mystery, the puzzles, and every little plot intrigue. I got enough answers to keep me happy while opening up more questions with every answer, more reasons to get invested--and more ways to leave you guessing along the way. And none of the twists and revelations felt cheap or unearned, which is impressive on its own!
Riddle Me This	The biggest letdown in a book like this, a book that revolves around challenges and riddles, comes down to the fact that the riddles usually aren't that challenging (at least for me). But in this case, I actually found the riddles quite interesting. I liked following along as Chloe figured them out, putting pieces together and making leaps in logic that made just the right amount of sense. It was fun!
Ensnared	The old manor house where the Wilde Trials take place is absolutely the perfect setting. It's overgrown. It's mossy. It's rotten and moldy. It feels damp and cobwebby and creepy, crawling with skittering spiders and complete with a set of tunnels that didn't quite make it onto the moldering blueprints. It's easy to get dragged into and absorbed in the setting alone.

CONS

While I was mostly absorbed in the story, in the challenges and the mysteries, there were a few things that broke me out of the story... like any time a snare or trap went off in the woods that just whisked people up into the air. That... That isn't how snares work. At all. It's very funny. It's very dramatic. It's very made-for-the-movies. This book's notion of how computer hacking works is also very tv-thriller, which caused a lot of laughs (though not what the author intended) and did pull me out of what was otherwise a very immersive story.	Whisked Away
Which kind of leads me into this next point. This book employs some classic and less-than-realistic tropes at times, which is ultimately forgivable. But when you take a step back from the from the fun of it all, the whole setup feels a little... flimsy. Because a group of private school students going out on these challenges with only a few alumni as chaperones, not a single staff member, doesn't feel like something that would be allowed to happen. Especially because the challengers aren't all legacy students caught up in the tradition of it all. Any random student can be selected, and that wonky "supervision"... just doesn't feel like something rich parents would let fly.	Reality Check
Chloe wants to win the Wilde Trials for the money. She wants the money for her sister, who is sick. She wants the money for her parents, who have listed the house as collateral against the little sister's medical bills because she is sick. Chloe wants to win because she feels guilty that her parents have spent so much money on her education at Wilde Academy. And it kind of irks me that she feels this much guilt. That her family have let her feel this much guilt. I don't get the sense that they've made her feel that way, but I still didn't like it. It was sad. It was depressing. It was hard to want her to win just because I felt like she shouldn't have to. None of this is her particular problem, and the guilt element (rather than her joining in the spirit of competition or just out of the desire to help her family) really made it depressing to read. I didn't like it.	The Guilt

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10

Fans of Derek Milman's A Darker Mischief will like diving into the cobwebbed tunnels of this old, old academic building. Those who loved Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game will like the unexpected twists and complicated riddles of this fortune hunt.

Details Publisher: Storytide Date: January 21, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.