The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson (Review by Gabriela Bolivar)

Rating: 5/5*

If you enjoy reading dystopian/post-apocalyptical stories, then this book is for you.

Tyrell Johnson’s debut novel “The Wolves of Winter” does its job portraying a disturbing reality that could easily become true. It has all the textbooks elements of what makes a story a dystopian one, and yet while submerging into it, you don’t feel as if you have already read this book.

The story follows Lynn McBride (a.k.a Gwendolyn) and her small family living in the vast and lonely lands of the Yukon Territory in Northern Canada. They were left no choice but to seek the solace of this inhabited land after a horrible pandemic that followed the devastation of a nuclear world war left the planet with a reduced and sick population.

For the last seven years, 23-year-old Lynn has lived a pretty much safe and easy life; she hunts, she makes traps, she reads poetry and has dinner every night with her family in what it feels like a routine. They haven’t had any contact with the outside world or other people since they took refuge in the snow and mountains.

But her predictable life changes when she has an encounter with “Jax,” a mysterious man that is wandering the woods and happens to be wounded and alone.  This meeting will set the course for the plot of this story; it will bring more questions than answers, riddles and situations that will make her rethink her entire existence, presenting her with a situation in which she’ll have to decide whether to hunt or be hunted.

This book is a great and easy read story that I can see turning into a series; it has all the elements of a fabulous franchise, relatable characters, pleasant setting, romance, adventure and an end of the world scenario with snow all over the place.

Review by Gaby Bolivar