Set in the haunting and barren landscape of a new ice age, After The Snow is the story of fifteen-year-old Willo, a "straggler" kid who loses his family in the opening pages. Completely alone, he is immediately flung into an icy journey of survival, adventure, friendship and self-discovery – with only the dog spirit inside his head to guide him. Meanwhile, across Britain, outlawed followers of survivalist John Blovyn are planning an escape to the fabled Islands talked of in a revolutionary book...This was an extraordinary novel, completely unique and absolutely gripping, there were some things that mean that I won't be giving this book the best grade but it's still a book that I'd highly recommend, especially to fans of "The Knife of Never Letting Go" or "Far From the War" as they are what this book really reminded me of.
I was gripped from the first page of this novel which isn't something that happens to me that often, I started reading at about 11pm and got to page 66 and then read the rest in one sitting the next night, I just couldn't put it down. For me, what really sold it was Willo's voice, his dialect and grammar his are very improper and though I know a lot of readers don't like that, I absolutely loved it and felt that in a way it helped to support the features in Willo's character such as his animalistic survival instinct. I did however feel that it kind of isolated Willo from us, he wasn't a relatable character because of his dialect.
Crockett did a great job with the storyline and development: everything linked together and there wasn't many parts where I was left thinking "what just happened?" - I did feel like that at the parts where Willo's dog head is talking to him, I just don't get that, is that a personification of Willo's survival instinct or just an imaginary friend of a lonely boy?
Overall, I felt that Far From the Snow was a unique novel, I really enjoyed the writing style and eel that this will separate it from similar stories of survival though the dogs head thing was a bit weird.
Overall rating: B
Book released February 2nd by Macmillan
Book received for review from the publisher
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