In the midst of the turmoil, the blood, the death, Callie learns to trust herself, learns to survive, and most importantly learns to love. It’s a novel that combines elements of action-adventure, family drama, and the supernatural into a fast paced adventure. While geared towards the teen set, adults will find much in the novel to admire and enjoy, much like Gregory Galloway’s As Simple as Snow, Nel Shusterman's Unzipped, or Gary Paulsen’s adventure novels such as Hatchet.
From the author's forward:
"As a young man I was drawn to films such as The Road Warrior, Blade Runner, Red Dawn, and other dystopian stories. There is something interesting about a world that's in ruins. In many ways books like The Road, The Stand, films like The Book of Eli, I Am Legend, Children of Men (and it's novel counterpart), etc. are our modern westerns, pitting a desperate everyman, or in this case everywoman, against a hostile environment, for loved ones, for good, for what's right.
The pacing is quick, the action often violent, but not overly so. There is much adults will enjoy in this read, but the intended audience is young teens. As for The Odyssey, the major conflicts Odysseus has to overcome have been re-imagined. The gods appear in the form of a giant Indian, and though much of the novel is realistic, there is a magical realism, or supernatural backbone; a world where a girl could worry about a boy and battle evil spirits, greedy mauraders, an old crone who lives in a supernatural orchard, an insane bear, and others, all while navigating a winter storm."
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