The Irresponsible Traveller: Tales of Scrapes and Narrow Escapes
Michael Palin, Jonathan Scott, Ben Fogle and Hilary Bradt
Book
Publishing to coincide with Bradt's 40th anniversary, The Irresponsible Traveller is a light but...
White Hunger
Emily Jeremiah, Aki Ollikainen and Fleur Jeremiah
Book
1867: a year of devastating famine in Finland. Marja, a farmer's wife from the north, sets off on...
Colin Newman recommended XX by The xx in Music (curated)
Stand by Your Manhood: A Game-Changer for Modern Men
Book
Men are brilliant. Being a man is brilliant. Seriously, it is. Except for penile dysmorphia,...
Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Wolf Road in Books
Dec 14, 2018
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>
“Any lie can turn into the truth if you believe it long enough.” <i>The Wolf Road</i> is the debut literary thriller by British author Beth Lewis. The post-apocalyptic world is not a very safe place to be, especially for a seven year old during a fierce and dangerous storm. Lost in the woods, a young girl comes across a man who, after naming her Elka, gives her a place to stay for the next ten years of her life. During this time he teaches her how to trap animals, use hunting knives and move silently between the trees – all the vital things needed to survive in the wild. For a long time Elka views this man as a father figure, but on discovering that her beloved Daddy is a serial killer, she realizes she has been living a life of lies.
Desperate to get away from the horrifying realization, Elka runs off deep into the forest with only a hunting knife and the clothes on her back. With nowhere to go, she decides to try and find her birth parents, but although she can easily survive in the wild, she is completely unprepared for the human world. With a childlike innocence, Elka finds herself in trouble on numerous occasions, only feeling at ease once she is back in the woods living the life of wolves. However she soon realizes that she will never be safe no matter how far she travels – not until that murderer is dead himself.
Once you get used to Elka’s colourful dialect, the gripping narrative pulls us into a world with danger around every corner. Elka’s revelation at the beginning of the book seems like a small issue compared with all the trouble she finds herself in later on. The reader will sympathize with Elka as she discovers the evils of man, and admire her strength as well as the development of a conscience after meeting and making her first ever friend. But whilst Elka learns how to walk amongst humans, there is a foreboding sense of doom as evilness keeps her within its sights.
<i>The Wolf Road</i> is a great post-apocalyptic story with a strong protagonist. At times it takes on a similar theme to a western novel, with guns, gold mining, and violence; but it is essentially a thriller built up of lies that are gradually unpicked. There is no psychological element to the book, thus nothing to try and work out for yourself. You simply need to read and discover what happens. As a result this book is the kind you will either love or hate. Some people may find it disturbing or gruesome, whereas others may find it exciting and enjoy reading about the unique main character.
Personally I think <i>The Wolf Road</i> is a great, original piece of work, and it only loses stars because I found a few parts a bit too grisly. Beth Lewis writes well and it cannot have been easy to keep the dialect up for the entire novel. This is an author who definitely has promise for the future.
World of SUVs: Online
Games
App
Hello Friend! Ready for an adventure? Cool! Sit behind the wheel of your SUV and get ready for fun...
Purrsistently (46 KP) rated Hospital Sketches in Books
Jun 21, 2018
The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing Comics: How to Create and Sell Comic Books, Manga, and Webcomics
Book
For the first time in history, those looking to break into comics have an enormous number of...
Black Dog
Book
A special illustrated edition of Black Dog by bestselling storytelling legend, Neil Gaiman. This...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Winchester (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
I find this house really interesting, it's on my list of things to do on a road trip of America. It's bizarre, and I love bizarre. Throw in Helen Mirren and I was going to be all over this film.
I did discover one thing from going to see this though... I really can't watch horror films in the cinema. I generally don't find them to be very good films, but that being said I do easily jump at things even if I know they're coming.
I love the idea behind it, and I thought the story was a good way of doing it, but the end result felt a little lacking to me. It does get some kudos for not being as predictable as some horror movies though.