Winter Without End

by Casimir Laski

Knight, a Labrador retriever, finds himself alone and afraid in the aftermath of a devastating pandemic, forced to hunt and scavenge in the city abandoned by its former masters. His fortunes change when he encounters a wounded wolf. Seeing a chance for not only survival but companionship, he defies the only life he has ever known and forms an uneasy alliance with his wild counterpart. Together, the two journey through a new and terrible world—a world that seems to hold no place for either dog or wolf.

Genres: Wolves, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Casimir Laski is a writer, literary critic, and YouTuber from Virginia. From a young age, he developed a fascination with both animals and the art of storytelling. After graduating summa cum laude with University Honors from Virginia Commonwealth University, he has worked in the laboratory sciences as both an animal husbandrist and forensic toxicologist.

His debut novel, Winter Without End, was released by Fenris Publishing in 2022. In addition to writing novels and short stories, he is also a contributor to Furry Book Review, and operates the YouTube channel Cardinal West, primarily devoted to discussion of literary xenofiction and western animation. Laski is a member of the SFWA and FWG.

Reviews

[Ember · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I ever read. The way this author describe things, locations and characters are amazing. Their ability to get into the mind of Knight the Labrador and (I don't want to post spoilers for those who has not read the book) the wolf . As an average reader of xenofiction myself like Watership Down, Animals of Farthing Wood, Call of the wild, White Fang, Dogsbody etc. this is one of the most exiting stories I ever read and it really has the same feel to it as these classics with a timeless but relevant touch.
I dreaded to come to the last page so it would be the end of the book. Been reading my physical copy on the bus and I really longed to know how what happens next. The themes and the overall harshness of wilderness makes you feel the danger. The looming fear of a presumed apocalypse through the eyes of an animal leaves a few question marks since the characters are in fact animals but you as the reader understand what is going on but it is not talking down to you in the narrative. There is a lot I would like to say but I do not want to spoil the book for anyone who is going to read it. It is too good for that. It must be experienced. I really hope there will be more stories from this author. The suspense send chills down my spine and the struggle for Knight let´s just say it is amazing! From the bottom of my heart: Thank you for this book!

[Shiloh Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started reading this book, I expected Call of the Wild. What I got instead was something more akin to Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but with beautiful prose and talking canines. Of course any book would have a hard time living up to that classic, but Winter Without End does an admirable job of presenting a similar world and vibe.

First, I need to praise Casimir Laski's prose. It's gorgeous, with intriguing descriptions, natural dialogue, great flow, and meticulous pacing. It's the strongest element of the book for me, being a bit of a writing style nerd. I appreciated the heck out of it. Characters are well-developed too, feeling distinct in both action and dialogue.

The world in this book is portrayed with great atmosphere and tension, as well. There's always a sense of approaching danger and the need to flee from the monster right behind you. This is interesting considering that the canine characters are immune to the human plague that has ravaged the world. So often we think that nature will begin to heal as a result of humanity's downfall, yet at least in the short term the loosening of our grip on the world is shown to be disastrous here. That was something I haven't seen before.

Now as great as the prose, characters, and portrayal of the world are, I had some issues with the plot. To be vague, there is an avoidance of conflict that makes it very boring and limits character development. Whenever it seems like the characters are about to encounter a challenge that will test them and show how they work together to overcome it, they circumvent it instead. Though probably more realistic, it makes for a rather dull plot. There is also a grand, almost supernatural threat talked about constantly in the beginning of the book--a mysterious freezing storm, constantly approaching--that disappears from the later half, which was frustrating because that impending danger did such a great job of setting the tone and sense of urgency. The ending also left a lot to be desired. It felt rather pointless.

But despite my reservations, it's still a very worthwhile read to experience the author's wonderful writing style. Plus, I'm sure you'll love the characters and atmosphere as much as I did.

[WolfLover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the tale of Knight the Labrador, alone in the world after a devastating pandemic wipes out most of humanity. In order to survive, he teams up with Sierra, an injured wolf, who promises to teach him how to live like a wild animal in exchange for help in hunting.

There were a couple of factual errors, such as wolves and dogs using their claws the way cats do (and canids don’t). One thing that particularly bothered me was that Sierra, the wolf, attacks humans without compunction, something Knight is initially unwilling to do – he sees learning to be more aggressive as part of “becoming a wolf.” The author has this backwards – in reality, wolves fear humans and avoid them whenever possible, whilst dogs, lacking that fear, are much more likely to attack people. The author also makes the all-too-common error of having animal characters use human words that wouldn’t mean anything to them (like measuring time in minutes and hours).

Knight’s journey from abandoned pet to self-sufficient animal does make an interesting story, and for the most part the book is thoughtful and well-written. However, it is a little repetitive, with many similar scenes of looking for food or seeking shelter from the bad weather, and there were a few spelling and grammatical mistakes.

This certainly isn’t a must-read, but it’s not bad if you like dogs or wolves.

[Joshua Mousey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the first books I read after getting back into reading during college. It's also one of the first animal xenofiction books I've read besides Charlotte's Web long ago, as I was fairly new to the genre. Needless to say, Winter Without End made a very good first impression on me. It's feverish, scary, calm, and thrilling at all the right moments.

Negatives & General Thoughts
One problem I had is how Sierra’s still able to effectively hunt with a bad leg, in conjunction to the other injuries she suffered. She starts up with a bloody leg, causing her to limp slightly with each step, which isn't too bad at the start. It explains why Knight does more of the heavy lifting while hunting, him being the chaser and her being the grabber, but there are later sequences where they can both effectively run anywhere like Sierra didn’t have a bad leg at all since it supposedly healed. It’s even stranger when she gets wounded again from the gunshot, yet she still presses on. I do admire Sierra’s tenacity from that, but she shouldn’t be in any condition to fight. With all the times she gets injured piling up, it pushes the limit of her survivability. Then again, how badly the injuries are weren’t clarified extensively and I'm not sure how much pain tolerance wolves have in general, so that’s up for debate. There is also a moment that adopts the common trend of characters almost dying from falling under cracking ice. Specifically, there is an action sequence where Knight falls under a frozen lake while chasing a deer after Sierra suggested to not go in open fields. I’m not sure why he didn’t remember that before the start of the chase, but when a whole chapter (specifically chapter fourteen) is dedicated to him hallucinating while trapped under ice (or so I think), I’m left to believe he was dead after being under for a long time. It turns out Sierra pulled him out at the last second, and he was just knocked out for two days. I know it doesn’t specify how long he was under the ice, so he could have been pulled out seconds afterwards, but this is an instance where the narrative time slips a little in an otherwise linear, focused story. I'd like to think it's a character intrinsic moment where Knight's losing more of his self preservation to adapt to his wild nature more often like Sierra's been teaching him, which is perfectly valid if that's the case.

I really like Dutch and his crew. When they’re first introduced, they challenge Knight’s doghood and trust in Sierra, but it left me wanting more of how that pack would interact with her since this is a major plot beat. They’re strongly committed to obeying human orders since they came from a police force, which makes sense since they were trained to specifically follow orders from humans before they seemingly vanished, and they’re still grasping on to the idea that their masters will return. From there, Dutch gives his own insight to a dog’s role in society, which is to serve man. He does this by maintaining order in a now desolated city with the rest of his pack, the same way he did when his masters were still around. If his masters don’t return, then he and the rest of his team will die knowing they fulfilled their task. This comes off as a revelation for Knight seeing as he was a regular family dog who didn’t have the same hardships as Dutch and the others, but his goal is more or less still the same since he is doing his best to stay alive for his master’s sake. As Dutch said himself:

“‘We do not serve men. We serve man. And dog or man, neither of us is meant for this
new world. If we don’t fight it, if we give up on our old lives, it will destroy us. Remember that,
Knight.’”

Dutch is the antithesis of Sierra since he doesn’t believe dogs should live like wild animals, especially wolves, because it’s not within his morals as a dog. Him giving up his calling for order and structure among his kin will cause disarray among him, which will lead to the destruction of his home and his life. Sierra doesn’t want to lose her sense of self either because falling victim to the orders of people (the species she avoids for her own survival) will destroy her sense of self, especially in an environment where humans are out for blood. Dutch tests Knight’s inner struggle of choosing to stay with the pack or leave with the wolf. This leads to an argument between Knight and Sierra about whether staying with Dutch until the winter storm blows over like a dog would, or continuing moving from it, like a wolf would, is a good idea.

This moment does a good job at deconstructing the duality of one’s mindset when faced with difficult choices, something plenty of people can relate to. Such a thing gets even more vexing when someone has to commit to a choice that’ll have a bigger impact on their life in the future, despite it possibly going against everything they’ve known for a long time. The book addresses this with Knight choosing between the two, but choosing his wild side, and it stays consistent with that throughout the story. There can be some cases made regarding whether or not he makes the right choice, but I’d say it’s justified since there are instances where he has to unleash his more feral, predatory side for his and Sierra’s survival. The frequent visions he has of his previous life become a liability for him, so he doesn’t have much of a choice. I like moments like those; two characters with conflicting beliefs talk and deconstruct each other’s ways of thinking. It would have been more powerful to see Knight reflect upon himself and those morals of his after seeing him act against them considering how wide the psychic distance is between him and the reader.

Throughout the book, Knight is loyal to the idea of humans being good natured beings who they protect since he also has frequent dreams of his master standing before him, hoping he’s still alive somehow. Despite Sierra challenging him to ditch that belief as he trains to live as a wolf, he can’t help himself to abandon it since the unconditional love of his family and humans in general is all he knows and has left to grasp for some sort of comfort. I would have liked to see how Knight’s perception of humans changed after one of them almost killed him with a gun, especially when he chooses to embrace his wild side after leaving Dutch. When he comes face to face with a human who’s about to shoot him, Sierra jumps in to save him at the last second, but gets injured again in the process from a stray bullet. After leaving Dutch, I would have thought he’d have some sort of emotional epiphany that compromises everything he knew after the fact since he caused Sierra to become more injured when he hesitated to eliminate the threat in front of him. Sierra even chastises him for not being ready to live like her, but Knight apologizes and asks if he can still do so in chapter eighteen. Sierra claims she’s only teaching Knight the ways of being a wolf; Knight has to be the one to learn it; she's only showing him the door to survival while he's the one who has to walk through it. With a revelation like that, does he still think humans are worthwhile companions to stand by, even in dire circumstances? Does that instance give Sierra’s advice a brand new meaning to him? What does he think of himself and his relationship to humans after that whole ordeal? Could the growing negative interactions Knight has with the remaining humans subtly drive any remaining preconceptions of humans he has away, even if it contributes to his survival instincts? Did the thoughts of his owners and humans in general stop occurring afterwards? Questions like these would be riveting to see explored at this point in the story, either through Knight’s inner thoughts and dreams, or through another discussion with him and Sierra. We do get a bit of that answered near the end when the surviving humans track them down, but it would be intriguing to explore more of that for Knight. His morale is tested to the brink with his constant regressive thoughts of humans still being good holding him back all he’s witnessed, even when one of the book's ideas is letting go of what you hold dear to survive... at least that's what I garnered from it. Not that it's necessarily bad that a lot of these weren't answered, directly or indirectly, but it's intriguing to ponder nonetheless.

This isn't a mark against the book, but a part of me wishes to see how Knight and Sierra would act if a good natured human traveled along with them. If a human they come across was well intentioned, used to have a dog of his own which drives him not to turn against Knight and Sierra, maybe sacrifices himself for Knight and Sierra’s safety, which would challenge Sierra’s preconceptions of humans’ relationship to canines. One way I imagine this occurring is Knight showing Sierra a thing or two about how good humans can be (said human giving them food, water, and shelter), and she softens up to them just a little, but before she has even the slightest change of heart, the event that gets her shot in the leg happens, therefore draining any confidence she had in humans which makes Knight feel guilty. I know the idea was to have the story be mainly centered about Knight and Sierra’s survival in a world where humans have become desperately unhinged, but I tend to wonder how much more nuanced the perspectives of Knight and Sierra would become when that happens. I'd imagine that it'd be pointless to have that in the book anyway since it would result in them having to flee and get chased off anyway.

Positives
Charlotte's Web was patient zero for my fascination with surrogate, nurturing, soft-spoken, mother figures, and the latest addition to that is Mrs. Brisby from The Secret of NIMH. That said, I love how Sierra has a similar demeanor towards Knight, which is explained from her losing her cubs to poison. It’s as if she’s being the mother she never got to be to Knight to make up for her past. Aside from being a strict mentor for Knight, we get to see her more tender side for Knight’s sake. For example, after Knight is scolded by Sierra about her interactions with humans, he gets a disheartening feeling within, which gives him sleeping trouble. That moment is followed up with this:

“‘We still have a while left until sunrise,’ she said, her voice barely a whisper. Then she turned, walked over, and lay down beside him. Knight let himself relax as the wolf pressed her warm coat against his. ‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered. ‘We’ll find something tomorrow; I know we will. Just try to stay warm.’ In the cold darkness outside, by the light of the pale moon, thick flakes continued to drift earthward—but within their small shelter dog and wolf lay side by side, drifting off into a warmer, more restful sleep.”

Moments like this are rare, but to see Sierra act more mellow and attentive to Knight, the same way she supposedly was with her own cubs, is not only consistent and well executed for her character, but it’s also pleasant to see. With the kind of hell Knight’s been enduring, he’s got to have some kind of reassurance of his survival, and Sierra does a great job delivering on that. On that note, I had Jonah Scott’s voice playing in my head through Knight’s dialogue (in the voice of Legoshi from Beastars) and the voice of Nutmeg (Scarlet Johanson’s character in Isle of Dogs) playing through Sierra’s dialogue. Scott’s Legoshi voice has a solid mix of someone who can be flabbergasted out of their mind at times, while being naive, introspective, and timid in calmer situations. Johanson’s Nutmeg voice is generally soft and warm, but when Johanson herself is in a role that requires her to be more assertive and loud, she delivers on that too.

The description of the settings were very vivid, especially since the prose is full of evocative metaphors and personifications, painting a crystal clear picture in accordance to the tone. They’re in a setting that’s bleak, eerie, and haunting, but during their travels there are a few moments of peacefulness and serenity that etherealize everything; specifically when they travel along the road with snowfall to accompany the moonlit sky, or when they’re in the forest with plenty of trees surrounding them. I really like that kind of intricate detail for settings because it not only helps keep track of where characters are, but I find it fascinating to visualize environments within a story, as if I’d want to visit them myself (depending on what kind of environment it is of course).

Another example of the novel’s superb imagery is when Knight and Sierra take some time to rest up in a place that isn’t running rampant with creatures that could kill them. When Knight and Sierra come across an abandoned church to sleep in for the night, the following is said:

“The interior wasn’t silent, but at least it was quiet. Knight lay down on the entryway carpet, catching his breath, trying to regain feeling in his numbed limbs. After licking the ice from between his toes, he stood to survey their newfound refuge. The structure was large and cavernous, filled with rows of wooden seats and adorned with peculiar objects, unlike any place Knight could recall. But the strangest thing was how tidy it was: no furniture overturned, no clothes or boxes strewn about. It almost looked like the world before, at least as he remembered it. And in spite of the storm still raging outside, the place was imbued with a sense of calm, a tranquility beyond mere quiet.”

It’s good to see softer moments like these where we can take in the quiet stillness of a building’s interior, and see our protagonists have a moment of peace in an unforgiving world. However, in exchange for the breath taking prose of the environments, the pacing and advancement of character beats are halted. Lots of time is spent on how much they traveled, what they hunted, and finding shelter, which got a bit repetitive. Those moments could’ve been replaced with exploring more of their inner struggles and emotions. On the other hand, there are paragraphs throughout the novel that really sell the spine chilling bleakness; one example being here:

“They emerged from the woods, the tree line giving way to a sprawling shopping center. Sierra turned north and paused, directing his attention to a darkened supermarket before crossing the empty lot. Shattered windows lined the façade, but little light reached beyond. The pair halted between two window frames, the cold brick scraping Knight’s shoulder. Behind them, the winds battered one of the few intact windows, masking their approach.”

In a story where towns and cities are left abandoned and barren, this is just one example of the prose giving a good idea of how damaged everything is.

The action was thoroughly entertaining and well thought out. The strategy Knight and Sierra had when attacking prey was smart, vigorous, and violent in a good way; kind of like Isle of Dogs, but less comical and more grotesque. I haven’t read many books that sell the adrenaline rush of escape as well as Maximum Ride and The Maze Runner, but Winter Without End is definitely up there. A standout action scene was the coyote chase in chapter six; the following sentences are stark examples of engaging, thrilling action:

“Knight rushed headlong into the darkness, relying on luck and quick reflexes to navigate the abyssal maze. Just behind, he could hear their quick, shallow breaths, the scrape of their claws, could smell the curious hunger that would leave nothing of him but hair. He threw himself left, then right, then left again, clearing a smashed computer monitor. Behind him, he heard one of his pursuers stumble. Knight veered sharply, dashing through an open doorway, hoping it was the stairwell. It wasn’t. Two coyotes pushed through the doorway as he resumed his desperate sprint. Ducking beneath a desk, Knight felt something jab his side. Glass shattered, followed by a pained yelp and an impact—just the edge he needed. He turned right, following the wall, and spotted another doorway. Knight glanced back to see only one remaining pursuer, its teeth glinting, tongue lolling from its savage jaws. Then something caught his forepaw, and he was stumbling, sliding into a closet. Not a second later, the coyote followed, lunging with fangs bared—only for it to be yanked back inches from his face, grasped by an invisible hand.”

This adequately displays intensity and terror while making us feel scared for Knight when he gets hurt. His pursuers are also well displayed as vicious monsters who’ll stop at nothing to catch him. My favorite way that was achieved was through visceral sensory details, such as “...their quick, shallow breaths, the scrape of their claws, could smell the curious hunger that would leave nothing of him but hair,” and “Knight glanced back to see only one remaining pursuer, its teeth glinting, tongue lolling from its savage jaws.” I could hear the sounds of those bloodthirsty, growling coyotes through the page upon reading that because of how evocative and graphical the descriptors are. Not to mention how claustrophobic the place they were in came to be. To describe the setting as an abysmal maze adds amps up the tension of the scene since Knight is constantly having to make split second choices on which way in the narrow corridors of the building to go, hoping he doesn’t reach a dead end with deadly predators hot on his tail, pardon the pun. It is great imagery like this that expresses the right amount of fear in a scene that calls for it.

Conclusion
As a debut novel, it's an admirable output. The prose is evocative, the characters are well realized, and the setting is haunting, but gorgeous at the same time. I'm eager for what other animal stories Laski has to offer.

[Lupin Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laski seemed to accomplish his goals with Winter Without End—it’s just these goals strike me as not particularly ambitious. Although the character duo drew many comparisons to The Plague Dogs in other reviews, and Laski himself mentioned the first draft started off as a pastiche of that novel in one of his recent livestreams, I didn’t see much resemblance with Adams. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend Laski to Plague Dogs fans. No, in my opinion Winter Without End drew much more from Jack London and his earnest fascination with nature, his way of presenting it without smoke and mirrors. Many complaints I read in other peoples’ reviews about the lack of depth felt like they were missing Laski’s point; as he says, in the Wild there is only the present, beyond the boundaries of reflection, and life exists for its own sake, finding meaning in its lack of meaning.

However, White Fang came out a year after Jules Verne’s passing, in a time where both Verne and London flourished because the lack of an online informational network meant books merely needed to transport readers to places they couldn’t see with their own eyes to keep them engaged. To expect the same results in the Internet age would be foolish, so Laski does modernize certain aspects of his story, but I found the process half-hearted, leaving the book in an awkward middle position where it didn’t fully commit to anything. By this I mean the episodic plot was exceedingly dry and matter-of-factly, but the dialogue was too anthropomorphized and modern, not allowing Knight and Sierra to be fully alien nor fully human.

I believe Adams faced many similar challenges when he tackled the Plague Dogs. His solutions were two-fold: Firstly, he didn’t do a straight-forward story about the wild, but used the animals as vehicles for a metatextual, post-modern story that criticised the prose of literature itself for being so florid as to obfuscate cruel realities, like those of animal abuse. It was a story in which every word choice engaged the reader in a conversation. Secondly, Adams created a complete framework as to how Dogs would speak in opposition to humans, believably crafting new slang, speech patters, cadence and psychologies. (His character Snitter spoke bizarrely because of mental problems, but Rowf and the Tod were not mistakable for humans in the slightest.)

Coming back to Winter, Knight and Sierra converse in an entirely too coherent, almost furry way. Laski counter-balances this by making them only say short sentences, and never letting them speak for too long, but this is sort of the worst of both worlds. There’s no linguistic interest, while also not taking the chance for more stimulating dialogue. Since the characters aren’t human, they can’t debate ideas or philosophies, letting their actions and choices speak for themselves. The narrator does share Knight’s internal questions with us quite a lot – “Could he fully ditch his humanity?” “Did he want to be a wolf in the first place?” ad nauseam, exposing how barebones the dialectic of the story is – the conflict is practically a binary question without any shades of gray, and almost every turning point for Knight is sort of arbitrary – leaving his master’s house and then leaving the group of dogs almost on a whim, because he ran out of time to think about it, without much agency. Like I mentioned before, there’s some leeway to give Laski here because animals, such as they are, don’t have “arcs”, and there does seem to be some sort of commentary on the impermanence of life in the wild, and how it’s not any lesser for it, for not subscribing to human standards. In the moment to moment reading experience, though, Knight’s transformation into a wolf is a foregone conclusion, Sierra doesn’t change in any way, and past chapters have almost no bearing on current ones, creating a tedious experience where you question what you’re looking forward to. Some of this could have been alleviated with a different prose style, but Laski is as austere as his wolves, being precisely correct, never exercising any new techniques or experiments. Every sentence tells exactly what’s happening in as few words as possible, unless the characters feel adrenaline, in which case it uses asyndetons and parallel constructions. Once you notice it, it feels like Groundhog Day. One action scene against stray dogs used four causal sentences in close proximity: “He heard it yelp, but as it reeled another stray slammed into him. He tumbled to the snow as fangs dug into the skin of his shoulder. Knight twisted wildly, crying out as more teeth sunk into his back left leg. He strained and thrashed, trying to bite back. A deafening blast exploded nearby. As the shot echoed, the fangs released from his flesh.”

I would be remiss not to mention, however, that there are more glimpses of poetry once their reach their proverbial Eden, and Winter passes, and you feel the warmth of the sun and the flowers in the breeze. The entire final section is a great step up in quality, but what came before only feels necessary in the same way Book 6 of Lord of the Rings forces us to read dozens of pages of walking through harsh, dull terrain: because it’s supposed to hurt as much as the characters are hurting, and to make the release so much more pleasant. In Tolkien’s case, it also represented a Christian struggle, so perhaps Knight and Sierra’s new home looking like Paradise is not casual.

On this topic, the reader gets glimpses of depth or thematic connections, but these mostly go unexplored or feel unintentional. For example, the post-apocalyptic setting felt like it was there as a reversal of the domestication process which created dogs, forcing dogs worldwide to convert into wolves, but then they showed humans living like before. At one point I thought it was a sort of “What if” scenario in which Snitter and Rowf actually carried a plague, and the dogs had caused the apocalypse, which was the reason humans kept shooting at them. But then other dogs were seen helping humans. The hostile humans appeared in too close proximity to the rabies town, causing confusion as to whether they were shooting any dog for that reason, or simply because stray dogs were feral, or food thieves. This also obfuscated the final confrontation, which had shades of representing an immortal conflict of wild and civilization, but the convoluted context of the world which led to it obscured any such meaning. At one point, Knight hints that perhaps he never should have been tamed in the first place, but any other mentions of domestication-as-slavery or any such statements make no appearance.

Sometimes, it feels the story is so simple and spells out the wolf metaphors so often because it must be aimed at a young audience, but its structure is so dry and old fashioned I can only picture this audience being the young Laski himself, twenty years ago, when the Internet didn’t exist, as opposed to something current. From his videos, I know Mr. Laski is more than capable of spotting depth in other works, so the only reason I can think of for this debut playing it so safely is a fear of aiming for too much and falling short. Dare yourself to fail, Mr. Laski!

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong debut by an author who I know knows his xenofiction from snout to tail.

While occasionally repetitive at some points, the book remains compelling with its strong leads and the friendship that develops between them.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

SPOILERS!!!!!




To begin with I was recommended this book by a YouTuber Cloud Cuckoo Country. This is part of his book club and I have been quite enjoying the recommendations.

I do not wish to recover already trodden ground so I will start by pointing out that the other reviews of this point make good points. There are missed opportunities, the characters are basic, and the novel gets a little repetitive towards the end. This is my first foray into xenofiction and I over-all enjoyed it. I do have one major critique to make, however.

That critique is that nothing in this story required xenofiction to be told. As someone who loves reading apocalypse fiction I feel safe in saying that I have seen all this before multiple times. Though I will give the author credit for a wintry, cold apocalypse; which I love as I grew up in cold climates and shivering feels like home. Still, allow me to point out some tropes and tell me if you've heard this story before:

Main character who has stayed in their primary home even after the apocalypse, and things get worse and worse, eventually meets circumstances that require them to leave. In order to push this character out the door, they meet The Mentor, who has the knowledge, and is usually a lone wolf type (literally in this case) but needs our Main to be the more able-bodied. Often they don't particularly like or trust each other, this is a partnership of necessity. They set off in the direction of not-as-bad-as-here and slowly grow a bond over their travels. Along their way, they encounter many different obstacles including, but not limited to: surviving the harsh weather, scavenging for resources, the overly-regimented traditional militant group that refuses to adapt to the new reality (in this novel represented by police dogs), zombies (rabies in this case), and the thieves that really screw over our heroes but are set up for a rematch later, all while our Main deals with a dueling inner self part of which wishes to remain the same and the other part that wishes to adapt.

Again, I know I have seen this before told from human perspectives. It felt less like xenofiction, and more like a standard human story given a dog-colored coat of paint. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with being tropey, there are many tropes I really enjoy. I just feel if you are going to go through the effort to write xenofiction, you should take advantage of that fact and write a story you wouldn't be able to tell if you just copy-pasted the characters into humans.

Other than that, I was primarily bugged by the romance in the novel. To me, their bond hadn't gotten to that point yet and it seemed to come out of nowhere. Spoilers but it also leads nowhere.

Beware the ending, however. Usually apocalypse stories rarely end happily, most often bitter sweet which I tend to prefer, this novel just ends very, very bleakly. I wouldn't say I don't like the ending per se, but a kick in the gut for sure. I think I would've preferred that Sierra lived with a litter of pups from her dead mate (Knight), and in the epilogue reflect to her pups on the impact Knight had in her life and her explicit feels to him, if any would be left over time. It would've given us more insight into her character and how she felt about everything we had only previously experienced from Knight's perspective.

Other than that, it was a pretty good debut novel, and a good, tightly paced apocalypse read. I certainly enjoyed it and will be keeping an eye on future novels from this author. The thing I enjoyed most from this book is easily the atmosphere and vibe of the world these two characters are now trying navigate. If the book interests you at all I would recommend you read it.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great first novel by this author. I follow their YouTube channel book reviews and was super excited when they wrote a xenofiction book.
The world building, characters, story, different factions they meet, and tension, all great. The ending was solid and self contained with enough wiggle room for a sequal.
The pacing and characters versus the environment was a little rough at times and while it does show the bleak desperation of the world, I feel it could have been cut down a little as they traveled.
I can’t wait for more books by this new author.

[Michael Miele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casimir does an excellent job of crafting a story about a dog and a wolf doing their best to survive. Knight (the dog) and Sierra (the wolf) are both characters that I'm going to be thinking about for a long time. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of furry stories, but I can trace back my interest in those kinds of stories to books like Call of the Wild, which are closer to the animal xenofiction style of storytelling that Casimir employs here. Sometimes you just want to get down into the dirt and really get into the details of how a dog and a wolf could try and survive an apocalypse together.

I understand the sentiment behind criticizing the repetitiveness of the scenes in which Knight and Sierra are hunting for food, but I'd like to offer a counterpoint. Those scenes were always filled with tension for me, because if they couldn't catch anything, then they wouldn't have the energy to get out of the way of the next snowstorm or make it to their next piece of shelter. The looming risk was what helped to carry those scenes for me and contributed to the bleak and desperate tone of the book.

Knight's inability to shake his upbringing as a dog manifesting as a type of hallucinatory psychosis was absolutely one of the highlights of the book for me. It helps to sell Knight fighting against his nature in order to survive and very often gets him into life-threatening situations. My heart broke every time he thought he saw a human in the distance only for it to be a trick his mind was playing on him.

Sierra works well as a mentor for Knight in teaching him what is necessary to be able to survive out in the wild. Her injury provides a good excuse for them to work together during the course of the story as she tries to let it heal. She proves over and over that her expertise is invaluable to them.

All of the sections while they were traveling through the areas where animals were infected by rabies had an exceptionally creepy feel to them. They were the scariest parts of the book for me and ones which have stuck with me long after reading. The grotesque nature of the virus was delightfully described.

This is a rough read at times with just how bleak it can be. I believe that adds to the overall feel and tone of the story, but I do want to mention it. Casimir does not shy away from the harsh realities of living through a world that is slowly dying around you.

Loved the book and got very emotional at the ending. Suffice to say it was a good journey for me and I would recommend folks checking it out!

[Lone Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a world where most humans have died of a plague, Knight the Labrador is struggling to survive by himself after the loss of his human family. But then he meets Sierra, a wolf who has lost her pack, and the two decide to help each other. Together, they set out to find a place where they can live and thrive.

The idea is a good one, but the book is very repetitive. There’s scene after scene and chapter after chapter describing almost identical hunts for food, or searches for shelter from blizzards, or Knight wallowing in angst about becoming a wild animal. This becomes quite tiresome after a while. There are also occasional spelling/grammatical errors.

The Labrador on the cover is far too large compared to the wolf (for the actual size difference, see the cover of ‘A Wolf Called Romeo’ by Nick Jans: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...). Other dogs too are often referred to as being as large as Sierra or larger, when in reality only a few, giant breeds exceed a North American wolf in size. There are also other factual mistakes, such as canids using their claws like cats, and wolves attacking humans portrayed as a regular occurrence when it is anything but. The animals use human terms and gestures, and when canine body-language is mentioned, it isn’t always correct.

In addition, there is no depth to the animals’ world at all – no customs or beliefs or stories. They have no interest in anything but food and safety, and whilst this might be seen by some as more realistic, it does not make for very engaging characters in my opinion.

[Rob Tuttle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable debut from someone who's clearly done their homework; the author has a xenofiction-oriented youtube channel where they deconstruct the tropes and techniques of the genre and it's rewarding to see those lessons put into practice. Strikes a great balance between making the canine protagonists relatable and demonstrating how their perspective differs from our own. Doesn't really push the envelope thematically speaking, but executes the genre staples effectively and updates them for a contemporary audience.

There are a few rough edges, such as the occasionally repetitive or thesaurus-y word choice and the somewhat uneven pacing. Although unabashedly standing on the shoulders of giants like Jack London and Richard Adams, Winter Without End never feels derivative, nor does it fall prey to the story bloat or sentimentality that often characterise modern xenofiction and as such deserves much wider recognition. Well worth a read if you've ever enjoyed a novel with animal characters, and a decent entry point to the space if you haven't!

Definitely one to watch (Literally, CardinalWest on YouTube!), looking forward to more of Laski's work in future.

(Edit to add: glanced at my book list and saw that this is maybe the first book I've felt the need to review on here since high school, which I think speaks for itself!)

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.75 rounded up to 5

I’ve not been much of a reader of animal-xenofiction before now- I hadn’t even heard of the genre until I’d watched the author’s YouTube videos a few years ago. Enjoying the deep dives he has done about the genre I bought this back in early 2023. Given the nature of my random TBR list it took me two years to get to this book. I’ve been on a bit of a post apocalyptic bend lately so this naturally fell into that. I enjoyed this a lot- it’s got a unique narrative style you can tell the author enjoys writing as an art form in how he crafts the story. I enjoyed the unique perspective of animals in a post apocalyptic setting and the overall themes of returning back to wild roots. There were a few very small things that took me out of it for a hot second but overall they didn’t completely ruin the story. I was a bit curious about the way characters would interact if they were both animals but I would not say that this is so far out of the realm of believability.

[Lara Vehar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was surprisingly good for a debut. It felt like a mix of Fox and the hound and Plague dogs. And it was a surprisingly good book.

The first half felt kind of slow but the end really picks up. And I love that open ending that makes you unsure if they survived or not. But even if they didn't you just know that they are off to a far better place than the world they live in.

I loved the characters and I loved how mysterious and scary the world was. Especially once the book starts mentioning rabies. Rabies is one of the scariest diseases out there and mentioning animals having it and humans fearing it sent shivers down my spine.

So I guess that this was decent book but the pacing could use some work.

[Mamuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. The descriptions of the world pull you in, making you feel as if you were there. The mysterious end of the world and the characters attempt to survive are captivating. Short and engaging, I would highly reccomend this book to anyone looking to get into xenofiction.

[Byron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the absolute greatest literary achievement I have ever experienced in my life. The romantic subplot between Lady Chatterley and Lord Farquaad really ties the room together and makes this tale worth telling every time. I have read this book five-hundred-and-ninety-three times, and I am going to be on my six-hundredth reading by the end of this year. This is the perfect book and if anyone ever writes another book that is even close to as good as this, I will be completely satisfied with the briefly flickering flame that represents my time upon this earth. This book deserves a special place in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, and deserves every award that it could possibly have. All in all, a good book. Definitely better than most books. If you only read one book in this lifetime, make it this one.

[Marilyn]

got bored

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the visuals and atmosphere. I also liked the friendship that these two developed. Over all great plot and story!