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The Children of the Mountain #1
Among Wolves
There's only one place left that’s safe.
It’s the last place you should be.
Gabriel doesn't know how it began. Nobody does, not even Kane, and he was President. Gabriel was on a tour of the White House with Mags and the rest of Miss Kimble’s first-graders when it happened. They fled in helicopters to a long-abandoned mountain bunker, even as the first of the missiles found their targets.
Ten years have passed, and Gabriel still lives deep inside the mountain, waiting for the world to thaw. But outside the ash-storms continue to rage, and supplies are running low. The President says it will be okay, but Gabriel isn’t so sure. He’s their scavenger; he’s seen what it’s like out there.
Then one day Gabriel finds a bloodstained map. The blood’s not a problem, nor are the frozen remains of the person it once belonged to. Gabriel’s used to seeing dead bodies; there's far worse to be found in any Walmart or Piggly Wiggly you care to wander into. Except this one he recognizes, and it shouldn’t be here. Now all Gabriel can think is how he's going to make it back to the bunker to let the President know what he's found.
But the map Gabriel has found is the key to a secret, one that has been buried for a decade. Gabriel's about to learn that inside the mountain things are not as they seem. And to get Mags and the others out he will need to face the thing that terrifies him most.
It’s the last place you should be.
Gabriel doesn't know how it began. Nobody does, not even Kane, and he was President. Gabriel was on a tour of the White House with Mags and the rest of Miss Kimble’s first-graders when it happened. They fled in helicopters to a long-abandoned mountain bunker, even as the first of the missiles found their targets.
Ten years have passed, and Gabriel still lives deep inside the mountain, waiting for the world to thaw. But outside the ash-storms continue to rage, and supplies are running low. The President says it will be okay, but Gabriel isn’t so sure. He’s their scavenger; he’s seen what it’s like out there.
Then one day Gabriel finds a bloodstained map. The blood’s not a problem, nor are the frozen remains of the person it once belonged to. Gabriel’s used to seeing dead bodies; there's far worse to be found in any Walmart or Piggly Wiggly you care to wander into. Except this one he recognizes, and it shouldn’t be here. Now all Gabriel can think is how he's going to make it back to the bunker to let the President know what he's found.
But the map Gabriel has found is the key to a secret, one that has been buried for a decade. Gabriel's about to learn that inside the mountain things are not as they seem. And to get Mags and the others out he will need to face the thing that terrifies him most.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2015
2125 people are currently reading
2668 people want to read
About the author
R.A. Hakok
6 books90 followersR.A. Hakok discovered writing while recovering from a lengthy legal career. His first novel, the techno-thriller Viable, was followed by Among Wolves, a chilling tale about a small group of schoolchildren who find themselves living inside a mountain after the world outside ends. The second and third books in the Children of the Mountain series are now available, and he is currently hard at work on the fourth. For more information and to download the free companion ebooks to the series please visit www.rahakok.com. While there you could swing by the contact page and say hi. R.A. Hakok loves getting emails from readers, and responds to all of them personally, and hardly ever in the third person.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 332 reviews
February 9, 2017
I think I'm being pranked.
Because I'm looking at reviews and ratings by other people of this book and they are all 4 to 5 stars. And all I can think, is that you guys have a taste for garbage. You enjoy the three day old banana peel sitting at the top of the trash can. When no one is looking, you're snacking on moldy bread that fell on the floor beside the trash can that someone was too lazy to pick up and throw away properly.
This book is that trash can. A massive heap of garbage.
I mean, the only way you could have possibly liked this is if you don't read a lot of post-apocalyptic/sci-fi books. The best sci-fi, has actual plausible science in it, at least partially.
This? I think the author was just pulling literal shit out of his ass and building a shoddy story out of it. I mean, did he even research how a virus works? Because from the sounds of it, he meant a bacteria but couldn't be bothered with that much further thought about his world ending abomination.
“The iron in our blood was the main example, she said, but there was also zinc, copper, manganese, chromium and a host of others with names that were hard to pronounce and even harder to remember. That was why the virus didn't just attack things, like cars and trucks and bridges and buildings. It could infect us too.”
To further explain this imaginary virus, it is spread by hand to hand contact. It doesn't travel very well via the air, this is all per author. So I ask you, just how could it spread SO quickly as to engulf all the metal in the world along with all the people and animals? If it requires hand to hand contact, how the flying fuck are all the animals dead? Have you ever tried to pet a wild deer or bear? No? That's because they generally run the fuck away. Sure, bombs were dropped in certain places from the sounds of it, it's not like the land was riddled with them. It's never mentioned whether those bombs were atomic or nuclear. If it was nuclear, whole other realm of problems with this book as well but since I'm not sure about that one, I'll leave it alone.
Hand to hand contact. Skin contact. The only plausible way for a virus to transfer via skin contact is if there is an open wound. Your skin is your biggest immunity as it prevents things from entering your body. That is literally, it's entire fucking purpose. The only way around this is if you take this wild metal eating virus theory and say that the virus consumes the DNA in your skin. Except again, that is not how a virus works. Fucking google it. Bacteria yes, virus no.
Secondly, a 16 year old virgin girl, being drugged and raped would not not have any idea what was going on. Because you might not have a vagina, let me inform you: your vagina feels massively different after your first time having sex. She would have been sore most likely for days, and not being an idiot, would not think that she had somehow immaculately conceived.
Third, all, I mean all of the characters sucked. In the end, I hope every single one of them dies because if that is what the world was left with, boring one dimensional human beings, then fucking become extinct already.
Because I'm looking at reviews and ratings by other people of this book and they are all 4 to 5 stars. And all I can think, is that you guys have a taste for garbage. You enjoy the three day old banana peel sitting at the top of the trash can. When no one is looking, you're snacking on moldy bread that fell on the floor beside the trash can that someone was too lazy to pick up and throw away properly.
This book is that trash can. A massive heap of garbage.
I mean, the only way you could have possibly liked this is if you don't read a lot of post-apocalyptic/sci-fi books. The best sci-fi, has actual plausible science in it, at least partially.
This? I think the author was just pulling literal shit out of his ass and building a shoddy story out of it. I mean, did he even research how a virus works? Because from the sounds of it, he meant a bacteria but couldn't be bothered with that much further thought about his world ending abomination.
“The iron in our blood was the main example, she said, but there was also zinc, copper, manganese, chromium and a host of others with names that were hard to pronounce and even harder to remember. That was why the virus didn't just attack things, like cars and trucks and bridges and buildings. It could infect us too.”
To further explain this imaginary virus, it is spread by hand to hand contact. It doesn't travel very well via the air, this is all per author. So I ask you, just how could it spread SO quickly as to engulf all the metal in the world along with all the people and animals? If it requires hand to hand contact, how the flying fuck are all the animals dead? Have you ever tried to pet a wild deer or bear? No? That's because they generally run the fuck away. Sure, bombs were dropped in certain places from the sounds of it, it's not like the land was riddled with them. It's never mentioned whether those bombs were atomic or nuclear. If it was nuclear, whole other realm of problems with this book as well but since I'm not sure about that one, I'll leave it alone.
Hand to hand contact. Skin contact. The only plausible way for a virus to transfer via skin contact is if there is an open wound. Your skin is your biggest immunity as it prevents things from entering your body. That is literally, it's entire fucking purpose. The only way around this is if you take this wild metal eating virus theory and say that the virus consumes the DNA in your skin. Except again, that is not how a virus works. Fucking google it. Bacteria yes, virus no.
Secondly, a 16 year old virgin girl, being drugged and raped would not not have any idea what was going on. Because you might not have a vagina, let me inform you: your vagina feels massively different after your first time having sex. She would have been sore most likely for days, and not being an idiot, would not think that she had somehow immaculately conceived.
Third, all, I mean all of the characters sucked. In the end, I hope every single one of them dies because if that is what the world was left with, boring one dimensional human beings, then fucking become extinct already.
June 2, 2021
My rating 3.8
Among Wolves (The Children of the Mountain # 1) by R.A. Hakok is a solid sci-fi novel about the post-apocalyptic world. The story follows the boy Gabriel and his upbringing in an underground bunker in which he arrived by chance with children from an orphanage. While they were visiting the White House, a cataclysm began because an iron-eating virus appeared. During the evacuation, the president takes them to a secret bunker, before the whole world collapses and is hit by the ice age due to metal particles that the virus has turned into clouds. Most populations become extinct or become vampire-like due to virus attacks on human bodies. The president has become their spiritual leader and governs every segment of social life. After fifteen years, Gabriel comes out of the bunker for the first time with one of the soldiers in search of resources as over the years the stocks in the bunker begin to decline. Although the president promised that the children in the bunker would be new hope for humanity, few were allowed to come to the surface because of the search for resources. Gabriel will, by chance, discover a murdered soldier who was previously searching for resources, and a tangle of lies will begin to be revealed. What the real truth is Gabriel will have to discover, but knowing the truth can be a deadly trap.
Fans of the post-apocalyptic science fiction genre will surely like the book.
Among Wolves (The Children of the Mountain # 1) by R.A. Hakok is a solid sci-fi novel about the post-apocalyptic world. The story follows the boy Gabriel and his upbringing in an underground bunker in which he arrived by chance with children from an orphanage. While they were visiting the White House, a cataclysm began because an iron-eating virus appeared. During the evacuation, the president takes them to a secret bunker, before the whole world collapses and is hit by the ice age due to metal particles that the virus has turned into clouds. Most populations become extinct or become vampire-like due to virus attacks on human bodies. The president has become their spiritual leader and governs every segment of social life. After fifteen years, Gabriel comes out of the bunker for the first time with one of the soldiers in search of resources as over the years the stocks in the bunker begin to decline. Although the president promised that the children in the bunker would be new hope for humanity, few were allowed to come to the surface because of the search for resources. Gabriel will, by chance, discover a murdered soldier who was previously searching for resources, and a tangle of lies will begin to be revealed. What the real truth is Gabriel will have to discover, but knowing the truth can be a deadly trap.
Fans of the post-apocalyptic science fiction genre will surely like the book.
May 16, 2020
Did not appreciate it,and therefore DNF
This book had what I thought a good premise.People living in a bunker after the apocalypse,then slowly coming out into the world.Getting supplies and whatnot where they can find them.Sadly,I was wrong.I got less than a quarter way and if I went any further I would just be forcing myself.It could not hold my interest and this is my first DNF.
This book had what I thought a good premise.People living in a bunker after the apocalypse,then slowly coming out into the world.Getting supplies and whatnot where they can find them.Sadly,I was wrong.I got less than a quarter way and if I went any further I would just be forcing myself.It could not hold my interest and this is my first DNF.
September 13, 2018
Gabriel is sixteen, and has been living in a bunker inside a mountain since the world went to hell ten years before ~ he and his classmates were on a school trip to the White House on what turned out to be the Last Day. The US President was already dead from the virus, but the newly sworn-in replacement insisted that the children should be saved too, and taken to the bunker. Now, Gabriel goes out scavenging for anything that can help the inhabitants of Eden survive. Outside, the world is cold, silent, where ash storms rage. No one know what started the virus that precipitated the end....
I loved this book. It's one of those stories that builds up gradually, so that, chapter by chapter, you begin to understand why the situation is as it is now, and this makes it a real page-turner. The narrative goes back and forth between then and now, which is one of my favourite structures. The sense of suspense is so good, all the way through, as Gabriel begins to uncover the truth about his situation. Much of the book is taken up with the trips outside Eden that Gabriel makes with former soldier Marv; there is much practical detail that in a less well-written book would be boring, but R A Hakok had me glued to every page.
Alongside Gabriel's story is that of Eliza, an analyst sent to Korea back before the Last Day, to look at the nuclear reactors. But she has another, far more sinister mission to complete. Slowly, the two plot threads come together.
The action really revs up in the last 20%, and the ending is great, making it a complete story but kind of a cliffhanger as well - now excuse me while I go and download the next one!
I loved this book. It's one of those stories that builds up gradually, so that, chapter by chapter, you begin to understand why the situation is as it is now, and this makes it a real page-turner. The narrative goes back and forth between then and now, which is one of my favourite structures. The sense of suspense is so good, all the way through, as Gabriel begins to uncover the truth about his situation. Much of the book is taken up with the trips outside Eden that Gabriel makes with former soldier Marv; there is much practical detail that in a less well-written book would be boring, but R A Hakok had me glued to every page.
Alongside Gabriel's story is that of Eliza, an analyst sent to Korea back before the Last Day, to look at the nuclear reactors. But she has another, far more sinister mission to complete. Slowly, the two plot threads come together.
The action really revs up in the last 20%, and the ending is great, making it a complete story but kind of a cliffhanger as well - now excuse me while I go and download the next one!
April 19, 2023
This will most likely be my last review of 2020 but R. A. Hakok's Among Wolves is a great way to finish. I picked this up on a whim because i liked the concept of a post-apocalyptic setting in a world where a virus destroyed us. The book does start pretty religiously but is about so much more. "The Last Day" is when Gabriel and his classmates are taken to the White House to meet the US President but are taken to an unknown bunker that serves as a home for the "Chosen Ones" for 10 years before our story begins.
The concept of living in a bunker, having to scavenge for supplies whilst dealing with the horrors of seclusions and living in a world where metal is a virus is both amazing and terrifying. I was expecting Among Wolves to be a popcorn post-apocalyptic book but Hakok didn't take any easy routes to impress me.
The characters were solid and even had an air of mystery that i admittedly was completely drawn into. These characters moved the plot along whilst holding a personality for themselves. There was love and death and i felt sorrow with both of these. There was substance to the relationships that also pushed the plot along.
Among Wolves is a horrifying ordeal that is both realistic and desperate and i devoured this. Hakok's writing wasn't the best but it was good enough to have me feeling scared but excited for the plot-building, world-building and character-building and i can honestly say i will move onto the next in the series shortly.
April 12, 2019
I read 2/3 of this book before growing soo disappointed in the plot. It was very slow and then introduced the idea that the man in charge was trying to capture the minds and heart of the children he saved in a bunker. The "religion" was very similar to Catholicism, and even though I am not of that faith, I am very tired of writers making the leaders of religions evil. The "heroes" were gay. so over used in our culture now.
I decided not to finish this overdone plot.
I decided not to finish this overdone plot.
March 27, 2016
Amoung Wolves
The title is misleading and it took a while for me to realize what I was actually reading. Sheep among Wolves might have been closer to the mark. Great story about survival of the human race .
The title is misleading and it took a while for me to realize what I was actually reading. Sheep among Wolves might have been closer to the mark. Great story about survival of the human race .
August 23, 2018
There's a lot to admire in Hakok's Among Wolves (not least the Amazon ranking) - for it is a Young Adult Sci-fi Dystopia that knows how to tell a story. Specific sciency things are glossed over or stretched to points of believability, but this is small fry, for the way the story unfolds offers us sneak peeks and tidbits, while focusing on character, and when certain events are unveiled, you can forgive a little far-fetchedness.
The world has come to a stop; all that remains is a group of teens and the adults left in charge of them, buried deep within the safety of a mountain. Outside is dangerous and snow-ridden. Changes are occuring within the small community, and revelations are not far away. Supplies are in short supply, and the tension is rising. We follow Gabriel's story; he is a scavenger, who, along with Marv (one of the remaining adults) heads out to pick through the remains of the nearby small towns and buildings. Pickings are slim, as they are forced further and further.
Refreshingly, we also witness the end of days, following one of the key figures in its downfall. It gives the story a more rounded feeling than you sometimes get from these apocalyptic adventures (including my own). Reading this taught me a few things about how I could about my own stories. But that aside, I enjoyed the pacing. It took its time, with nice, full-length paragraphs and sparse dialogue. I imagine if I did this, it would be full of description, but here it's often movement. Sometimes not a lot happens, but there's always movement, and at other times reflection. There'll be no awards won for imaginative synonyms or metaphors, but that's okay. For what this is, and who it's for, it works.
I've seen some complaints about the ending, but if you're picking it up, you already know it's book one in a series. Even considering that, there's more than enough within the pages to tell a full story, with plenty of twists and turns and surprises, right up til the end.
The world has come to a stop; all that remains is a group of teens and the adults left in charge of them, buried deep within the safety of a mountain. Outside is dangerous and snow-ridden. Changes are occuring within the small community, and revelations are not far away. Supplies are in short supply, and the tension is rising. We follow Gabriel's story; he is a scavenger, who, along with Marv (one of the remaining adults) heads out to pick through the remains of the nearby small towns and buildings. Pickings are slim, as they are forced further and further.
Refreshingly, we also witness the end of days, following one of the key figures in its downfall. It gives the story a more rounded feeling than you sometimes get from these apocalyptic adventures (including my own). Reading this taught me a few things about how I could about my own stories. But that aside, I enjoyed the pacing. It took its time, with nice, full-length paragraphs and sparse dialogue. I imagine if I did this, it would be full of description, but here it's often movement. Sometimes not a lot happens, but there's always movement, and at other times reflection. There'll be no awards won for imaginative synonyms or metaphors, but that's okay. For what this is, and who it's for, it works.
I've seen some complaints about the ending, but if you're picking it up, you already know it's book one in a series. Even considering that, there's more than enough within the pages to tell a full story, with plenty of twists and turns and surprises, right up til the end.
July 25, 2017
"She'd say that when they came is was not as single spies but as battalions. I thinks that's also true of assholes." - Among Wolves, R. A. Hakok
A post-apocalyptic world in which a deadly virus that contaminates metal has crippled the world. All that remains is a small group, lead by a religious fanatic, hidden deep in the heart of a mountain. Good but not great. I liked the concept, but the delivery left something to be desired.
The characters were believable and mostly had you rooting for them. I liked Mags and her "two fingers to the man" attitude that she maintained throughout. I do love a strong female character who doesn't take any crap! The main character Gabriel was just the right amount of naive to not be irritating.
However I did find it a little hard to follow at times. The author has tried to stagger the story line through flashbacks from different characters, but this sometimes left me confused as to what was going on. I feel like it was meant to be laying out the chapters like pieces of a puzzle but the order doesn't quite match up.
February 5, 2017
My first read of 2017 started the year in fine style, with a story that was tense and gripping, a smashing apocalypse premise and a vivid narrator.
I was puzzled at first by the second narrative (from Eliza’s point of view), because I couldn’t figure out how it fitted – was it parallel elsewhere, or back or forward in time? But stick with it and it’ll all become clear.
The finale was pulse-pounding, mouth-drying stuff, very good: pacey writing of the sort I love.
I thoroughly enjoyed Among Wolves and give it a firm recommendation, although I am still puzzling over the Lena thread. I don’t want to give out any spoilers, so I’ll just say that I thought her situation was going to have been engineered by Kane, and I never figured out why it ended as it did. Hope that’s cryptic enough to intrigue you without giving the game away!
There is more in the series and I’ll definitely read more to see what happens next.
I was puzzled at first by the second narrative (from Eliza’s point of view), because I couldn’t figure out how it fitted – was it parallel elsewhere, or back or forward in time? But stick with it and it’ll all become clear.
The finale was pulse-pounding, mouth-drying stuff, very good: pacey writing of the sort I love.
I thoroughly enjoyed Among Wolves and give it a firm recommendation, although I am still puzzling over the Lena thread. I don’t want to give out any spoilers, so I’ll just say that I thought her situation was going to have been engineered by Kane, and I never figured out why it ended as it did. Hope that’s cryptic enough to intrigue you without giving the game away!
There is more in the series and I’ll definitely read more to see what happens next.
April 3, 2016
This was an excellent book. From the title, I didn't think it would be very interesting...AMONG WOLVES...doesn't really do it for me. Maybe if the series title and the book title were switched it would catch more attention. But, with all of that said, the book was great. The characters easily came to life, a few of them surprising me. The writing was very good (no goofy sentences or spelling mistakes). What I really liked was that the book came to an acceptable conclusion, meaning that if you didn't want to read the next one (and I don't know why anyone wouldn't!!) the first one at least left you with a satisfactory ending. I will happily be reading #2 when I find it.
May 3, 2016
Pretty good. I will not be doing a review on this book because it would be full of spoilers. All I can say is the weirdo freak president needs his nuts ripped off and burned in front of him, only after he's been fed a box of X-lax and locked in a closet for three days. The goons that work for him should be strung up outdoors for two days in 112 degree weather without neutrogena 100 proof sunblock. Then.... they should be promised AloeVera cooling gel but told it was just a joke.
I can't wait to find out what happens when the next book is ready. So mysterious. What the heck is up with the strange humans or partial humans with the white hair? I have to read the next book.
I can't wait to find out what happens when the next book is ready. So mysterious. What the heck is up with the strange humans or partial humans with the white hair? I have to read the next book.
May 17, 2016
So I actually stayed up the whole night to finish this book. It is that good.
The whole storyline is difficult to understand at the beginning, as is jump across the world, and time, before and after the apocalyptic event. But as events unfold the past and the present will come together and make sense. The characters are believable, their actions in line with what growing up as they grow would make of them.
It is also one of the best logical explanation for vampirism I ever found.
I'm also quite curious on the american reader emotional response to this story.
The whole storyline is difficult to understand at the beginning, as is jump across the world, and time, before and after the apocalyptic event. But as events unfold the past and the present will come together and make sense. The characters are believable, their actions in line with what growing up as they grow would make of them.
It is also one of the best logical explanation for vampirism I ever found.
I'm also quite curious on the american reader emotional response to this story.
March 30, 2016
Don't Miss This Amazing Read!
Wow...just WOW! This well crafted coming of age story set in a uniquely disturbing near future time is one of the best reads I have come across in quite some time. The characters are compelling, the storyline tight and edge of your seat exciting, and the twists and turns amazing. R A Hakok has most definitely staked his place in the world of Sci-Fi fiction! I can't wait for the next book!
Wow...just WOW! This well crafted coming of age story set in a uniquely disturbing near future time is one of the best reads I have come across in quite some time. The characters are compelling, the storyline tight and edge of your seat exciting, and the twists and turns amazing. R A Hakok has most definitely staked his place in the world of Sci-Fi fiction! I can't wait for the next book!
January 2, 2018
Gripping read
What a great read, the only drawback is that what should be a far-fetched post-apocalyptic thriller these days reads as a real possibility. Written from the perspective of a teenager just starting to ask the right questions, it's also a good character study within the larger arc of the story. Highly recommended, unless you're looking for a book that's easy to put down before bed...
What a great read, the only drawback is that what should be a far-fetched post-apocalyptic thriller these days reads as a real possibility. Written from the perspective of a teenager just starting to ask the right questions, it's also a good character study within the larger arc of the story. Highly recommended, unless you're looking for a book that's easy to put down before bed...
August 15, 2017
Among Wolves: Book 1 in the Children Of The Mountain
The story of Gabriel and Mags. The world had come to an end because of a virus. The person who start the virus is planning a new world. He had taken children he plan to rise to believed as he dose. Gabriel is a scavenger and he has lean the truth, can he get all the children out or will all be lost.
The story of Gabriel and Mags. The world had come to an end because of a virus. The person who start the virus is planning a new world. He had taken children he plan to rise to believed as he dose. Gabriel is a scavenger and he has lean the truth, can he get all the children out or will all be lost.
April 18, 2019
Such a slow starter for so long I thought I'd regret even picking it up. I nearly put it down for good, half a dozen times. At three quarters of the way through it finally picks up the pace and goes from abysmal to pretty reasonable, but a decent ending just puts lipstick on the pig.
September 13, 2016
Liked it
Not bixicated at all. Lol. This is a good read. I enjoyed the characters and can identify with some of them. Looking forward to the next one.
Not bixicated at all. Lol. This is a good read. I enjoyed the characters and can identify with some of them. Looking forward to the next one.
September 2, 2018
Read for book club, had some interesting bits but on the whole, meh.
January 9, 2019
It was ok, it just never seemed to get anywhere, I started this in May 2018 and just never bothered with it, I'd do anything else apart from read it, I gave up at the end of the year.
February 11, 2019
Boring.
February 5, 2017
Among Wolves is the fictional story of a boy who survived an apocalypse by hiding inside a mountain bunker with his classmates, a handful of soldiers, and the newly sworn in president of the United States.
The fifteen year old protagonist Gabriel is the only classmate allowed outside the bunker to scavenge the nearby ruined land, tracking through endlessly falling snow and frozen corpses. We soon learn that he has a number of likable character traits which he’s developed as coping mechanisms for his precarious situation. He has a compulsion of counting his steps when he walks through anywhere dark and narrow, because it takes his mind briefly away from what’s happening. In the first few chapters he also comments on another character, Claus, who we soon learn isn’t a person at all, but a fictional character of his imagination, one he created to pass his fears and anxieties off into in order to disconnect from them.
This novel slowly provides the reader with a wonderful spider web of information that is connected and often crucial further on in the story. Barely anything is mentioned for no reason. Everything has purpose, which later on when I realised gave me a satisfying sensation of being a more integral part of the plot.
There are many ‘breadcrumbs’ and telling sentences that add ominous hints at what’s to come, which left me wanting and needing to read more. Here is an early on example where Gabriel is describing how Kurt, an antagonist classmate, is looking at his friend and possible love interest, Mags.
‘And occasionally, when he thinks no one’s looking, I catch him staring at her in a way that scares me. Like he’s just biding his time. Like nothing has been forgotten.’
And we are yet to learn what she did to Kurt in the past that he hasn’t forgotten.
I was also very pleased with the mention of Mags in the first chapter, as although I don’t read many novels which are purely romantic, stories without love interests don’t quite catch my attention as much as ones with them.
The only aspect of Among Wolves that did at first slow my reading pace was the occasional glimpses into the life of another character, Eliza, a woman whose last days on earth are told in third person. I found myself skimming, and sometimes overlooking these chapters entirely, because I was so engrossed in Gabriel’s story that I didn’t want to spend time reading about someone else who didn’t seem that relevant. But I made a huge mistake in doing this, because Eliza’s story is woven into Gabriel’s. I went back and thoroughly read through Eliza’s chapters, while quietly swearing at myself for my own ignorance.
One writing technique that really blew me away when reading Among Wolves is that it accomplishes something very difficult in storytelling. The main character and the reader are presented with the same information, the same puzzle pieces at the very same time, and yet the character remains blind to what is happening, while the reader realises the big picture, and the danger it presents. Gabriel’s excuse for this is his forgivable naivety, but once I, the reader, had twigged what was happening, thanks in part to Eliza’s story snippets, I was almost screaming at the pages, willing Gabriel to look again at the information he had discarded.
I’ve read male first person narratives before and always failed to connect with them as much as I would have liked, which I put down to the fact that I’m female. However, I now know that cannot be the reason since I fully empathised and related with Gabriel, which I believe is due to the detail in which his thoughts and observations are written.
‘…the houses have been abandoned. People still locked up when they left though, like maybe they thought they’d be back some day.’ – I love the details of his thoughts and the way his mind wonders - his realistic thoughts about completely reasonable human habits and behaviours, which make his dystopian reality that much more tangible.
I have a favourite scene because of its slow, steady build of suspense and fear. I can’t explain fully because it would give far too much away, but it involves Gabriel walking through darkness, obsessively counting his steps towards something perilous but dormant, something that was there just a day or so before. But it’s no longer there. We know his counting can’t be off as he’s too compulsive to make a mistake. The thing must have moved. It’s Alive.
And it’s running straight for him.
If I had to compare Among Wolves with other books I’ve read, I would say it’s attention to painstaking detail without losing the story has echoes of ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy, and the slow unveiling and discovery of a life of lies is reminiscent to Hugh Howey’s ‘Wool’. Also, due to its undead element, I would say it could be the teenage version of ‘Walking Dead’.
Among Wolves is a brilliant, unmissable read for anyone who enjoys dystopian young adult literature. I can’t wait to read the next two instalments in the series.
My last words in this review will be my favourite piece of text from Among Wolves, because of its harsh beauty and how well it helped me to understand the sorrow and helplessness of Gabriel predicament.
‘Sometimes when I wake like this it takes me a moment to tell whether it was the dream that was real or the world I’m waking into. In those few precious seconds it’s possible to believe that things aren’t the way they are, that what we’re left with isn’t real.’
The fifteen year old protagonist Gabriel is the only classmate allowed outside the bunker to scavenge the nearby ruined land, tracking through endlessly falling snow and frozen corpses. We soon learn that he has a number of likable character traits which he’s developed as coping mechanisms for his precarious situation. He has a compulsion of counting his steps when he walks through anywhere dark and narrow, because it takes his mind briefly away from what’s happening. In the first few chapters he also comments on another character, Claus, who we soon learn isn’t a person at all, but a fictional character of his imagination, one he created to pass his fears and anxieties off into in order to disconnect from them.
This novel slowly provides the reader with a wonderful spider web of information that is connected and often crucial further on in the story. Barely anything is mentioned for no reason. Everything has purpose, which later on when I realised gave me a satisfying sensation of being a more integral part of the plot.
There are many ‘breadcrumbs’ and telling sentences that add ominous hints at what’s to come, which left me wanting and needing to read more. Here is an early on example where Gabriel is describing how Kurt, an antagonist classmate, is looking at his friend and possible love interest, Mags.
‘And occasionally, when he thinks no one’s looking, I catch him staring at her in a way that scares me. Like he’s just biding his time. Like nothing has been forgotten.’
And we are yet to learn what she did to Kurt in the past that he hasn’t forgotten.
I was also very pleased with the mention of Mags in the first chapter, as although I don’t read many novels which are purely romantic, stories without love interests don’t quite catch my attention as much as ones with them.
The only aspect of Among Wolves that did at first slow my reading pace was the occasional glimpses into the life of another character, Eliza, a woman whose last days on earth are told in third person. I found myself skimming, and sometimes overlooking these chapters entirely, because I was so engrossed in Gabriel’s story that I didn’t want to spend time reading about someone else who didn’t seem that relevant. But I made a huge mistake in doing this, because Eliza’s story is woven into Gabriel’s. I went back and thoroughly read through Eliza’s chapters, while quietly swearing at myself for my own ignorance.
One writing technique that really blew me away when reading Among Wolves is that it accomplishes something very difficult in storytelling. The main character and the reader are presented with the same information, the same puzzle pieces at the very same time, and yet the character remains blind to what is happening, while the reader realises the big picture, and the danger it presents. Gabriel’s excuse for this is his forgivable naivety, but once I, the reader, had twigged what was happening, thanks in part to Eliza’s story snippets, I was almost screaming at the pages, willing Gabriel to look again at the information he had discarded.
I’ve read male first person narratives before and always failed to connect with them as much as I would have liked, which I put down to the fact that I’m female. However, I now know that cannot be the reason since I fully empathised and related with Gabriel, which I believe is due to the detail in which his thoughts and observations are written.
‘…the houses have been abandoned. People still locked up when they left though, like maybe they thought they’d be back some day.’ – I love the details of his thoughts and the way his mind wonders - his realistic thoughts about completely reasonable human habits and behaviours, which make his dystopian reality that much more tangible.
I have a favourite scene because of its slow, steady build of suspense and fear. I can’t explain fully because it would give far too much away, but it involves Gabriel walking through darkness, obsessively counting his steps towards something perilous but dormant, something that was there just a day or so before. But it’s no longer there. We know his counting can’t be off as he’s too compulsive to make a mistake. The thing must have moved. It’s Alive.
And it’s running straight for him.
If I had to compare Among Wolves with other books I’ve read, I would say it’s attention to painstaking detail without losing the story has echoes of ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy, and the slow unveiling and discovery of a life of lies is reminiscent to Hugh Howey’s ‘Wool’. Also, due to its undead element, I would say it could be the teenage version of ‘Walking Dead’.
Among Wolves is a brilliant, unmissable read for anyone who enjoys dystopian young adult literature. I can’t wait to read the next two instalments in the series.
My last words in this review will be my favourite piece of text from Among Wolves, because of its harsh beauty and how well it helped me to understand the sorrow and helplessness of Gabriel predicament.
‘Sometimes when I wake like this it takes me a moment to tell whether it was the dream that was real or the world I’m waking into. In those few precious seconds it’s possible to believe that things aren’t the way they are, that what we’re left with isn’t real.’
May 27, 2018
The beginning was too slow and had too much emphasis put on the trips young Gabriel and Marv made outside the mountain to scavenge for supplies.
There was a lot left to the readers imagination during certain sections and during others way too much information given.
I never skimmed, even when sorely tempted but did put the book aside quite a lot more than normal for me.
Have no real desire to continue after finishing this first part of the series as to be honest for me it is just not that interesting to me what happens next.
There was a lot left to the readers imagination during certain sections and during others way too much information given.
I never skimmed, even when sorely tempted but did put the book aside quite a lot more than normal for me.
Have no real desire to continue after finishing this first part of the series as to be honest for me it is just not that interesting to me what happens next.
June 20, 2017
This book was really slow and confusing. Nothing exciting happens till like almost the end of the book. I wanted to stop reading it so many times, but when I finally managed to get to the exciting parts, I couldn't put it down. Overall it was an ok book.
June 4, 2019
enjoyed it . it was a slow start with all the intro to the characters and plot lines, but once it got going it started to burn faster and faster.
October 9, 2016
Gabriel is one of the Chosen Ones, a group of children saved when the world faced apocalypse. They now live in a bunker and he’s responsible for venturing out to find supplies but something’s lurking in the still, snow-covered ruins of the world. Everything changes when he discovers a body, but it’s only the very beginning of his problems…
Among Wolves takes place in a dystopian future where an out-of-control virus started contaminating metal and humans alike, turning them into aggressive monsters. To stop the virus, bombs were dropped on what is now known as the Last Day.
Gabriel and his class mates live deep inside a mountain, in a bunker called Eden, with the President of the United States and a few of his old employees. The President runs a tight shift in the bunker and everyone has their assigned duties and daily schedules, which include a lot of praying and religious sermons.
They’ve been there for ten years and Gabriel is one of the few who have ever visited the outside world. He and Marv, an old gruff soldier, are responsible for re-stocking Eden’s shelves but it’s getting harder every year. Supplies are low and the world shows no signs of thawing out.
He’s used to seeing bodies as people had little time to prepare for the Last Day but the one he founds in an abandoned clinic finally gives him a pause. The body is someone he recognizes and the implications are dire, threatening the life of not just Gabriel but his friends as well. He needs to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late, before winter comes and they’re locked in the bunker until next spring.
Among Wolves was mostly an enjoyable read. It’s the first part of the Children Of The Mountain series, which could explain the slow pace of the story. There was a lot of description and Gabriel’s thoughts, and also repetition. It worked to set the mood and convey the creepy silence in the outside world, but it also made me put down the book more than once. Reading about Gab and Marv setting up camp, eating and sleeping several times in the matter of a few pages or chapters got a bit boring.
The story still managed to give me the creeps. Some sections were really tense and I couldn’t wait to know what happens next, so the author knew how to set a darker mood. I just felt the book was too long, so the few thrilling moments weren’t enough to save it completely.
I liked Gabriel’s character, although Claus (the name Gabriel has given his fear) seemed completely underdeveloped and served no purpose to the story. I understand the idea behind Claus but it’s “show, don’t tell” all over again. It makes no difference whether the author writes “I was scared” or “Claus didn’t like the darkness” as it still doesn’t help the reader feel the emotion.
Other characters in the book were fairly stereotypical and one-dimensional, though to be fair Gabriel spends a lot of the book alone and in his thoughts. Everyone was either black or white on the moral spectrum, and I would’ve hoped for more character development moments instead of another scene where Gabriel eats.
All in all, I liked the story and the premise, although the execution didn’t quite work. If you’re into dystopian YA novels, you’ll probably enjoy this as well.
Among Wolves takes place in a dystopian future where an out-of-control virus started contaminating metal and humans alike, turning them into aggressive monsters. To stop the virus, bombs were dropped on what is now known as the Last Day.
Gabriel and his class mates live deep inside a mountain, in a bunker called Eden, with the President of the United States and a few of his old employees. The President runs a tight shift in the bunker and everyone has their assigned duties and daily schedules, which include a lot of praying and religious sermons.
They’ve been there for ten years and Gabriel is one of the few who have ever visited the outside world. He and Marv, an old gruff soldier, are responsible for re-stocking Eden’s shelves but it’s getting harder every year. Supplies are low and the world shows no signs of thawing out.
He’s used to seeing bodies as people had little time to prepare for the Last Day but the one he founds in an abandoned clinic finally gives him a pause. The body is someone he recognizes and the implications are dire, threatening the life of not just Gabriel but his friends as well. He needs to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late, before winter comes and they’re locked in the bunker until next spring.
Among Wolves was mostly an enjoyable read. It’s the first part of the Children Of The Mountain series, which could explain the slow pace of the story. There was a lot of description and Gabriel’s thoughts, and also repetition. It worked to set the mood and convey the creepy silence in the outside world, but it also made me put down the book more than once. Reading about Gab and Marv setting up camp, eating and sleeping several times in the matter of a few pages or chapters got a bit boring.
The story still managed to give me the creeps. Some sections were really tense and I couldn’t wait to know what happens next, so the author knew how to set a darker mood. I just felt the book was too long, so the few thrilling moments weren’t enough to save it completely.
I liked Gabriel’s character, although Claus (the name Gabriel has given his fear) seemed completely underdeveloped and served no purpose to the story. I understand the idea behind Claus but it’s “show, don’t tell” all over again. It makes no difference whether the author writes “I was scared” or “Claus didn’t like the darkness” as it still doesn’t help the reader feel the emotion.
Other characters in the book were fairly stereotypical and one-dimensional, though to be fair Gabriel spends a lot of the book alone and in his thoughts. Everyone was either black or white on the moral spectrum, and I would’ve hoped for more character development moments instead of another scene where Gabriel eats.
All in all, I liked the story and the premise, although the execution didn’t quite work. If you’re into dystopian YA novels, you’ll probably enjoy this as well.
May 10, 2017
I'd actually rate this book 3 1/2 stars.
Among Wolves is a well-written postapocalyptic tale of a young man, Gabriel, coming of age after the end of the world. I was drawn into the story right away and the pace never lagged. The characters were fairly well-drawn, though I felt the author could have gone deeper.
Gabriel was taken with the other children in his class on a tour of the White House to a shelter with the president of the United States when the bombs started falling. About ten years later, in the well-stocked underground bunker where he has lived since that event, he starts to become aware that he and his erstwhile classmates are being oppressed by the president, who is a religious fanatic and something of a tyrant, and he begins to yearn for change. This yearning leads him to challenge the self-styled authorities who rule the bunker, putting Gabriel up against some very dangerous enemies. To top it off, he has claustrophobia--and he lives underground! Nice.
The protagonist is likeable and deserving of our empathy, and the situation is interesting. The reason it doesn't get 4 or 5 stars is because I find the story somewhat contrived. I'll explain:
When I first started getting into Among Wolves, I found it a bit curious that Gabriel didn't seem to question the things the president wanted him to do and the things he saw happening in the bunker. He just seemed to accept anything that happened without thinking about any of it too deeply. I thought at first it was because he was sheltered, but wait--he was reading a copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo! And he seemed to know a lot about life, more than he should having basically grown up in a bunker. But he seemed somewhat clueless about things, especially sex and the darker side of human nature. He also seemed a bit emotionally flat to me. Eventually I realized he was written that way in order to create an element of surprise, possibly, or for some other mechanical reasons.
The book continues on this way until Gabriel discovers a terrible secret, one that even he can't ignore. From that point on, he seems suddenly to have all the answers, and all the items and methods he needs to foil the opposition just seem to fall into place. I didn't feel like he figured any of it out, because we didn't see that process in him. He would have had to be a genius to work all that out, and he didn't come across as being exceptionally smart. His victory was almost automatic. Other than struggling with his fear of enclosed spaces, he seems to sleepwalk through it. It was just too easy, and that spoiled it for me quite a bit. I found the reading experience a bit flat, which leaves me with little motivation to continue the series.
Among Wolves is a well-written postapocalyptic tale of a young man, Gabriel, coming of age after the end of the world. I was drawn into the story right away and the pace never lagged. The characters were fairly well-drawn, though I felt the author could have gone deeper.
Gabriel was taken with the other children in his class on a tour of the White House to a shelter with the president of the United States when the bombs started falling. About ten years later, in the well-stocked underground bunker where he has lived since that event, he starts to become aware that he and his erstwhile classmates are being oppressed by the president, who is a religious fanatic and something of a tyrant, and he begins to yearn for change. This yearning leads him to challenge the self-styled authorities who rule the bunker, putting Gabriel up against some very dangerous enemies. To top it off, he has claustrophobia--and he lives underground! Nice.
The protagonist is likeable and deserving of our empathy, and the situation is interesting. The reason it doesn't get 4 or 5 stars is because I find the story somewhat contrived. I'll explain:
When I first started getting into Among Wolves, I found it a bit curious that Gabriel didn't seem to question the things the president wanted him to do and the things he saw happening in the bunker. He just seemed to accept anything that happened without thinking about any of it too deeply. I thought at first it was because he was sheltered, but wait--he was reading a copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo! And he seemed to know a lot about life, more than he should having basically grown up in a bunker. But he seemed somewhat clueless about things, especially sex and the darker side of human nature. He also seemed a bit emotionally flat to me. Eventually I realized he was written that way in order to create an element of surprise, possibly, or for some other mechanical reasons.
The book continues on this way until Gabriel discovers a terrible secret, one that even he can't ignore. From that point on, he seems suddenly to have all the answers, and all the items and methods he needs to foil the opposition just seem to fall into place. I didn't feel like he figured any of it out, because we didn't see that process in him. He would have had to be a genius to work all that out, and he didn't come across as being exceptionally smart. His victory was almost automatic. Other than struggling with his fear of enclosed spaces, he seems to sleepwalk through it. It was just too easy, and that spoiled it for me quite a bit. I found the reading experience a bit flat, which leaves me with little motivation to continue the series.
August 16, 2015
Gabriel lives in Eden, a small colony tucked inside a mountain in Maryland. How he got there -- well, that's the real story.
This is a chillingly authentic book about what might happen if a nuclear winter comes to pass. It is lyrical, poignant, and brutally honest in its depiction of a microsociety left to fend for itself after the unthinkable happens one sunshiny school day.
Gabriel's first grade class went to the White House on that day for a tour. When atomic bombs begin raining down on the Eastern Seaboard, they are evacuated, along with the President, to a remote bunker deep within a mountain in the Maryland hillsides.
This is the story of what happens to that class of first graders ten years after the event.
Gabriel, who's sixteen by now, and Marv, a grizzled old soldier who happened to be part of the Presidential guard detail on that fateful day ten years earlier, are the two people charged with venturing outside the bunker periodically to forage for supplies in the ravaged towns nearby.
One frigid winter day, Gabriel discovers the frozen body of one of the Secret Service men who met them at the mountain that day long ago. He had been officially listed as "missing." But the bullet hole between his eyes tells a different story.
Thus, this simple dystopian tale of adolescent survival in a world that has shrunk to the size of a tiny village takes on a mysterious air. Who shot the agent -- and why?
The President, a seemingly affable former preacher, holds sway over the tiny community, which is run like a home for wayward juveniles. There is precious little love, and marriages will soon be arranged by the President and a select group of advisers -- including the former Secretary of Defense, who now acts as Quartermaster for the community.
Gabriel has put Mags, whom he has known with the others since childhood, in his "top five" list of potential mates. But will she requite his feelings and declare her love for him -- or be paired off with someone deemed "more suitable?"
This is a tightly woven tale that is part science fiction, part coming-of-age, and part mystery as the reader is immersed in the daily goings-on of Eden and its regimented citizens.
The second half of the book reads eerily like Stephen King's The Stand, as Gabriel makes his way through the treacherous, snowy terrain to another bunker 80 kilometers away, then returns to participate in the novel's surprise ending. The intervening action will leave you breathless.
This is a truly remarkable piece of dystopian fiction, and I give it five unqualified stars. Many thanks to the author for providing a great summertime read.
This is a chillingly authentic book about what might happen if a nuclear winter comes to pass. It is lyrical, poignant, and brutally honest in its depiction of a microsociety left to fend for itself after the unthinkable happens one sunshiny school day.
Gabriel's first grade class went to the White House on that day for a tour. When atomic bombs begin raining down on the Eastern Seaboard, they are evacuated, along with the President, to a remote bunker deep within a mountain in the Maryland hillsides.
This is the story of what happens to that class of first graders ten years after the event.
Gabriel, who's sixteen by now, and Marv, a grizzled old soldier who happened to be part of the Presidential guard detail on that fateful day ten years earlier, are the two people charged with venturing outside the bunker periodically to forage for supplies in the ravaged towns nearby.
One frigid winter day, Gabriel discovers the frozen body of one of the Secret Service men who met them at the mountain that day long ago. He had been officially listed as "missing." But the bullet hole between his eyes tells a different story.
Thus, this simple dystopian tale of adolescent survival in a world that has shrunk to the size of a tiny village takes on a mysterious air. Who shot the agent -- and why?
The President, a seemingly affable former preacher, holds sway over the tiny community, which is run like a home for wayward juveniles. There is precious little love, and marriages will soon be arranged by the President and a select group of advisers -- including the former Secretary of Defense, who now acts as Quartermaster for the community.
Gabriel has put Mags, whom he has known with the others since childhood, in his "top five" list of potential mates. But will she requite his feelings and declare her love for him -- or be paired off with someone deemed "more suitable?"
This is a tightly woven tale that is part science fiction, part coming-of-age, and part mystery as the reader is immersed in the daily goings-on of Eden and its regimented citizens.
The second half of the book reads eerily like Stephen King's The Stand, as Gabriel makes his way through the treacherous, snowy terrain to another bunker 80 kilometers away, then returns to participate in the novel's surprise ending. The intervening action will leave you breathless.
This is a truly remarkable piece of dystopian fiction, and I give it five unqualified stars. Many thanks to the author for providing a great summertime read.
September 3, 2024
I am beyond convinced that half of the reviewers/raters read a different book than I did. I was so bewildered and annoyed throughout the entire book that I had to stop to write down notes and that is not a good sign. Also important note for anyone thinking of starting this book: Claus is the main character's fear/anxiety. This was not explained until too late in the book. It was unnecessarily confusing.
This book opens as a fairly typical post-apocalyptic dystopia with a single closed-off community sending a few people out to scavenge. In this case, it gets slight brownie points for the community consisting of a former infants' school class and their teacher and then the President and some of his secret service men. The only other brownie points I will give this book were not given until it was nearly over.
The world-building in this book is tissue paper thin and doesn't hold up to even the slightest bit of scrutiny. Why do they have idiots running their "do not bring contaminated metal back into base" check? Why was it necessary to have the only fat characters also be stupid? There is not a single mention of a Vitamin D supplement throughout this book, and they're all living without the sun. They'd be suffering from rickets. And then the entire system within their community is baffling. They spend the entire time not even trying to improve the place where they live and seem very blase about running out of supplies or the concept that they'd be sent outside after being Paired up (which is icky in itself). And that is not getting into the poorly executed but has great potential idea of a metal-eating virus that also infects people.
There's a weirdly American religious note running throughout the entire book which was offputting as it was saturated throughout every single faction depicted and having Korea as the 'bad guys' is just another cherry on top of this very bad American sundae. And then there's sexual assault. For those curious,
The inclusion of a grumpy/sunshine couple is the only other moment of joy I had while reading this and it wasn't enough to save it.
1h17
This book opens as a fairly typical post-apocalyptic dystopia with a single closed-off community sending a few people out to scavenge. In this case, it gets slight brownie points for the community consisting of a former infants' school class and their teacher and then the President and some of his secret service men. The only other brownie points I will give this book were not given until it was nearly over.
The world-building in this book is tissue paper thin and doesn't hold up to even the slightest bit of scrutiny. Why do they have idiots running their "do not bring contaminated metal back into base" check? Why was it necessary to have the only fat characters also be stupid? There is not a single mention of a Vitamin D supplement throughout this book, and they're all living without the sun. They'd be suffering from rickets. And then the entire system within their community is baffling. They spend the entire time not even trying to improve the place where they live and seem very blase about running out of supplies or the concept that they'd be sent outside after being Paired up (which is icky in itself). And that is not getting into the poorly executed but has great potential idea of a metal-eating virus that also infects people.
There's a weirdly American religious note running throughout the entire book which was offputting as it was saturated throughout every single faction depicted and having Korea as the 'bad guys' is just another cherry on top of this very bad American sundae. And then there's sexual assault. For those curious,
The inclusion of a grumpy/sunshine couple is the only other moment of joy I had while reading this and it wasn't enough to save it.
1h17
April 11, 2016
You're in first grade. You take a tour of the White House, you meet the President. And then all hell breaks loose. But because you're in first grade, you don't really grasp all of what that means. And you end up in a bunker under a mountain with the President of the USA overseeing everything. For ten years, you and your first grade class are stuck in this odd bunker of "safety" where things aren't really that safe after all. But sometimes you get to go outside to scavenge, so you have some perspective, and get a little bit more of an idea of how broken the world is. But inside, everything should be fine, but it isn't, if you look hard enough.
I wasn't expecting much from this book, but I ended up getting completely engrossed in the story and the premise and the awful, awful realizations that followed.
Frogs. One of the pivotal characters offers up the analogy of frogs in water. If you put a frog in boiling water, it would jump out right away, desperate to survive. But if you put a frog in cold water and slowly, gently, turn up the heat, then the frog doesn't know it's cooked until it is far too late.
There was a second story line in there, about a young woman who trusts and follows the instructions of a man who remains in the shadows. It almost seemed like it needed to be a completely different book. There were just the faintest suggestions of how the two stories could be related, and I assume the author will have some work to do to tie them together in future installments.
Looking forward to the next installment of what happens to these kids now that they're grown up and on their own, and how they survive not only a hostile and threatening environment, but also how they deal with discovering that the most important adult who they thought had their best interests in mind was just controlling and manipulating them.
I wasn't expecting much from this book, but I ended up getting completely engrossed in the story and the premise and the awful, awful realizations that followed.
Frogs. One of the pivotal characters offers up the analogy of frogs in water. If you put a frog in boiling water, it would jump out right away, desperate to survive. But if you put a frog in cold water and slowly, gently, turn up the heat, then the frog doesn't know it's cooked until it is far too late.
There was a second story line in there, about a young woman who trusts and follows the instructions of a man who remains in the shadows. It almost seemed like it needed to be a completely different book. There were just the faintest suggestions of how the two stories could be related, and I assume the author will have some work to do to tie them together in future installments.
Looking forward to the next installment of what happens to these kids now that they're grown up and on their own, and how they survive not only a hostile and threatening environment, but also how they deal with discovering that the most important adult who they thought had their best interests in mind was just controlling and manipulating them.
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