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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
This is a young adult book, but I would recommend it to adults also. The main character is a young girl, and she is a true bad-ass! This is an empowering book for girls, and I hope they make it into a movie! Fantastic read!
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This novel was written incredibly. This story follows a young girl who is alive following a horrific event. We are being told the story through alternating timelines of "before" and "now", and slowly we are piecing together what has happened. This novel was really well done, but I found it difficult to read because of how intense some of the scenes were. There is animal death, which I cannot stomach reading. I understand and respect the choice, but I was devastated by it. There is also a lot of graphic depictions of murder, violence, and hunting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Trigger warnings: car accident, death of a parent, gun violence, animal death, fire, murder.
I flew through this in a couple of hours and it honestly felt like a cross between Kelley Armstrong's Rockton books and the TV show Alone, but for a YA audience. Basically, Jess' pilot mum dies in a car accident that leaves her with facial scars and a permanent limp. She's sent to live with her dad, who ostensibly lives in Alaska but in reality lives off the grid in the Canadian wilderness. Her dad is killed. She has to survive.
For the most part, I genuinely enjoyed this. Jess is a very determined character, and the impending winter added a great sense of tension to the story. However. I did feel like it glossed over a LOT of things. She starts with four pain killers and is very hesitant about taking them and then they're...just never mentioned again and there's no mention of her being in pain. There isn't a single solitary mention of her period. And, like, maybe it's meant to be that her period stopped because she's not eating enough. But at least give me a throwaway line to tell me that! She tells us early on that she can't drink the lake water, but after an initial rainstorm, there's no mention of how she gets water.
Certain elements were...very convenient (Oh, the cabin burnt down and you're stuck in a shitty shelter because you don't have the strength or muscle power to build anything decent despite winter being right around the corner? Don't worry, just dig up your dad's corpse and you'll find a map to a second cabin that has food and clothing in it! ) and I'm lowkey mad about Bo for obvious reasons. But, like, I guess that made sense for the sake of the story.
The big explanation in the epilogue was...a little much for me, but it was still satisfying. I'm aware that I have complained a LOT in this review, but it really was a very compelling story and I now kind of want to reread a bunch of survival books I read as a kid, including My Side of the Mountain and the entire Hatchet series.
I flew through this in a couple of hours and it honestly felt like a cross between Kelley Armstrong's Rockton books and the TV show Alone, but for a YA audience. Basically, Jess' pilot mum dies in a car accident that leaves her with facial scars and a permanent limp. She's sent to live with her dad, who ostensibly lives in Alaska but in reality lives off the grid in the Canadian wilderness. Her dad is killed. She has to survive.
For the most part, I genuinely enjoyed this. Jess is a very determined character, and the impending winter added a great sense of tension to the story. However. I did feel like it glossed over a LOT of things. She starts with four pain killers and is very hesitant about taking them and then they're...just never mentioned again and there's no mention of her being in pain. There isn't a single solitary mention of her period. And, like, maybe it's meant to be that her period stopped because she's not eating enough. But at least give me a throwaway line to tell me that! She tells us early on that she can't drink the lake water, but after an initial rainstorm, there's no mention of how she gets water.
Certain elements were...very convenient (
The big explanation in the epilogue was...a little much for me, but it was still satisfying. I'm aware that I have complained a LOT in this review, but it really was a very compelling story and I now kind of want to reread a bunch of survival books I read as a kid, including My Side of the Mountain and the entire Hatchet series.
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated