Sometimes you read a book and you know that the author knows exactly what they’re writing about. This is that book.

Author Blair Braverman was and is a dogsledder, but she also was on an episode of Naked and Afraid. Both of those experiences shine through in this book.

It’s an excellent survival story, with exciting moments, all the emotions you’d expect. Shit goes bad, the characters adjust, shit goes worse, the characters adjust. Novels like these are great for showing the power of the human spirit.

It also shows this in another really interesting way in the other half of its premise. As our main character has to live out the life of someone on a reality tv survival show, we get EXCELLENT interactions between the characters. They’re archetypes you know if you’ve watched a show like this before: the Boy Scout, the old grizzled hunter, the girl who obviously has no clue what she’s doing. The main character doesn’t really fit one of those archetypes which makes her really interesting in her own way.

The author also throws in some queer romance as a treat! Man this book is good.


SPOILERS BELOW:





I will say, I understand the choice Braverman makes to move away from the reality TV show aspect of it. It was never really the point of the book. But it did leave me wanting a bit more. Not in terms of answers per se, but more like comeuppance for the shitty people who put them in this situation.