“The more they eat, the hungrier they become, and they are starving.”

This is a story about the monsters created by greed and the high cost paid by the rest of humanity. Told through the lens of Dene folklore, The Wheetago War: Roth (book 1) explores greed, monsters, humanity, resilience, and family.

Broken promises in the name of greed cause the return of the Wheetago, starving cannibalistic spirits that possess humans. Ross, a local hero with medicine power named “The Child Finder,” falls victim to the Wheetago and is grasping tightly to what is left of his humanity in an effort to find his family. Working with a band of escaped prisoners and a single mother with her son, they will fight to save themselves, their families, and possibly the world.

Indigenous folklore is breathtakingly illustrated and transformed into a graphic novel that you won’t be able to put down. The cliffhanger ending of book one will leave you feeling starved for book two.

Good story flow, truly exudes the eerie existence, abd situation that both survivors and Wheetago face. The uncannily realistic artwork stunned me, along with the palpable need of survival. Knocked one star for the dialogue. It was easy to follow however with the use of an e-reader, it was too blurry, and meshed too much with the background and the artwork

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

A vivid, one of a kind graphic novel that breathes new life into the well worn narratives of both apocalypse and the Wheetago (Wendigo) in a refreshingly original way.


This book was not what I was expecting based on the cover. The graphic novel’s Hypnagogic storytelling and dream-like visuals take some getting used to the same way moving
in water takes some adjustment from walking around on dry land. Once you’ve acclimated though, the artistic style makes for a one of a kind reading experience. Panels that are at once crisp and misty, detailed in landscape and dynamic in movement, brimming with action and feeling.

Roth is the story you never knew you needed. One that continues the trend of reimagining the tired old apocalypse scenario we’ve all read a hundred times by showing it through a first nation lens à la The Moon of The Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice. After an outbreak of cannibalistic monsters overruns the world, a ragtag group of survivors; including a mother, her child, some escaped convicts, and one of the very monsters they fear, try to live on while also preserving their humanity in this frightening new reality.

This story works on several levels, plot, characters you feel instant kinship to, and a fascinating world building element. Roth also places North America's most famous cannibalistic spirit, the Wheetago, or Wendigo, back in its original context as a creature from a specific culture and history instead of just another monster of the week. However, most importantly to me as a reader, this beautiful story delves into the most fascinating element of the apocalypse narrative, the human impulse to trust and cooperate, even at the end of the world. The desire to retain our humanity and compassion even when the stakes couldn't be higher and trust, either misplaced or earned, is the difference between survival and death at every turn.

Pick up this book, particularly if you’re looking for something more substantive and thoughtful from your end of the world fiction, you won’t regret it.

The illustrations were truly beautiful and matched the tone of the plot. However, I felt that the lack of continuity with the colors were confusing. Maybe this wasn't the first book in the series and that was why I was so confused.

They were meant to stay undisturbed, their dismembered limbs scattered, frozen under the permafrost, but as is always the way, the greed of industry has unburied them once more. Now, the most feared, the Wheetago, have returned, using their powers to call back the Na acho, cannibalistic giants once banished by Dene deities.

The revered hero known as the Child Finder who is fighting to cling to his humanity after a Wheetago attack, a mother, her young son, and a desperate band of convicts, form an uneasy alliance to survive the Wheetago horrors now awakened.

Beautifully illustrated with a compelling story. The text was slightly hard to read and I strained my eyes to make out a lot of it, but not sure if that was becasue I was reading it on a tablet or that is how the graphic novel will be.

The story came to life as I followed the art work and the words of this compelling story. I'm looking forward to volume 2.

Thanks to @netgalley and Literary Press Group of Canada | Renegade Arts Entertainment for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Van Camp's storytelling taps into the terrifying legend of the Wheetago (related to the Wendigo in various North American Indigenous cultures), capturing the primal fear of an insatiable hunger that consumes all in its path. The tension is palpable from the first page, and Shy's artwork enhances this sense of unease, using shadowy tones and surreal imagery to create an atmosphere that's both haunting and beautiful.