Feral Snow - Mark Lowes

 

Alone and stranded in the Arctic wasteland, would you risk your life to save a stranger or try to get home?

Paul is a father-to-be; traumatised by his past, he's terrified of becoming a father after his own beat him until he was unilaterally deaf. While working as a freelance cameraman in the Arctic, he's caught in a blizzard, separated from his crew, and falls into a chasm. Alone, and waiting for death to come, personal demons plague his mind.

When a young native girl falls into the chasm with him, Paul must learn how to accept responsibility and what it takes to give your life for a child.

FERAL SNOW, while a tense and action-packed story, is an intimate journey between two polar opposites and how love can be forged in the unlikeliest of circumstances. It has been compared to The Revenant, 127 Hours, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

What did I think?

I was very intrigued by the synopsis of Feral Snow and I was not disappointed; it's very unusual and unlike anything I've read before.  With such a small cast of characters, indeed mainly just one or two for most of the book, I was surprised to be so completely riveted by the story.  

Paul is quite a complex character and you have to wonder at his motivation for travelling to the Arctic when his wife is very close to giving birth.  When Paul falls into a chasm with only his own thoughts for company, his layers are peeled away you begin to understand what's behind his decision.  It's often said that the abused become abusers so Paul is not afraid to die if it will keep his unborn child from harm...until he meets twelve year old Nanny.

Nanny is an awesome character, she's strong, tough and smart but her story is even more devastating than Paul's.  Nanny is the key to Paul confronting his demons and it's truly heartwarming to see Paul's character evolve.  Due to the solitary nature of the story, I did wonder if Nanny was a figment of Paul's imagination and there are quite a few moments where the reader questions what is real and what isn't.  With so much action and danger, it's not so much dreamlike as what nightmares are made of.

What is real is the effect of global warming on the Arctic and Mark Lowes weaves this into his story beautifully to get this powerful message across.  It's not just glaciers melting into the sea (which Mark Lowes vividly describes) but also the serious threat against the whole ecosystem.  The environmental issues are very cleverly incorporated into the story and it's very thought-provoking, so much so that it's been on my mind long after I finished the book.

Tense and gripping, Feral Snow is an awesome survival thriller with a powerful message and a brilliant debut novel from Mark Lowes.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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