"There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot."

I feel like this book deserves a higher rating, but I can't actually think of any reason to elevate the rating, so it's going to stay pretty low. Let's start with the good things about this book: I loved the description of nature! I could really picture everything as it was happening, which is evidence of Owens's ability to describe setting and atmosphere really well. The mystery was also pretty entertaining, since it kept me guessing for the entire book.
Now, the bad: first of all, the characters. Kya seemed a bit flat. I couldn't actually find any flaws with her (besides the whole "lives in a marsh" thing, which isn't her fault anyway). Maybe it's because I like characters to have obvious flaws, but for a protagonist, Kya was...pretty boring. Also, all of the Black characters seemed a bit stereotypical to me. Owens also chooses to use numerous racial slurs throughout the book, both as typical Southern slang and to describe the racism in Kya's community, which I felt was unnecessary, especially because Owens is white. The other important thing has to do with the ending.

I literally did not pick up on the plot twist. I actually thought Tate killed Chase because of how he was picked up by the sheriff at the end, which I still don't know the reason behind. I also had a tendency to skim the poetry because I didn't like it, and thus missed a crucial part of the twist. I think it's a good twist, but I just didn't pick up on it until I googled the ending, which kind of ruined it for me.