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The Wolf Road
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The Wolf Road
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The Wolf Road
Audiobook12 hours

The Wolf Road

Written by Beth Lewis

Narrated by Amy McFadden

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

A debut literary thriller from an incredible new voice. What do you do when the man who gave you everything turns out to be a killer? Perfect for fans of STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel.

Since the Damn Stupid turned the clock back on civilization by centuries, the world has been a harsher place. But Elka has learned everything she needs to survive from the man she calls Trapper, the solitary hunter who took her in when she was just seven years old.

So when Elka sees the Wanted poster in town, her simple existence is shattered. Her Trapper – Kreagar Hallet – is wanted for murder. Even worse, Magistrate Lyon is hot on his trail, and she wants to talk to Elka.

Elka flees into the vast wilderness, determined to find her true parents. But Lyon is never far behind – and she’s not the only one following Elka’s every move. There will be a reckoning, one that will push friendships to the limit and force Elka to confront the dark memories of her past.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateJun 30, 2016
ISBN9780008145491
Unavailable
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Reviews for The Wolf Road

Rating: 3.9196786024096384 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really loved this book! It was not what I was expecting; turned out to be so much better than the synopsis led me to believe. The narrator's voice took a little while to get used to (it is very heavily "dialect-y"), but once I did it really added to the ambience of the story. The antagonist is a truly evil baddie, almost into caricature territory, but I think it works. There is no question of sympathy for this devil -- which lets the reader concentrate more on the protagonist's dilemma, and her questioning of her own true nature.I also really appreciated that the two main characters were women. Very unalike, and yet dependent upon one another for their survival. I thought it was a really nice portrayal of strangers thrust together, each keeping secrets and not knowing whether to trust one another. Their relationship was one of the best parts of the book.Overall, I thought this was a thoughtful and different approach to the post-apocalyptic-western. Two thumbs up!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Brilliant from start to finish. Could not stop listening Thank you
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Just you and me, Elka girl, Trapper said to me, it can only be you and me.The Fall, the Reformation, the Damn Stupid, has happened and humans now live in a dystopian future that has them going back to hunters, gatherers, and rough survival times. Left with her nana at age seven after her parents set off to find their riches mining for gold, our main character gets taken in by Kreagar Hallet and named Elka. The story starts off with a young adult Elka hiding in a tree from Kreagar and you're wondering what has happened. The story then goes back to the beginning of Elka starting off with Trapper (Kreagar). There's the immediate sense of unease with a seven year old girl staying alone with a man but, told all from Elka's point-of-view, the reader just sees him as a gruff and rough wilderness man who is teaching a young girl to live, fend, and survive in the current times. Since Elka has never had a formal education, the story is told in a vernacular that reflects that and gives the tone a rough and naive sense. Elka talks about how Trapper teaches her to hunt, describing the skinning of the animal and eventual eating of it. The sense of unease creeps back in as we time jump ahead and a woman comes back to the cabin with slightly older Elka, Trapper has strictly enforced that no one knows where they live and even though he acts nicely with the woman, when she leaves with him to go back home, the reader and Elka don't have a good feeling. Things come to a crash when Elka is around seventeen and she sees a wanted poster for Trapper in town and the magistrate, a woman name Jennifer Lyons, asks if Elka recognizes the man, Kreagar, from the poster and tells her that he is wanted for murdering eight woman and a child. The child was Lyon's son. Elka is shook but pretends to not know Kreagar but Lyon followed her home and ends up burning their cabin and Elka sees scalps and a box of Kreagar's murderous keepsakes that brings to front that he is guilty. The doctor had taught me all I needed to know 'bout the rest a my life in that one act. He was giving me a chance to do the right thing like he had. To face down Kreagar and face down my past 'stead a running from 'em both. I just had to be brave enough to do it.The story then pivots to Elka running from Kreagar, Lyons, and her own mind. Along the way she meets a bunch of men that are horrible and even is saved by someone she thinks was Kreagar at one point. Elka's trying to get to the mining city she thinks her parents went to and it all feels a little haphazard, which with how broken her memories are, fits the tone. There's the horrible men but Elka also befriends a wolf and another girl Penelope and they end up taking turns saving each other, teaching Elka a different side of humanity that she didn't learn from being raised by Trapper. Around 70%, Elka and Penelope make it to her parent's mining town and actually find the claim they were on, it doesn't quite have a happy ending but Elka and Penelope decide to try and scrape out a living there as a man and his son they befriended on the journey there, also lives in the town. Even as they decide this, the creep of Kreagar and Lyons grows closer and closer. Some enemy of my enemy happens and Elka finally has her stand with Kreagar. The writing style voice of Elka's speech as she tells the story was a bit of a struggle for me and some of Elka's growing in the second half wasn't paced quite right but this story definitely had some tense atmosphere to it as Kreagar hung out in the shadows. Along with the final physical showdown with Kreagar, the story was clearly leading up to Elka's repressed memories finally coming to the surface. I thought Elka dealing with this emotional trauma was really rushed at the end and it was a little disappointing that all that leading up was kind of wasted. The ending brought in some humanity from Penelope in this dystopian world and while Elka never had a fair chance because of being raised by Trapper/Kreagar, she goes off into the horizon with a title friend she met along the way.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When Elka wanders away from her grandmother's house, the last thing she expects is to be taken in by a local hunter. But that's exactly what happens. And, to her surprise, he treats her well--provides for her, teaches her skills. And he protects her.

    Imagine Elka's surprise when she learns the man is wanted for several murders. She wants to believe it's not the man who has become her surrogate father. But before she really has time to do anything about it, she knows she needs to run. The ruthless magistrate is after her, too, assuming she's somehow connected to the crimes.

    Elka sets out on a mission to find her parents. Perhaps by finding them, she can disconnect herself completely from the one adult she's trusted for years. And hopefully she can get there before either of the people chasing her--the Trapper and the Magistrate--catch up with her.

    --

    When I finished this book, I told myself it was a decent historical fiction novel. But then when I went back to start this review, I noticed it's marked as "dystopian". I guess there's a reference in the blurb, but it didn't really come through at all in the book. I just thought the lack of technology, homesteading, etc. was an element of the time setting.

    [Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review.]
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I am always a little wary of books that are narrated in the first person and don't use proper grammar - it can feel a little gimmicky or folksy - but this author managed to use it to her advantage. The reader cannot forget that the protagonist is uneducated and unworldly; the way she speaks is a constant reminder. For a protagonist that is so isolated, it also manages to stay interesting. I would recommend it to people who enjoy works that depict alternate realities and futures.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I started The Wolf Road, but once it started going I couldn’t stop! And to be honest, I’m surprised more attention hasn’t been given to the book’s “Western” vibe, as that really deserves to be front and center. Out of the novel’s many strengths, its harsh and gritty frontier-like atmosphere was what really stood out—a definite plus for me, considering there’s certainly no shortage of post-apocalyptic settings in the speculative fiction arena.The Wolf Road features a world ravaged by war. As a little girl, protagonist Elka learned from her Nana about the “Big Damn Stupid”—the catastrophic event that destroyed everything and set human civilization back to zero. Technology and modern comforts are gone now, along with any kind of social infrastructure or protection. It’s everyone for themselves in the northern wilderness where Elka lives, and what’s left of the law here is swift and merciless in delivering justice to criminals and delinquents.One day when Elka was seven years old though, she found herself lost and alone in the woods. Against all odds, she was rescued and taken in by a man known only as “Trapper”. He sheltered Elka, when he could have turned away and left her to die. For the next ten years he took care of her, and even taught her how to hunt and to trap and to survive off the land. And in time, Elka came to see Trapper as her father.However, all that safety and happiness about to be ripped away. On a fateful trip into town, Elka discovers that the man who had raised her for the last decade is not who she always thought he was. Trapper turns out to be a serial murderer wanted by the law, and unfortunately for Elka, her close association with him makes her an accomplice. The law is now after her in the form of a ruthless magistrate named Lyon, a hard woman who will stop at nothing to apprehend her prey. And now that Elka is aware of his true identity, the man she used to call her father is coming after her as well, determined not to leave loose ends.I don’t know what I expected when I first picked up The Wolf Road, but it really hooked me in from the start. First of all, this is a unique novel that encompasses a number of genre elements, making it a bit hard to categorize. While it doesn’t have the breakneck pace of a thriller, the suspense is so thick it’s almost palpable. The post-apocalyptic setting is also unusual in that it downplays the typical themes of technological collapse and life afterwards in the crumbling cities. Instead, we’re deep in the wilderness, focusing on the remnants of a rural population that has reverted to way of life last seen in the mid-1800s, complete with their own Gold Rush! Lone travelers have to guard themselves against wolves and bears, as well as the predators of a more human sort like scammers, murders, and sex traffickers. Throw in poison lakes, the sudden and devastating weather changes, and all the other lasting effects of the Big Damned Stupid, and you have yourself a fascinating mix.Elka herself is an intriguing character, a product of her unconventional upbringing. She’s tough and independent, but having spent her whole life in the woods, Elka is also understandably a little naïve and all too trusting when she heads out into the world by herself. While her guilelessness does get her into all sorts of trouble, on the bright side it also leads her to an unlikely friendship. Elka meets Penelope, the daughter of a well-to-do doctor, and though the two young women cannot be any more different, they quickly become family to each other. Gradually, their stories are revealed to us, and that’s when the realization really hits you just how dramatically things have changed in this world. Survival in this post-apocalypse can take many forms, and each individual adapts by playing to their strengths. Together, Elka and Penelope make a great team by combining their skills.Also, no matter who you are or where you come from, everyone in this world has their secrets. In order to understand Elka, we also have to take in account the tricky relationship she has with Trapper, a man she can’t help but still think of as her father, even though she knows he is a killer. The Wolf Road portrays the different relationships very well, but given Elka’s history, there’s also an element of the unreliable narrator to contend with, and I think that’s where the story stumbled for me a little. I can’t go into any more detail due to risk of spoilers, but I can say that fortunately, this issue only cropped up for me near the end of the book, and the twist didn’t affect my overall experience too much.Bottom line, The Wolf Road is an outstanding novel, incredibly well-written and carried out with impressive finesse. I loved the atmosphere of this world, and the people in it feel fully fleshed out, brought to life with strikingly vivid imagery and realistic characterization. This was one great read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The time frame of this is set in a post apocalyptic future where everything has reverted to what might be seen as the wild west with gold rushes and shanty towns. This book was very dark, yet very engaging. The story begins with a 7 year old girl lost in the woods after a tornado destroys the shack she and her grandmother lived in. She cannot find her nana but she stumbles across a house with hides and meat drying and driven from hunger she steals a piece setting off an alarm to someone inside the house. She runs but is caught by a man she ends up calling Trapper. She never learns his real name and he calls her Elka due to the coarseness of her hair. Thus begins an odd relationship where she begins to see him as a father figure and he sees her as someone to pass on his skills of living off the land. Trapper is a tough teacher and leaves her alone for days at a time bringing back his "kills" for her to skin and process. After many years she is finally trused to go to town to get supplies and she sees a wanted picture of the man she knows as Trapper. He's wanted in connection to several murders in the area. As she heads back to the house she comes upon lawmen ransacking her and Trappers home and they discover a box of human scalps. She sees this and decides she's going to leave and search for the parents that left her 10 years ago. Thus begins a long journey through the wilderness and outlands ravaged by what she calls "the big stupid" aka a nuclear war. She makes a friend and together they have to escape their past and those that hunt them.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A fine book though I was a bit frustrated by the pacing and ending. Part of that might be because the first chapter, meant to tantalize, simply revealed too much about where the book was going. Part of that might also be because it's a road book with a set destination, and it takes a long time for the character to walk there. I do like the three main relationships in which the protagonist is involved, a father/daughter thing and two deep friendships. And the protagonist herself is quite strong with a distinctive voice and outlook.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    While there are so many post-apocalyptic books that have been published this story goes beyond what has become the norm. The Wolf Road is a powerful novel that changes the way that we think about endings and beginnings. The fact that this is a first time for the author to publish a novel, it is simply captivating and amazing!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I had such high hopes for The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it. This was the second time I tried listening to this audiobook thinking that perhaps I just didn't try hard enough the first time to "really" listen. I did not care for the grammar used by the main character, Elka. It grated on my nerves. Secondly, the story line simply did not grab my attention. I know Ms. Lewis is talented so I passed it off to my adult son who I think will enjoy it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a post-apocalyptic novel set in near future British Columbia. Apparently, a series of major power conflicts has led to a nuclear exchange, ravaging the landscape and returning society to a 19th century frontier existence.The protagonist of the story is a young woman, given the name Elka, who is raised from age seven by a sociopathic hermit of sorts. Trapper raises Elka and instructs her in all the skills needed to survive in the wilderness, but Trapper is not what he appears.Elka’s goal in life is to travel north to the Yukon gold fields and reunite with her parents, who abandoned her years ago to the care of her grandmother (who was ultimately killed). The story revolves around her journey north, and the various adventures attendant with the journey.As post-apocalyptic tales go, I’ve got to say that I’ve read much better (The Road, The Stand, A Canticle for Liebowitz). I can’t say that I felt much empathy for the main character, and found her dialogue to be annoying and overly “hillbillyized”. Most of the characters are relatively one dimensional stereotypes and most of the action is pretty predictable. Not terrible, just not very good.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was so good. So. Good. We need more strong female characters like Elka out there in the literary world! I read this book in two sittings because I just couldn't put it down. Once I moved past the dialect, the story was amazing. I'm normally iffy about Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic stories because the idea has been so overdone, but this was a unique book about a unique character fleeing for her life, while trying to find herself. I would recommend this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I won this book from LibraryThing in exchange for a honest review. At first I didn't think I was going to like this book because it was written as the illiterate Elka speaks. Be I really got into the story about a orphan girl that is taken in by her 'Trapper" and she later finds out he is not the person she thought he was. She goes on the run and makes friends with a unlikely animal and a unlikely girl. I think this would make a great movie.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis tells the tale of Elka, a stubborn and curious girl raised by a hunter she christens Trapper. Born into a post-apocalyptic world decades after a world-wide disaster coined “The Big Damn Stupid,” Elka learns how to survive in a harsh environment. Despite her parents abandoning her to find their fortune in the north, Elka has a good head on her shoulders and knows her worth. Trapper has also taught her well, but when she discovers some unsavory news regarding her mysterious adopted father, all hell breaks loose. Alone again, Elka decides to embark on a long and dangerous expedition to find her birth parents. As interesting as the story seems on a surface level, the further it progresses, the more it traverses into dull and confusing territory.

    Elka narrates the novel in the past tense, which disorients the reader immensely. Her narration is a re-telling of her life up to the climax of the novel, which is where the reader finds her in the first chapter. Elka intentionally spoils numerous plot twists many chapters before they actually occur. When you lose the element of surprise, a lot rides on whether or not the reader finds the characters interesting. And while Elka makes some fascinating friends on her journey, including a wolf cub, only one of these characters is fully fleshed out and likeable.

    That character is Penelope, a genteel young lady with a medicinal background. When she is saved by Elka from a terrible fate, the two young women become bound together by necessity. While the novel certainly passes the Bechdel test, which is refreshing, Penelope’s personality presents itself as highly contradictory on the page. Her character is portrayed as an amalgamation of weakness due to her lack of outdoor survival skills, and usefulness as a result of her medical training. Her portrayal is confusing, and even if the reader accounts for Elka’s oftentimes unreliable narration, it still cannot be fully forgiven.

    Another bothersome aspect of the novel is language. Elka speaks in a strong and exaggerated dialect reminiscent of an uneducated Southerner. This voice can be done well, as seen in any Cormac McCarthy novel, but in this case, it struggles to flow naturally off of the page. Conversations also become muddled when multiple characters with similar dialects converse with one other. When Elka describes her setting or when she has any sort of revelation, it is difficult, if not impossible, to parse out meaning. One significant scene in particular perplexed me so much that I recall having to read the passage four or five times in order to understand what happened.

    Beth Lewis’ The Wolf Road starts with a bang and ends with a whimper. When a novel begins with the climax, interest is lost rather quickly. A narrator rife with spoilers, a trek full of endless walking, and a lack of stimulating characters creates a dismal, seemingly endless read. I wouldn’t recommend journeying down this road unless you’re incredibly determined and willing to make a massive amount of effort.

    Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Elka has nothing, not her parents, not her grandmother, not even her own name. And then she finds Trapper. Or rather he finds her. This is all after The Big Stupid, when bombs fell and contaminated and destroyed much of her world.I wasn't sure I wanted to read this novel because it sounded very violent, and I have a problem with violence towards animals and children. Be aware that there is lots of violence in this book, and children are grievously harmed. Animals don't fare well either, but their deaths are seemingly less violent.Elka is amazingly resilient, amazingly strong, a bit naive. And it turns out, a prissy young woman she meets in a most remarkable way is also stronger than she seems.Elka is on a quest. But she is also fleeing. The dialogue is written as am illiterate person would speak, and Elka never had a chance to become literate. The writing is quite good, with very strong characters.This is not only about loss and seeking but also about the lies we tell ourselves, the lies we come to believe because our minds require it. Yes, it is a violent story full of awful things, but it is also quite lovely.I started listening to this novel on CD but because of a defective book, I read most of the book rather than listening to it. For the part I was able to hear, the narrator was excellent.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've been perusing some of those 'best books of the year' lists as 2016 draws to a close. The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis was on one of those lists. And I knew I had a copy buried in the TBR pile. Well.....I should have read it the minute it arrived. What a fantastic read! And I absolutely agree with the 'best of' designation!Sometime in the future - after the apocalyptic 'Big Damn Stupid' has happened - the world has carried on. But in BeeCee it has reverted back to a wild west, frontier law, fend for yourself society.And it is into this world that our protagonist is born. Lost in the woods as a seven year old, she is found and raised by a man she calls Trapper. He names her Elka. It's a hard life, but Elka grows into a proficient survivalist, able to fend for herself in the woods. Life seems destined to continue the way it has until Elka sees a wanted poster in town - with Trapper's face on it. It seems that Trapper hunts more than wild game. Now on the run from him and hoping to find her long lost parents up in the gold fields, Elka encounters what the world has now become. Desperate, dirty and dangerous.What a protagonist! Her thoughts, voice and actions as she makes her way north held me spellbound. I was on the edge of my seat constantly as Lewis threw up one more situation and then another and another for Elka. (And I'm going to admit here, I broke my own rule - I peeked ahead more than once. I just couldn't stand the tension!)Lewis's setting was instantly recognizable for this reader - the book is set in British Columbia (BeeCee) Couver (Vancouver) is also mentioned. What a unique genre - apocalyptic, western, thriller. Love, love, loved it. True Grit meets Hanna meets Winter's Bone. I really hope that Beth Lewis is hard at work on her next novel.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow! What a book! In a post-apocalyptic world, Elka finds herself alone in the woods with little chance of survival until she is taken in by Trapper. Trapper teaches her the skills one must have to survive in the wilderness. Elka thrives until one day she discovers that her Trapper is not what he has always seemed to her. He is in fact a murderer of women and children. Elka strikes out alone heading into the frozen north to find her real parents, who she doesn't even remember. There are challenges and dangers on her journey that she could never have imagined, but along the way she learns a great deal and makes some friends.This is a beautifully written book about a young adult character. Despite the explicit violence, I would highly recommend this for older high school students. It is a rare and wonderful book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed reading this book! I was a little surprised because I don't care too much for first person narration but I think it worked extremely well in this book. It really helped to connect with Elka, the main character. There were a few predictable moments but I more often than not found myself fully engrossed in the story. I loved seeing her character evolve as she got farther and farther away from the little cabin where she lived with Trapper. I really enjoyed seeing her unlikely friendship grow to more of a sisterhood with Penelope and have Elka see what a real family was like. There were a few occasions when the story seemed to drag a little and I really would have liked some more background on what the "big stupid" really was, but overall, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to future books from this author.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received this audio book from LibraryThings Early Reviewers for an honest review. This book was very good. It has so many different aspects I can not actually put it in one genre. I'm not one to read thrillers or dystonia type books so if I put it in that category someone might pass on it. If I say it is futuristic and about murder and survival again you might pass. We could also loosely say it's about loyalty, friendship, women, and nature. What I can say is that it held my interest and I was glad to get back to sewing each day to continue the story. The audio narrator did a great job which sometimes is not the case. I have been finished with this book for over 3 weeks and I still think about it. This would make a great book club pick. Lots of juicy topics to discuss!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When Elka’s grandmother is killed in a storm, she is taken in by a mysterious man who calls himself Trapper. He teaches her how to survive in the wild and together the pair thrives. When Elka is visiting town, she finds a wanted poster of Trapper, accusing him of murder. The law follows her back to their home and burns it to the ground. Elka flees, determined to escape her mysterious past.At first glance, the writing style of this book drove me crazy. I gave it a second try and found myself more interested in the story. Elka and Trapper had an interesting dynamic, but the book really caught my interest with Elka met Penelope. Overall, a good book, worth picking up.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If I had to assign this a genre I'd call it a dystopian survivalist-western - it's an odd one, with a little bit of something for every reader. ultimately though for me it was just "okay" at a lot of the things it attempted to do, rather than excellent at any one. At times the writing is clunky and the plot shifts frequently between gritty realism and cartoonishness. I'm not sure I'd read anything else by Lewis.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received this book from LibraryThing's early reviewers a few months ago. It took me a while to actually pick the book up to start reading. I'm glad I gave it a try after avoiding it for so long, and was very surprised by how good it was, capturing my attention quickly. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.The story is about a girl, Elka, who lost her family and was raised in the woods by a man who she didn't realize is a serial killer until she learns that he is wanted for murder. She runs away and travels through forests to find her real parents, all the time being tracked by the man who raised her, as well as the Magistrate who wants them both for murder. The book is about Elka's journey and means of survival, all while she is trying to come to grips with the realities of her upbringing.I would highly recommend this novel.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one I have to say thank you Library Thing for introducing to this new and exciting author. At first was not sure if this was something that would hold my attention, but I found myself looking forward to my commute. Could not wait to see what was going to happen next, if she is this good her first book, looking forward to the next one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    ‘One a’ them rules is don’t go trusting another man’s path…People do it, they do what their mommies and daddies did, they make them same mistakes, they have them same joys and hurts, they just repeating. Trees don’t grow exactly where their momma is; ain’t no room…I weren’t following no one up through life.’Deep in the woods of what was once called British Columbia, 17-year-old Elka is struggling to survive on her own. After what she refers to as the “Big Damn Stupid”, the two wars that demolished the world that we know, this post-apocalyptic wasteland isn’t for the weak-willed. When she was only 7-years-old, Elka was caught in a massive storm and lost her grandmother but was taken in by a man she called “Trapper”, a man that taught her everything she needed to know about surviving and became the closest thing she could call family. When Elka discovers that “Trapper” a.k.a Kreager Hallet is wanted by the law for the deaths of many, she disappears thinking that she must be next. Her plan is to finally set off to find her long lost parents who left her with her grandmother to go in search of wealth, but her days traversing the woods alone get her mind racing as to the reasons why Kreager Hallet kept her alive all these years.Her journey takes her north for many months. Seasons change but she continues to walk towards some unseen destination. Things aren’t easy and she constantly encounters obstacles but nothing she’s not able to find her way around, even with the law that is also searching for her assuming that she’s an accomplish for the murders. She even befriends a Wolf who undertakes the journey alongside her. Elka was an extraordinary character and one that isn’t seen often enough. Resilient, resourceful, with an indomitable spirit, she constantly proved herself to be immensely capable of dealing with any situation presented to her. When she’s forced to deal with other people and society, it was baffling to her that all women wouldn’t be just like her: able to take care of themselves in this harsh world.‘I seen women take this kind a’ help from a man with a look a’ relief on their faces. I wondered if these women knew how much easier their lives would be if they did all this stuff for themselves.’The comparisons between The Road and True Grit are apt. The world is a desolate place lacking in any redeemable qualities and has reverted to a Western style. Considering this was once British Columbia, it makes sense that individuals still speak French but to ones like Elka that have spent their life away from the company of people, she’s developed her own dialect that is decidedly Western. The language itself is fortunately effortless to read unlike other books I’ve read where new dialects have been created. The writing itself is fluid and promising for a debut author. There was unfortunately one lapse that ultimately changed the entire story for me: it’s told in past-tense and the essence of the ending is revealed in the introduction. For me, too much was revealed and the element of surprise was spent. Yes, there were additional details to add to the ending that weren’t disclosed until the true end of the story, however, I felt that the initial reveal was wholly unnecessary and the entire story would have been far more effective and enticing at keeping the reader interested if left out completely. Nonetheless, this post-apocalyptic western proves to be an auspicious start for debut author Beth Lewis.‘Memories ain’t no one’s friend. They show you all the good things you had, all the good things you lost, and don’t let you forget all the bad shit in between.’
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What a great story! It took a little while to get into the language, but after a few minutes it was ok. This tale has lots of twists and turns and some graphic violence, but kept you wanting to know what happens next. Definitely a must read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The contradiction that I disliked was that Elka spoke with horrible grammar yet she thought with a fairly good sized vocabulary and much better grammar. Otherwise a good story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was given this book for an honest review.Not an easy read as the content is against social norms. In the end everything comes back to dealing with one's inner demons and finding one's self through all the baggage we develop from the influences on our lives. Worth reading if you are not weak stomached and cringe at the harsh realities of life. I will definitely be looking for more by this author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Wolf Road represents my first foray into dystopian fiction, and I am glad it was in an audiobook format; I would have never finished it if I received it in print or ebook format. Having said that, this story had more bark than bite to it. No doubt, there were gruesome aspects, but mostly alluded to, rather than detailed out.

    This story is also the debut of an author whose day job involves being the managing editor of illustrated children's' books for a large, London-based publishing house. Given the storyliine, it made me wonder if this was written to counter-balance the often gooey-sweetness of illustrated children's books. The over-arcing, alluded to "secret" in this story, which the main character doesn't grasp until nearly the end, is very obvious to the reader from early on in the book. Numerous scenarios are set up to expose this secret to the MC, yet never understood by her, yet when she finally grasps the truth, she accepts it rather too quickly to be fully believable. Even the last horrific event, which triggers the MC's final determination to win at all costs, seems almost predictable, by the time it occurs.

    I rated this story 2-1/2 stars because it was well written, if a bit redundant and convoluted; and because the narrator (Amy McFadden) does an admirable job handling the gruesome nature of this story.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is an intense book of suspense about a young girl raised by an isolated and secretive trapper, after he rescues her as an 8-year-old wandering alone in the woods. Over the years, Elka, as he comes to call her, learns how to hunt and provide for herself as a young woman. Eight years after she was found, Elka discovers that this man is wanted by the local sheriff for the murder of numerous women and he has not been honest with her regarding the past. After escaping from him and running away, Elka becomes the prey in a cat and mouse game that will use all of her skills of survival not to be her "father's" next victim.I did not finish this book because it was simply too dark for me. There was no humor to lighten the intensity of the mood and the violence and ugliness of the setting was just not my style. Others have apparently loved this book so I am pretty sure I am one of the few who didn't enjoy it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had a bit of mixed feelings over this book. I enjoyed the story as a whole, but I felt like I wanted a little more. I was left feeling a little confused in the beginning about when this was supposed to have taken place, but could infer it was after some world changing event. The Fall, Reformation, Rapture, or The Big Damn Stupid are all names for it in one sentence, but it's never delved into to know what had happened. A later explanation of some warm pools of water Elka happens upon points to possible Nuclear incident but again never delved into any explanation of what happened. I suppose it's probably summed up why in the sentence "I never asked why, never much cared. Life is life and you got to live it in the here-now not the back-then". A small thing, but I personally wanted to know what had happened. The story itself is a great ride of thriller and suspense cast with great characters. Elka is a very strong central character, self-sufficient and strong-willed yet naive to the outside world she's never had to encounter before. Her interactions with a wolf along her journey are somewhat heartwarming as he seems to decide she needs protecting from people, even when she doesn't heed his warnings. I can't say I enjoyed the way Elka speaks but I know it had to do with where she grew up, though Trapper doesn't find her until she's seven after a storm wrecks her home and she stumbles onto his cabin. I thought it would be the vocabulary the entire time, but people Elka encounters after fleeing from her home with Trapper don't speak the same way. Though it didn't take away from the story. The things Elka goes through after fleeing are tense, suspenseful and sometimes nail biting, and not all happy endings. Overall a great story and character by a wonderful author! I received this book as an ARC from LibraryThing.