Lynn McBride and her family have survived nuclear war and disease. They live in a small community in the Canadian Yukon where they hunt wild animals for food. It is rare to see other survivors until one day she encounters a man called Jax accompanied by a dog/wolf.
Shortly after members of the Immunity arrive and show a lot of interest in Jax’s whereabouts. Originally funded by the government their purpose was creating a vaccine to protect survivors from the deadly virus. Lynn discovers her biologist father was involved in the testing run by Immunity up until his death and their escape to the wilds.
Immunity drug and take Lynn captive in an attempt to use her as a lure to draw Jax out of hiding. He is the only surviving member of their experiments, has super powers and sought after for his blood. Lynn has felt a strong connection to him ever since they first met and will do anything to protect him.
Soon Jax and Lynn find themselves fighting against Immunity and for their lives. Will one of them lose their life?
The chapter where Lynn reads the poignant letter her father written before his death really struck a chord with me. They seemed to have a close relationship and a shame he couldn’t tell her while he was still around.
This book was a handy post apocalypse thriller with plenty of tense of moments to hold my interest. I felt it was a little different to other reads using similar storylines. The main characters didn’t jump into bed straightaway and the nuclear war/disease outbreak a credible event. I read this story not long after there had been reports on TV of a virulent strain of flu and accompanying deaths. Although only a novel it really made me consider how people would cope if something similar happened in real life. Although rated as suitable for teens I feel it would appeal to a wider age group.
Well done to the author! Also thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to review this book in return for a free digital copy.

Oh how I love a good Dystopian and this is definitely a good Dystopian.

Set in a future where humanity has failed itself, the possibility that this could happen and soon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I felt the cold when Lynn was walking through the blizzard. I was tense while she ran for her life and I was happily surprised with who she met at the end.

I will absolutely be recommending this any time people ask for Dystopian suggestions.

There were a couple of things that made me want to read this book. Firstly, I love a post-apocalyptic story and this sounded surprisingly plausible in the current climate and political situation. Also, the setting. I’m pretty obsessed with areas like Alaska and northern Canada and the way in which people adapt to survive in those environments. I love watching TV shows and reading books that are set in remote and harsh locations. I also am interested in reading anything homesteader or self-sufficient lifestyle.

In The Wolves Of Winter, first the bombs started as the world powers struggled for supremacy. Then a mysterious virus known as the Asian flu wiped out epic numbers of the world’s population. Those that hadn’t died within a few weeks of being exposed to the virus were generally considered to be immune but few had ever recovered. Lynn and her family had retreated to Alaska even before the first signs of trouble, her father’s work having alerted him to problems. Then they retreated further to the Yukon, building cabins and surviving on potatoes, carrots and what they could catch and kill. Their location is isolated, only a neighbour nearby so when Lynn runs into a man whilst out in the woods, it’s unusual. Very unusual. And when more men come looking for him, it ends in an ugly way.

Whilst I could have no trouble imagining the events that led to the way things became in this novel, I can’t really say the same for the events of the actual novel. Lynn lives in like a “family compound” – she shares a cabin with her mother and also part of their group but living in separate cabins are her uncle, her brother and the son of her uncle’s friend. When Lynn comes across the stranger – a man named Jax – in the forest, the plot changes from a basic survival type of story to something that encompasses the fate of humanity, or what is left of it. Jax is different, on the run from a group known as Immunity. And Lynn suddenly realises that her mother has kept secrets – her deceased father was working on something, something important. Why won’t anyone tell her what it is? Why does it seem to involve her? I didn’t really enjoy the Immunity story to be honest and it detracted from the parts of the book I was most interested in. It changed the book for me, from something that was ‘hey this could actually happen right now’ to something different.

For me, the most interesting part of this story takes place before the book actually begins. It’s glossed over mostly – the events that led to countries dropping bombs on each other, the virus that swept the world, killing huge numbers of the population. People doing whatever it took to survive and for Lynn and her family, that meant retreating even further than they had. I’d have liked to read more about that journey and their settling in to their new place of residence, adjusting to the way of life with no electricity and living solely off what they could grow, hunt and catch. That’s the sort of stuff that interests me and I thought there’d be a bit more of it. Instead the book is more focused on the arrival of Jax, the fact that he’s mysterious and being hunted and just precisely what the group hunting him are really up to. I have to admit I struggled to maintain interest the deeper the story delved into Immunity and what they were doing and I honestly didn’t see the point of all the secrecy surrounding Lynn’s father and what he’d been doing and how Lynn, who was a teenager at the time, was so vague on it. Some of it seemed deliberately blocked out, as the death of her father had been very traumatic for her and I guess some is typical teen oblivion. But there were quite important things that Lynn didn’t really seem to remember and when she did/was told, I didn’t really see the need for such furtiveness.

There’s a sort of, well I’m not going to use the word romance, because it doesn’t really come across that way but I’ll say curiosity, between Jax and Lynn. It’s natural really – Lynn has spent her late teen and early adult years living with her mother, her uncle, her brother and another boy who is basically family anyway. Her only other interaction with the opposite sex in years has come in the form of their neighbour, a disgusting man who threatens to rape her. Jax is young, strong, fast and mysterious. However for me a real connection was lacking. It was more like aforementioned curiosity and circumstance, rather than any real bond. However the end of the book seems to suggest that if this one does well, a sequel will probably be forthcoming and perhaps we’ll get more of Lynn and Jax as there seems to be much more to their story and what they’re going to do.

This was an okay read for me but I didn’t love it.

6/10

Lynn McBride, 23, lives with her family in the Yukon wilderness, surviving off the land, after nuclear war and a flu pandemic have killed most of the world’s population, including her father. She is an accomplished hunter and while out trapping, meets a mysterious (but handsome, naturally) young man, Jax, who has been injured. Taking him home despite the suspicions of her uncle and mother, they are then visited by a group posing as traders, who are looking for Jax, but the same people find out that Lynn is also special herself, and will stop at nothing to capture her too.

I can’t say more without spoiling this, but I really enjoyed it. It’s a fast exciting read, well written, with a heroine who is actually quite believable: she may be immature and reckless, but she has hardly had a normal adolescence, and she learns from her mistakes. I loved the cover, and the title. This is being marketed as sci-fi/fantasy, as well as YA, but I wouldn’t call this sci-fi, rather it is tenuously plausible post-apocalyptic fiction - no zombies, aliens, magic or religious figures. It has been compared to the Hunger Games, but to me is the only similarity is the heroine’s prowess with a bow & arrow. Lynn is not as noble nor as tortured as Katniss, and the world she inhabits much closer to our potential reality. I was also relieved that there was no love triangle and refreshingly little romance, especially for a YA novel. The ending was satisfying and could stop there, although I suspect and very much hope that there will be other books. This would also make a great movie.

The Wolves of Winter, what I shame. I just couldn't get into this debut. The Wolves of Winter is a post apocalyptic story. I found the writing written reasonably well, I just personally struggle with this genre at times. Overall the story wasn't long nor short it was fast paced and interesting. The ending leaves us thinking there might be a sequel.

In his debut novel, Tyrell Johnson takes us into a harsh but beautiful post apocalyptic world. After nuclear world war destroyed New York, Lynne McBride and her family fled Chicago for Alaska where they lived quietly for a few years until a flu pandemic swept the world, taking the life of her biologist father. Lynne, her mother, brother and uncle then moved again to a remote region of the Yukon where they learned to fish and hunt to survive. Life is cold and rugged but with plenty of game and even a few vegetables in the summer they have adapted to their new life. Now seven years later Lynne, 23 is an accomplished hunter and loves the beauty of the Yukon but is lonely. They have met no other people since settling in the Yukon until one day a young man called Jax arrives, followed not long after by a group looking for him. Soon Lynne finds herself using all her survival strategies to fight for her freedom from a group called Immunity intent on capturing her at all costs.

Although this is a post-apocalyptic novel, the first half of the novel is more reminiscent of a novel about early pioneers trying to build a life in a harsh, rugged environment. The writing is very evocative and the descriptions of life in the Yukon are vivid with a sense of the extreme cold seeping through the pages. It is not until Jax is running for his life from Immunity, that a dystopian theme emerges and the reason for the family’s flight from Chicago starts to emerge. The plot is clever and not unrealistic, although I did feel the members of Immunity were a little stereotyped as villains prepared to slaughter innocent people in the name of doing good for mankind. Lynne is a well realised character, strong and spirited, trained by her father to be tough and resourceful and will do anything to protect her family and defend her home. Jax is more of an enigma but was emerging as a more fully formed character towards the end of the novel. The ending of the novel leaves enough of an opening for a sequel and I very much hope there will be one.

A nuclear war ends when a super flu spreads around the world. Those few who have managed to survive both of these events flee the cities, living off the land in isolated areas. Meanwhile, a secret government agency is carrying out experiments on children, supposedly searching for a cure to the flu, but more likely creating new weapons. And a young female protagonist learns she just might be the key to saving the planet. All sounds familiar, right? Doesn’t matter - I loved this book.

Johnson’s debut skips along at a fast pace which had me hooked from the first chapter. Lynn, our heroine, lives in a cabin in the Yukon woods with the rest of her surviving family members. Her days are spent hunting and wondering about the fate of the rest of the world. Little does she know, however, that some of the world is going to come crashing into her life soon enough.

There’s a nice build up to the action. I really liked how Johnson slowly increased the tension and created a real climactic scene along with some resolution.

The background of the war and disease along with Lynn’s family’s history is added with a deft hand. We never get tedious info dumps (maybe with the one tiny exception towards the end in the form of a letter). I also liked how everything that happened in the book felt real; the war and the flu were both plausible. (Shout out to Australia for trying to sort out peace. Hee.)

There’s a plethora of scenes of Lynn hunting and trudging through the snow. None of these ever get boring. (I must add reading about the snow during the grips of an Australian heatwave made it all sound quite appealing actually.)

Johnson also does a good job of writing from a female’s point of view. Lynn still felt very feminine even when she had to display her strength. If I had one whine, it would be her age. She seemed much younger than the character was supposed to be, but perhaps Johnson was trying to show us that she was this way from living in isolation for so long. And it did mean that we didn’t get a teenager thinking and acting inappropriately either, I guess.

I thought it was being marketed as Young Adult but apparently it isn't. I believe it would be okay for 15 plus though and think the book really has potential to become a bit of a sleeper hit. Personally, I can’t wait for part two (it's not really stated, but these things tend to be trilogies.)

I must mention if I had to chose between this and Nora Roberts’s recent Year One (which has similar themes) I'd chose this one any day. Roberts's effort seems so much more clunky and forced in comparison.

4 ½ out of 5