Wild Horses on the Salt by Anne Montgomery

Okay, so I have mixed feelings about Wild Horses on the Salt by Anne Montgomery. It was the blurb that appealed to me – I love stories about women who overcome adversity and find themselves after escaping a terrible situation. And this book has all the elements that I love – a strong ecological theme, wonderful attention to detail when it comes to describing the natural environment, and a cast of lovely supporting characters. And Montgomery is *almost* there in terms of pulling all the themes together, but it falls ever so slightly short of being a powerfully impactful story in terms of character development. I feel this book tries to do too much, and then doesn't quite hit the mark when it boils down to execution.

If there had been a firmer hand on the reins during the structural edits, these threads could have been tightened and developed better. As it stands, it feels as if the love interest is slightly tacked on, and Rebecca dealing with her abusive, erstwhile husband comes across rushed – the conclusion to this arc far too convenient and reeking of deus ex machina. Rebecca herself as a character, flounders along, not quite developing as a person to transcend her difficult past. What further marred the story for me was the occasional head hopping – not enough to make me want to put down the book, but enough for me to notice and get twitchy.

I feel that the author-narrator voice was not quite strong enough to present us with a credible omniscient viewpoint, so that the shifts, when they happen, feel ever so slightly jarring, and some of the dialogue falls into 'as you know, Bob' territory. When we read scenes from the point of view of animals, such as the stallion, the expression feels too much like a human explaining things about the animal, instead of immersing us in how it might feel to be the animal – that won't be using human terminology to explain things like roads or vehicles. Or maybe I'm just hankering after Elyne Mitchell's brumbies. (And if you've read those books, you'll understand what I mean.)

So, these were my quibbles. Wild Horses on the Salt makes up for it by offering a deep dive into the Arizona desert – and this Montgomery does well, clearly writing with immense love and passion for this beautiful environment and the threats it faces due to human encroachment. She foregrounds the plight of the wild horses, and humans' indifference or outright hostility to conservation efforts.

While the novel gets off to a promising start, I do feel as though the ending was dashed off somewhat, though this wasn't a complete dealbreaker – and a more rigorous bit of editing could also have helped, as the final offering was a little wobbly in places. However, if you're looking for an easy read and a bit of armchair travel, that will take you to a breathtaking destination, then this will be a pleaser.