As nuclear war and the deadly Asian flu pandemic tore the world apart, Lynn McBride and her family fled civilization for the Canadian Yukon. After years of enduring harsh conditions with little to no contact with the outside world, now 23-year-old Lynn longs for more. When a stranger named Jax arrives with a dog named Wolf, Lynn is given a glimpse of the world beyond her log cabin, but that glimpse includes threats and secrets she may not be prepared for.


With an inciting incident that includes superhuman fighting skills and a shadowy government organization called Immunity, The Wolves of Winter starts strong. There’s plenty of action and intrigue as Lynn hunts, fights, and flees from sinister medical personnel, and Tyrell balances this well with existential concerns and mystery. Is there something for Lynn in the wider world? What was her biologist father up to before his death? And what do those secrets mean for her? The setting also contributes to the novel’s promising start. The Yukon winter is ever-present, adding a sense of urgency and impending danger whenever Lynn leaves shelter behind.

Despite its promising start, The Wolves of Winter doesn’t quite deliver when it comes to providing novelty. Lynn is yet another feisty female archer. Bow skills and a reliance on her dead father’s survival teachings make her a 23-year-old version of Katniss Everdeen if instead of participating in the Hunger Games she’d fled into the wilderness with her family and developed a taste for Walt Whitman.

Jax is set up in the role of male romantic interest with a dark past. The superhuman abilities he displays certainly add interest, but with the narrative following Lynn, he’s given little opportunity for character development. This, in turn, makes it difficult to care much about the romance plot line. I found Lynn’s relationships with the other members of her small settlement more interesting. With them all so focussed on day-to-day survival, there isn’t a lot of time dedicated to sharing feelings, yet there’s a clear dedication to one another that I enjoyed exploring.

What makes this novel more than a woman versus nature tale is the Asian Flu pandemic plotline. This element gives the novel its sci-fi elements and its main antagonists, Immunity. Unfortunately, The Wolves of Winter doesn’t always explain how the flu works and the damage it causes (or will cause) in a way that feels natural, occasionally drifting into exposition-heavy dialogue. If you’ve ever been bothered by villains who give monologues in movies, this will probably rub you the wrong way.

Still, The Wolves of Winter does a good job at keeping the pages turning. It’s not the most original story, but the setting stands out and gun/bow-slinging can be fun to read. I’m not sure it’ll stay with me as long as other post-apocalyptic novels have, but reading it wasn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon.

(4.5 Stars)

 The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson was marketed as “Station Eleven meets The Hunger Games” with a little classic Jack London thrown in. All of this is what drew me to the book initially, and while accurate, this morphed into a much deeper and darker look at family and humanity than I was anticipating.

This book gripped me right from the beginning. Granted, it started off somewhat slow, but Lynn McBride was such a dynamic character. Imagine being a young girl coming up in a post-apocalyptic new world where the only things around you are your immediate family and a bunch of snow. Lynn is super badass in general, but it’s when you get a glimpse into her inner dialogue, thoughts, questions and feelings, that’s what really drew me to her. 

She was very personable and natural, behaving and thinking much like any young 20-something would be – including making stupid, rash decisions that often got her in trouble. There was something so heartbreaking about that, but also so raw. It speaks to human nature and how we really are hard wired in certain ways no matter where we end up.

If I’ve learned anything from books like this, it’s that you never let strangers into your camp. But I couldn’t blame Lynn for opening up to the mysterious stranger, Jax. He was an intriguing character and the tension he created in her family, not to mention the electric chemistry between the two of them – romantic or not – was stimulating. All of this set up a strong and intriguing beginning to what turned out to be a beautiful, heartbreaking and haunting book.

About mid-way through, you start to get the sense that this is more than just an apocalyptic survival story. There’s something deeper woven into the history of these people and my interests were tingling, curious to see where Johnson would take this. It didn’t take me too long to figure out what this something was and while the elements are pretty familiar, I enjoyed where the story took me.

This was beautifully written. I really liked the imagery of wolves that was scattered throughout. I liked the loneliness that the miles of snow gave to the story. I liked that there was a slight focus on hunting and survival, nothing too dominating but enough to give the book a real sense of what living like that must be like, and how we explored that world through Lynn’s eyes.

This book will likely be stretched into a series, which I am okay with, but it did make the ending a little lackluster. The things we find out in the end were kind of already circulating through the book leading up to that point, so I didn’t feel any huge impact from the ending, though I did enjoy that there was an additional bit of darkness in the wrap up. But I really liked the characters and I liked the journey that Lynn sets out for at the end of things. I think that’s enough to make me pick up anything that comes next.

Review I am such a sucker for any sort of dystopian novel or any novel with a dystopian landscape. Usually, anything that has a Hunger Games vibe gets me; I just love it. So, when I stumbled upon The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson.

The novel sort of has a young adult vibe with the perfect blend of a young, coming of age vibe and dark, disturbing plotlines. I find this so rare when an author can accomplish this balance (especially since I struggle with any novel that feels too YA). The story opens with a society that has collapsed after facing nuclear war and spread of disease. Lynn McBride and her family are some of the only ones left. Living in the Canadian Yukon, she has learned how to hunt and trap to survive this landscape of ice and snow. However, when a stranger stumbles upon their camp setting in motion a chain of events that leads Lynn away from the life she has come to know and into great danger, she must face challenges she has never dreamed of and fulfil a destiny she never imagined.

So let's break this book down.

Told through the eyes of our teenaged protagonist, Lynn was a pretty awesome and gave me serious Katniss vibes. She is strong-willed, sarcastic, takes no crap and will sacrifice anything for her family. I found her to be incredibly relatable. I really loved how Johnson was able to capture her multi-dimensional nature and, from her first moments in the novel, she demanded my attention.

There were also some pretty spectacular and well-developed secondary characters that I found myself attached to. Once Jax, the stranger, enters the picture, I loved how the pace quickened and the story began to unfold into something so much more. I obviously knew the general direction of the story based on the synopsis but was pleasantly surprised with how Johnson chose to have the story unfold. Now, call me biased, but I also loved the Canadian wilderness as the backdrop to the story.

Overall, from what I can tell, this is an excellent debut to the start of a series that I will be looking forward to reading. Truly, I was captivated from the first pages and think this novel would appeal to lovers of various genres. It really hits the mark on many different fronts! If you are a fan of dystopian fiction, science fiction, YA fiction or just really enjoyed The Hunger Games, then I think you should start 2018 off right and choose The Wolves of Winter. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

This book is a great way to start of the new year! It’s a cross between the Hunger Games, Station Eleven, and even a bit of The Maze Runner.

I love dystopia stories. Some seem so realistic, especially with the way the world is going these days. In this story, there has been nuclear war that destroyed a lot of the world. Asia was decimated by the Asian flu, which eventually made its way to North America. This future is terrifying, but unfortunately it is believable.

I loved the character of Lynn. She’s conflicted and takes chances but she sticks with her decisions. This doesn’t always have the best outcomes, but it made the story thrilling and unpredictable.

Also, while I’ve been reading this story, the weather in Toronto has been breaking records for how cold it is. This has nothing to do with the story, but it made me sympathize with the cold Yukon environment that the characters were experiencing. It really set the scene.

From the ending of the story, I hope there will be more to come. I’ll definitely be looking for it!

The Wolves of Winter is a dystopian story that is a bit different than what I have been reading lately but I admit that I did enjoy this book very much.

This book is one of the few dystopian books that I just couldn't put down because I was sucked into the story.

This book is one I know I will be reading again in the future and I am hoping there will be a sequel.

I give this book 4 out of 5.

I love any dystopian story. But this one felt plausible to me. Maybe because it’s been -20C for more than a week here, the snow crunching beneath my boots. I loved every part of this book. The characters are vibrant, real, lovable.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing my copy via NetGalley.

4.5 stars - this was an easy and very enjoyable, entertaining read. This book has a fresh and interesting take on a post-apocalyptic world, with characters I felt connected to and a plot that kept me reading until the end. I really hope we get a sequel!

​I’m always on the lookout for a new and exciting book in the post-apocalyptic genre. The Wolves of Winter jumped out at me; the cover screamed Nordic noir, another favorite genre, while the synopsis is all post-apocalyptic. I was ready to saddle up and head north with Tyrell Johnson.

This is a genre that is fraught with challenges. With all of the books available right now, the scenario needs to be fresh, unique and a wee bit possible. On top of that, should the author go with a strong, young female protagonist, she has to hold her own; the last thing I want to read about is another Katniss Everdeen wannabe.

So, how did Johnson do?

The world has been ravaged by war and a man-made plague (disease). Yes, we have seen this before. I think that Johnson won me over with the build-up to his apocalypse. The possibility of it seems too close for comfort. I thought that this scenario could actually happen.

The next thing that Johnson did that worked for me was the setting. It made sense, when the shit hits the fan – head for the hills. The McBride family did exactly as one should, they isolated themselves. Johnson illuminated the daily life of a family striving to get by and the realities of their existence.

No great story is complete without great characters. While the bow-wielding Lynn McBride did seem vaguely familiar, she holds her own within the genre. Jax, I really couldn’t connect with, however, his faithful companion, Wolf, was a favorite of mine. Among the supporting cast, Lynn’s uncle, Jeryl, stole the show and kept me connected to the story.

The Wolves of Winter is a great first outing for Tyrell Johnson. I had a couple of minor issues (don’t eat snow to hydrate!), but all in all I connected with the characters and felt involved in the story. If Lynn and Jax have any more adventures, I would like to tag along.

*4 Stars

Here's an exciting, action-packed dystopian, set in the Canadian Yukon and starring a brave young heroine, Gwendolynn McBride. Her family fled Eagle, Alaska to this remote location after civilization was destroyed by nuclear war and a weaponized flu.

Survival is a challenge, but there's a lot more to this story, which I very much hope is the first in a series.

I couldn't put this book down. Absolutely brilliant for an emerging author! Already a fan of the off grid lifestyle, especially north of 48, I was instantly transported to the land of dark and snow through the eyes of these all too relatable characters. I really enjoy that although we are in the mind or a YA female, her thoughts are unisex in nature, with the central focus being on survival. Fast paced, keeps you questioning what will they have to endure next. Looking forward to a few sequels!

AS THE OLD WORLD DIES,

It's been over seven years since 23-year-old Gwendalynn "Lynn" has used electricity, eaten a Fruit Roll-Up, worn a bra—yup, those good ol' days are lonnnng gone. Everything is different now that the world is at war with each other. And just when you thought things couldn't get any worse... well, they do. A massive epidemic known as the Asian Flu is claiming lives faster than the blink of an eye.

Things weren't always this chaotic though. This mess happened gradually. As the days went by, less and less kids started showing up at Lynn's school. Then one day, the teachers didn't show up at all. Food became more scarce. Then it became time. Time to say goodbye to the life she knew in Chicago. Her and her family needed get away from the hell that had broken loose before it devoured them, too.

After traveling from city-to-city, Lynn and her family finally managed to settle in the Yukon, a freeze-your-balls-off territory in northwest Canada. Only, not everyone survived the shitty journey.

"And nothing happened more beautifully than death," Walt Whitman says.
Fucking liar.

WE ALL MUST CHOOSE TO BECOME PREDATORS.

Jax isn't quite sure how old he is—27 maybe 28? Here's the thing, you lose track of time when you don't have a watch or a calendar to follow, when the world has gone to shit, no friends to chat with. It's just you and your dog. There is, however, one thing Jax is certain about: do not get caught by the group known as Immunity.

Jax has been taken advantage of long enough, and now he is on the run. With no sense of purpose except to get away as far as he can from the savage people who want to use him as a weapon. Jax is about to cross paths with Lynn and unknowingly help her uncover a secret she's been kept in the dark about for far too long. But as for Lynn, well, she isn't the only one with a secret.

OR BECOME PREY.

Rated PG-13: This book deals with two scenes of sexual assault, frequents the use of profanity and references sex.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. Quotes are subject to change upon publication.

PS. I will be purchasing this book with my own money when it comes out on January 2, 2018. Yes, that's how much I freaking loved it. Watch out for this up-and-coming author because they are on 🔥!!

Having your first book published in the first week of January is not a good sign. Yes, there’s less competition among other books coming out that week, but most people’s Visa cards have been maxed out from buying for family at Christmas and indulging for themselves on Boxing Day. This is the precarious situation that Tyrell Johnson, an American who now lives in Canada, faces. His debut book, The Wolves of Winter, is being dropped at that time, so I admittedly had to wonder if the book was terrible. After all, why would the publisher be dropping it into this dead zone, sales-wise?

It turns out, The Wolves of Winter isn’t too bad — as far as page-turners go. The publisher is marketing the book as a cross between Station Eleven and The Hunger Games. The comparison is apt because Johnson borrows some imagery (and the general plot setup) from Station Eleven, and the heroine — a young woman who is killer when wielding a cross-bow — is basically a copy and paste of Katniss Everdeen. So what the book about?

In a post-terrorism, post-flu epidemic world, a young girl named Gwendolyn (but who prefers to be called Lynn) and her family make do trying to survive in the wilds of the Yukon during winter, after having emigrated from Alaska when the flu started catching fire. The flu doesn’t like cold weather, and Canada is safer than Alaska in that regard (believe it or not), so the characters are ex-patriots. Anyhow, everything is fine and dandy until Lynn runs into a fugitive named Jax during one of her hunts, and it turns out that Jax has superhuman capabilities and is, thus, being tailed out an outfit that goes by the short name Immunity, which is trying to find a cure for the flu. Basically, the shit hits the fan when Jax comes into the picture, and Immunity catches up with him. This puts Lynn’s family in a perilous situation where they must fight even harder to stay alive.

That’s basically the plot outline of The Wolves of Winter. It’s not highly original in a sense, but the book does its job of keeping the pages flipping — until Immunity comes onto the scene. I don’t want to spoil anything, but Immunity as a group are cardboard villains, the kind of bad guys who live to talk a lot about their motivations in monologues, thus giving the good guys more time to escape. Basically, the book starts getting sillier and sillier about halfway through, which is too bad because, up until then, it’s a fairly effective thriller. It’s not something that’s going to make you forget Station Eleven or The Hunger Games, but, for the first half, the book tells a compelling story. The quaintness of setting a human survival story in the Yukon is mostly the cause of that.

Johnson, probably knowing that he’s writing a pulpy knock-off, tries to go deep with symbolism to make his yarn stand out. Not only do we have the character of Jax to contend with, but our heroes start running into all-white wildlife: white crows, white foxes, white everything. I don’t know if that’s meant to be a commentary on the Trump-like world we know live in where anything that is a different colour of skin is meant to be “weird” at the least and a threat at the most, and so we’re moving towards an all-white society out of Nazi Germany. I found this element of the novel a bit baffling because it really adds nothing to the plot. But maybe this gets explained in the sequel, for the book ends on something of a cliff-hanger (suggesting a sequel is indeed on the way).

If you’re going to read The Wolves of Winter, my advice would be to brace yourself to read something you’ve already read and loved. You will be caught up in the uniqueness of the setting, but, eventually, the dialogue becomes more and more stilted and the characters become caricatures. It’s as though Johnson rushed through the second and third acts of the book. Again, it’s a bit of a shame because the start of the novel is interesting and compelling, and keeps you reading to find out what’s going to happen next. In that sense, The Wolves of Winter is successful in the smallness of places: surveying the scene of a dystopian Yukon is breathtaking. But when the bullets and arrows start flying, the novel becomes a bit clichéd.

Really, though, you’re getting two books in one here. The survival part of the story is ripped right from the pages of The Hunger Games. The flu epidemic portion comes from Station Eleven. To that end, I’d say that The Wolves of Winter is really meant for older teenagers who have read both prior novels, and liked them enough that they wouldn’t mind reading a merger of the two. To that end, the publisher is right in their marketing of this book. But are they really marketing it at all by publishing when they’re publishing it?

On that note, an early January release date is not the end of the world (no pun intended) for a book that’s set in the snowy confines of a Yukon winter. If you want to read something as frosty as what’s covering the glass of your windows, this book is perfect for that kind of feeling. While the novel does, ultimately, come up a bit short after a certain point of no return is reached, it is still enjoyable and pleasant. The Wolves of Winter is just an agreeable time-killer, nothing more and nothing less. If you’re looking for something that’s not much of a challenge to read, and like things kept simple, this book is recommended. If not, there’s always a certain young adult trilogy and a book called Station Eleven to re-read to make you feel like you are part of a world that we may be on the verge of heading towards, with much more to say about the times we now live in than The Wolves of Winter ever aspires to, alas.

I really like reading books set in Canada and that was a big draw for this post-apocalyptic story set in the Yukon. The story was fantastic and the main characters were easy to like. There is just enough pre-story to fill in any gaps but not too much to crowd out the actual story. For a debut novel I thought this book was amazing.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

This book was certainly engrossing! I finished it all over two 4-hour train rides. I was sucked in right away—the world-building was compelling and believable, and I liked the narrator. I think there might have been some set-up for a sequel at the end, but this book still had a complete narrative arc. My only complaint was that the "bad guys" felt pretty two dimensional, both the neighbour with whom Lynn doesn't get along and the people from Immunity. Some more nuance would have made later plot events feel more surprising and threatening. A solid thriller that will be a good go-to handselling option for both male and female customers.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book. Not a great book, but still a good one. Recommended.

A mysterious frightening possibility of a future we all hope won't happen!. . A scientist father who takes his family out of Chicargo when a deathly flue hits. He dies, but his wife, son and daughter and uncle survive and live in several cabins isolated in the far north. The story is narrated by the daughter who enjoys the hunting and fishing skills her father has taught her, but often wishes for outside contact.. When a young injured man does show up, the uncle and mother are suspicious of him and keeps him under close watch, much to the chargrin of the daughter., who cannot understand the why. The author keeps the reader in suspense, a great read, I recommend the book.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book really draws you in and holds tight. It alludes to the events leading up to the end of the modern day world. Wars with nukes destroying major cities followed by a pandemic of a form of the Asian Bird flu. Many people believed that heading far north into the colder temperatures of the Artic would save them from the virus killing so many. This is where we are introduced to Lynn and her family, mother, brother, uncle and the son of the uncle's best friend. Lynn is now 23 but we are given little glimpses of her past life and events that took place from the age of 9 to the present. Her family's migration from Chicago to Alaska and then finally to the Yukon. Life here is hard. Not only is survival hard but the isolation of a young women who is related to all the males but one presents a problem for her future. That is until a lone young man, Jax, and a dog crosses paths with Lynn one day while she is out checking her traps. Only he doesn't come alone. There is a group chasing him for reasons unknown to Lynn. As Jax slowly reveals his past, a possible connection between his past and Lynn's late father becomes apparent and may explain why she survived the flu when so many didn't, including her father..
This book seems like the perfect set-up to a sequel that would continue the adventures of Lynn and Jax. I want to know more of Jax's past life and what the future holds for both him and Lynn.

I received an advance copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love all the apocalyptic stuff and I especially like when it's written well in a believable format. In this case, it was executed beautifully. I actually had a hard time putting this down because even though it all seemed very simple trying to survive when the human race was being wiped out, it actually got complicated pretty quickly. I was dying to find out what the whole deal was and it was slowly teased out through the story. The all too brief story. I want more. This needs to be a series because there are so many loose ends! That's actually why I gave it a 4.

I really enjoyed the characters, the story itself was great. For my sanity Tyrell Johnson, please continue the story in this book in a series!

This novel was addictive and really seemed to freshen up the genre of post-apocalypse worlds. It did not read like a debut, but was rather brilliantly put together and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lynn was a great main character and her voice added so much to a great plot.

One of the many things I liked was the slow addition of details to build up to a complete picture. This is very true about the setting and the context of how the world fell apart. Lynn’s tale is freshly post-apocalyptic, so she often reminisces about her old life and how her life changed. It was really refreshing to read a post-apocalyptic novel that wasn’t set generations later, so the main character still remembered the old world and thought about the things that she missed about it. This book honestly felt so relevant to the state of our world currently in terms of how things went badly and escalated so much that everything collapsed, which made the thrilling aspects even more riveting.

I’m from Canada, so as soon as I saw that this was set in the Yukon, that made me want to read this even more. The setting did not disappoint – cold, empty, and heartless. But also beautiful and relatively safe in this post-apocalyptic world… It was really easy to picture what Lynn was seeing, and I felt like I was there trudging through the snow alongside her.

Lynn was an amazing main character and narrator. She had such a developed personality and it was easy to instantly connect with her and root for her. Her character flaws are some of the things I liked most about her. She’s tough, brave, and cheeky. She misses chocolate – relatable! Her thoughts had me laughing out loud more than once.

Lynn’s family – Mary, Jeryl, Ken, and Ramsey – are all good supporting characters. They all have some development and defining traits, but they don’t take over Lynn’s spotlight, thus leaving the story to be focused on her. They added great dialogue to the mix and made for some neat dynamics as they all interacted with each other and the other characters that showed up throughout the novel.

Jax is the mystery man of the book. His backstory is murky and he doesn't reveal much. I kept thinking, “Please don't turn out to be bad!” and I can say that I really liked the direction that his character took. Anybody who takes care of a stray dog has to be okay, right? Side note: I instantly fell in love with Wolf. (Who wouldn't??)

All the other characters appeared as the plot needed to move forward and they too were well written. Conrad fulfilled his purpose, meaning he was a great character to strongly dislike. Super gross guy… None of these characters ever felt forced or unreal, so that was a real bonus.

Right from the beginning, there was backstory and context woven in with the present, while also providing further details about the present. This was all really well done – I was able to ease into the story while getting to know Lynn without having to process too much information or keep up with an insanely paced plot. There were multiple times where my heart was really pumping from all the action and excitement.

The writing style was very griping and kept me racing through the chapters, which flowed seamlessly. I am a sucker for cliffhangers at the ends of chapters, so I had some late nights while reading this because I just couldn't stop. A lot of the book, especially the first bit, is written in short bursts. The time often alters between past and present, providing lovely glimpses into Lynn’s life while she grew up in Alaska, as well as showing how the world fell apart. The writing is quite varied – there is a wonderful amount of profanity (truly loved it!), some sections of Lynn’s inner thoughts, times without dialogue to just absorb everything that was happening around Lynn, and many passages that were absolutely beautiful.

Quotes I loved:
“Snow is a fickle bastard.”
“Snow is beautiful, snow is calming, snow is a cold bitch.”
(The fact that it is the beginning of winter here in Canada right now made me laugh at these lines even more – the cold that comes with snow is rough. But it’s also so pretty!)
“No fucking way.” (I shared these exact same thoughts with Lynn at the end, and I may have laughed and clapped at the event that comes with this line. It made me so happy!)

I look forward to reading more by Tyrell Johnson in the future!