This book was clearly aimed at young adults (no pun intended!) the story is short, straightforward, uncomplicated and doesn't have many characters all of which suggests the target readers may have a short attention span.
Set in the Arctic Circle in 1910 Sig lives in a poor shack with his father, sister and step-mother. They all get along well and are quite happy until Sig's father dies in an accident and a dangerous man from the past comes knocking looking for gold he claims Sig's father swindled from him years ago...
The story is exciting but also thought provoking with an ultimately moral and satisfying ending. There are moments in the book which genuinely have you holding your breath and the characters are interesting and likeable enough that you care what happens to them.
In line with the book being aimed at young adults there is a strong 'moral' element in the book and a very strong emphasis on forgiveness and doing the right thing. We all know in real life often people don't do the right thing so in that sense the story was too clean to be believable but the story does leave you with a nice feeling after reading it.
Final verdict 3/5
By Chris
I generally don't enjoy books with a strong moral very much, but I think I might like this...
ReplyDeleteHi Zara,
ReplyDeleteI don't often go for this sort of book but I did enjoy it overall, it won't change your life but its a bit of fun
I absolutely loved this book (I am a huge Sedgwick fan). I loved the frontier feel of this one and the central dilemma of whether the boy would/could use the gun.
ReplyDelete@ Annabel: Yes, it certainly is an impressive book. I was surprised by the end, I felt sure he would have done what most people would have but as I said there is a strong moral theme and I guess it couldn't have ended any other way!
ReplyDeleteChris