Friday, December 27, 2019

5 Reasons You'll Enjoy "The Wolves of Winter"

The Wolves of Winter
Tyrell Johnson
Published January 2, 2018
Forget the old days. Forget summer. Forget warmth. Forget anything that doesn’t help you survive.

Lynn McBride has learned much since society collapsed in the face of nuclear war and the relentless spread of disease. As memories of her old life haunt her, she has been forced to forge ahead in the snow-covered Canadian Yukon, learning how to hunt and trap to survive.

But her fragile existence is about to be shattered. Shadows of the world before have found her tiny community—most prominently in the enigmatic figure of Jax, who sets in motion a chain of events that will force Lynn to fulfill a destiny she never imagined.
- from Goodreads
The Wolves of Winter is a post-apocalyptic thriller that takes place in the snowy Yukon.  Here are five reasons why you might enjoy this book as much as I did:

1.  Lynn.  Lynn is the main character.  She's 23 years old and has been surviving with her family in the Canadian wilderness for 7 years since the collapse of life as she knew it.  What I liked most about Lynn is that even though she's adapted to this new life (she's an ace with a bow and arrow), she's feeling restless and wants to know more about what's going on in the world.  It felt very relatable.

2.  The plausibility of the backstory.  When the characters were explaining how the world got to this point, it honestly didn't sound far-fetched to me, and that was kind of scary.  In a post-9/11 world, people were used to sometimes random attacks, until one was just the last straw.  The United States retaliated with nuclear weapons against several countries, while we too were also attacked.  After that, a virulent strain of the flu began to wipe out large portions of the population.

3.  The action.  Although the book started off a bit slow, once Jax shows up at Lynn's family's homestead, the action takes off and never stops.  Jax is not who he appears to be at first, and Lynn and her family are pulled into the types of dangerous situations they hoped to avoid by building a life so far from civilization.

4.  The twists and turns.  The revelation of Jax's true nature was quite surprising, and as we are also introduced to a group of people who are trying to stop the spread of the flu virus and rebuild society, it was hard to know who to trust.  I kind of had an idea about Lynn's father and the secrets he kept through her flashbacks, but most of the time it was very unclear how the story would end for Lynn and her family.

5. The ending.  I actually kind of like when a story has a bit of an open ending - I can imagine all the different things that might happen to the characters after the last page.  Here, Lynn has hope, yet at the same time, the world is a difficult place and it's unclear whether she can actually help.

24 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to read this one ever since Greg posted about it on his blog, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I agree that the backstory doesn't sound far fetched at all.

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    1. Right? As I was reading it, I was like, this sounds too close to home.

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  2. I love that it is a realistic plot! I really need to make sure this one is on my TBR for the new year.

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  3. Wow. This sounds amazing. Adding to my TBR right now!

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  4. Yay! I bought myself this book for Christmas. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. I don't think I've seen this one mentioned before but I definitely like the sound of it! I'm about to check right now if my library's Overdrive app has it.

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  6. It's always scarier when you feel like it's something that could actually happen! I do like books with amazing MCs and unpredictable twists... not a huge fan of an open ending, but it's definitely better than a cliffhanger. Hmm. I'm going to add it to my TBR! ;)

    Thanks for sharing this!

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? ☃💬

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  7. I really liked this one and I'm hoping a sequel is coming!

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    1. That would be cool! Either way, though, I was happy with the ending!

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  8. This sounds good. I have never even heard of the book, so thanks for putting it on my radar. I definitely gravitate towards more thrillers in the winter. I'll have to add this one to my list!

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  9. I've seen this one around but somehow have never read it. Thanks so much for sharing because this is right up my alley!

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  10. This sounds both good and interesting, though perhaps not quite my cup of tea. I'm glad you enjoyed it, though!

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I'm so glad you stopped by, and I would love to hear your thoughts! Comments are always greatly appreciated!