• Genre: Young Adult
• Publisher: Penguin Random House
• Pages: 314
• TW: Animal deaths
• 4 stars

If you are looking for a well-written, survival story, I recommend reading ‘I am still alive’.

Thank you to Penguin Random House South Africa for sending me this book!

Synopsis:

After
Jess is alone. Her cabin has burned to the ground. She knows if she doesn’t act fast, the cold will kill her before she has time to worry about food. But she is still alive—for now.

Before
Jess hadn’t seen her survivalist, off-the-grid dad in over a decade. But after a car crash killed her mother and left her injured, she was forced to move to his cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness. Just as Jess was beginning to get to know him, a secret from his past paid them a visit, leaving her father dead and Jess stranded.

After
With only her father’s dog for company, Jess must forage and hunt for food, build shelter, and keep herself warm. Some days it feels like the wild is out to destroy her, but she’s stronger than she ever imagined.

Jess will survive. She has to. She knows who killed her father… and she wants revenge.

Review:

Ever since reading the Hunger Games, I’ve been dying to read another novel where survival is a major theme. So, when I first looked up this book, I was excited to learn that it was about a girl trying to survive. Both her parents died, and she is stuck in the wilderness, in a completely remote area with nobody to rescue her.

The writing of the book is similar to that of a diary, from Jess’ point of view. The book is divided into seasons, as well as ‘before’ and ‘after’ her dad’s death. Sometimes, Jess will add a comment in ‘before’, which can be confusing until you remember that she is writing about events that already happened. The book was suspenseful, as we were brought along with Jess is her attempt to survive, along with chapters in between letting us know, little by little, how she got there. The book had an even pacing.

Jess was a strong and well-written character. Trying to survive was almost 10x more difficult after a car crash injured her leg, and throughout the book, we can feel her struggle. She is persistent and takes care of herself and her father’s dog as best she can. She has been through a lot as a character and she did become stronger.

Since Jess was stuck in the wilderness there weren’t any other characters or dialogue in ‘after’, but the author still managed to keep me captivated. The entire book I was wondering whether or not Jess would survive. The synopsis did promise a ‘revenge’ aspect but that doesn’t come in until much later in the book

The writing wasn’t over descriptive, but descriptive enough that I was able to see exactly what Jess was doing. The author wrote about all aspects of survival and didn’t glamorize any of it.

Overall it was a really well-written story with a strong protagonist that was very realistic. If you are ever in the mood for a survival story, you definitely have to pick this one up!

Until next time

Jenna xoxo