Wild Hare


Fiction - Dystopia
186 Pages
Reviewed on 06/30/2019
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Laura is a writer and artist and lives with her husband and family of dogs on an island in Puget Sound. Her first book, The Dog Thief and Other Stories, was listed in Kirkus Review as one of the One Hundred Best Indy Publications of 2015. Since then, she has written two more novels.

Her second novel, Limbo, is a fantasy about a dead teenager who decides to throw a neighborhood block party for her small corner of the afterlife. Publisher's Weekly described Limbo as "a slow, captivating exploration of life, death, and the place of kindness and forgiveness in the salvation of the spirit."

Eclipse Dancer, her third novel, is the first in a planned quartet--of which WIld Hare is the second-- featuring interactions between nature spirits and ordinary life. The nature spirits are loosely based on a combination of Native American spirituality and the fairies of Northern European tradition. A winner of an honorable mention in the 2019 Readers' Views Literary contest, Eclipse Dancer earned this praise from reviewer S.L. Hoyte: "Combining elements of fantasy with hard-core human issues, many relevant in today’s world, Koerber takes the reader on a magical journey as down-to-earth as it is out-of-this-world..,The writing is descriptive and artistic, without being flowery or overdone, and leaving just enough room to incorporate snippets of one’s own imagination. Some things are just not taught and Koerber’s writing is one of those things–she has a gift."


    Book Review

Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

Wild Hare was certainly something different in the reading genre from my perspective. Author Laura Koerber has brought us a tale of fairies and other magical creatures but they are far removed from the usual fairies and fae of fantasy novels. These fairies and half-fairies are, it seems, just normal characters trying to survive in a world gone crazy. Like the animals, the fairies have seen their world and their habitat shrink over the generations due to man’s incessant demands on his environment. Consequently, it appears they are indeed a dying breed struggling for survival. Living at a run-down resort out near Bear Lake, Bob gets by on a day-to-day basis with a bit of petty thievery, using his somewhat limited fairy skills and some odd-job work with his best mate Arne. Always wary about the militia who now runs the police force, Bob and his friends lament the destruction of their environment and the loss of personal freedoms in their country. It is 2032 and the all-seeing, all-controlling Government has everyone at their mercy but Bob’s not so sure that he and his fairy friends can take much more. Perhaps it is time to strike back.

I really enjoyed Wild Hare, it was something different. I loved the idea of red-neck, southern characters coupled with the abilities of supernatural creatures such as fairies. Bob was a fascinating character. Outwardly he cared little about the goings-on around him and sought solace in his limited slice of freedom at his cabin, in the forest and by the lake, but deep down a rebellion was stirring inside him. To me, as a reader, Bob epitomized the concept of the individual who feels he can do nothing on his own to change the system, so why even try. It takes an epiphany of a little old lady and his best friend’s arrest to get him riled up enough to take action. Bob was complex, yet simple and that’s what I liked the most about him. The opportunity to learn something of the Native American legends and culture was a real bonus in this story. I particularly appreciated the idea that fairies and their ilk revealed themselves to the Native Americans and lived in harmony with them, but understood that wasn’t possible with today’s modern humanity – a definite indictment on our society, of course. Beautifully written with a descriptive focus and limited dialogue, the story eloquently tells of the pain and angst as the fairies watch their world being destroyed by man’s greed, seemingly unable to stem the tide. I can highly recommend this book for anyone looking for something just a little bit different.

K.C. Finn

Wild Hare is a fast paced work of apocalyptic and dystopian fiction penned by author Laura Koerber. Combining such varied concepts as fantasy and magic with climate change and political domination is no mean feat, but the plot of this adventurous tale does just that. The central character is Bobby Fallon, an acerbic petty criminal who happens to be part forest fairy. Attached to the Wild Hare clan and guarding a small patch of turf, Bobby negotiates the problems of the real world as everything slowly turns to chaos around him. Poking fun at the exacerbation of conservativism, Bobby’s daily struggles are leading him to the end of the world, and he knows it.

Author Laura Koerber has created a truly unusual work of fiction, painting a portrait of a more realistic apocalypse that everyone can actually see coming. Charged with in-jokes about the current state of politics in the USA, the themes are gently wound into a humorous and genuinely compelling tale of ordinary people trying to get on with their lives. Despite the disaster around him and some of Bobby’s more questionable actions, it’s clear that he is written with affection, and grows on you as a fashionable anti-hero rebelling against every plot twist that hits him. The atmosphere is well maintained from scene to scene, dwelling in that strange place where you can’t believe that something is true, yet you know it really is. Overall, Wild Hare is masterful in its blend of satire and dystopian adventure, with a magical twist that offsets the reality of the plot beautifully.

Jessica Barbosa

Wild Hare by Laura Koerber focuses on the point of view of a half hare fairy, half human named Bob Fallon. His life is a cycle, a routine of sorts. He helps Arne, hangs out with Sally, Charlie, and Danni, waits for the next fairy dance… feeds, fornicates, and fights. Overall, Bob’s personal life is as good as it is going to get in Secret Lake and Bear Lake. Still, Bob burns inside as he looks around at the dying forests and greedy insatiable humans. He knows that his life might be ‘okay’ right now, but with the way things were going, it probably wouldn’t last. Even though he is a fairy that could hypnotize people sometimes, the power he and the other native spirits have is nothing compared to human stupidity and greed. Money is the most powerful magic of all, but as things go from bad to worse, he finds he just can’t keep standing by to watch the greedy people win.

Laura Koerber’s characters are so innately human in their actions, thoughts, and words that I was left stunned. The characterization of Bob is amazing as someone who is vindictive and angry at the state of the world, at the state of the poor, but had the power to actually do something about it, even giving in to pettiness just to get back at someone (anyone) who is directly or indirectly the cause of how the horrible the world has become. When I place myself in Bob’s shoes, and although I do not agree with some of his actions, I ‘understood’ and sympathized with his reasons for doing them. Bob is angry with himself for doing nothing, with the humans for hurting the forests, the lake, the world. He had a right to that anger, injustice constantly surrounded him and he felt helpless, useless. But that anger led him to do the wrong things and his actions had consequences.

Koerber emphasized these key points skillfully in Wild Hare, with well thought out and quotable lines like, “Is this how bad people do bad things—by forgiving themselves?” and “When you fight a violent and mean enemy, it’s difficult not to become violent and mean yourself.” I am impressed with how Koerber weaved unforgettable moral lessons through the tough tangles of the problems their society faced in Wild Hare. The content is intense and, to me, there is never a dull moment with every turn of the page. This was truly a one of a kind story. Thank you to the author for the unforgettable reading experience.