Week 3 Review: After the Snow

From Goodreads:
Fifteen-year-old Willo was out hunting when the trucks came and took his family away. Left alone in the snow, Willo becomes determined to find and rescue his family, and he knows just who to talk with to learn where they are. He plans to head across the mountains and make Farmer Geraint tell him where his family has gone. 

But on the way across the mountain, he finds Mary, a refugee from the city, whose father is lost and who is starving to death. The smart thing to do would be to leave her alone -- he doesn't have enough supplies for two or the time to take care of a girl -- but Willo just can't do it. However, with the world trapped in an ice age, the odds of them surviving on their own are not good. And even if he does manage to keep Mary safe, what about finding his family?

My Review:
Oooh! I really enjoyed reading this book, it was a lot of fun, and about survival, and of how humanity continues, and tries to do so, even in the face of sever life-threatening circumstances of all the snow, and the cold. And that was just a lot of fun with Willo and Mary, and how they interact, and how he sees things with his half dog, half wolf skull. Yep.

Willo was an interesting character. He grew up in a pretty harsh environment with the snow, and how tough it was to survive one winter to another, with summers being pretty short, and just melting things to freeze them just a few weeks later. He didn't have a formal education, he was tough some rudimentary skills such as basic reading, but he's become this hunter, a survivor, who sets the traps and collects the animals that get caught, using the meat for food, and the furs to trade for anything they can't make themselves. And yeah, it was really interesting to read about a 15 year old doing this sort of thing, since most 15 year olds today would have no idea how to make a trap, let alone set it, and catching anything, and then preparing it for food and furs. Yep.

I really enjoyed reading about the conflict between Willo, and what the dog skull thinks he should do, and what Willo actually does, because they have some disagreements, and then there's some trouble with the citizens of the city, and yeah, there was just a lot of problems which is to be expected when there's only really sun for about 6 weeks during summer. Which would really suck.

The plot was really great, with the surprise ending, and the connection of clues that had been dropped along the way, like a book, and some misconceptions about who was dead, and who was alive, and who people really were. I was disappointed with one of the characters, because he infiltrated the family, and it turns out that he wasn't so nice. So I didn't like him.

Other then that, this was a spectacular book with a great plot, and of how humanity will survive, no matter what. Look for this book when it comes out!

Author: S. D. Crockett
Read: January 16-17th, 2012
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Sounded good, 2012 Dystopian challenge, and a Debut Author challenge book.
Publisher: Feiwler and Friends
Expected Publication: February 3rd 2012

5/5 Hearts

4.5/5 Books

4.5/5 Stars