I know this is the second book in the series and I haven't reviewed the first, but keep in mind this series is an anthology of standalone stories which can be read separately. I simply started with this one because it seemed the most interesting to me. I'm kinda into sled dog fiction and all that jazz.
Anyways, spoilers ahead.
Many dogs are chosen to go on an expedition to Antarctica led by Ernest Shackleton. Among them are Samson, a dog very loyal to Shackleton, and Bummer, a newbie sled dog who feels he isn't cut out for this. The dogs and the humans at the expedition will have to work together in order to survive the arduous journey.
Overall it's a pretty fine book. If you want a fictionalized book about the Endurance's expedition written from the POV of a dog, here you go. It does its job well enough even if it's a bit simple. It's just a straightforward survival story, but it's a decent one.
One commentary I have is that Samson just doesn't really have an arc. He goes on the journey fiercely loyal to Shackleton, gets sick and later gets better and makes it out alive. Which is okay, but like...where is the arc? At one point he briefly doubts things will be okay but his fierce loyalty to Shackleton and the expedition never really falters. Wouldn't it have been interesting to give him more of an arc there?
Comparing him to Bummer, who has a huge arc of learning self-confidence and how to adapt, Samson just feels like a weak protagonist. He might as well have been a side character in Bummer's journey and not much would've changed, aside from us having chapters written from his POV of course. Heck even a side character named Amundsen is only in the book for the first third of the story or so, but he has a lot more of an arc to go through than Samson. So honestly I just don't think Samson should've been a protagonist in this story. Either he should've had more of an arc, or he should've just been relegated to being a side character. I feel that in his current state there is too little to him other than him being a symbol of a dog's fierce loyalty and perseverance.
Another point which I feel is a bit, I don't know, iffy, is learning about what really happened. While in the book most dogs make it back alive from the expedition, in reality (as mentioned in the afterword) none of the dogs came back. Which just makes it feel really odd to me that this book was written in the first place. I get that it's fictionalized, but it's still rooted in reality and it feels a bit deceiving to your readers, especially such a young audience, to end the book with a happy ending only to be "they all died" in the afterword.
Just doesn't feel quite right to me. Also, heck, the series is literally called Survival Tails, why would you call a series that and then write a book about dogs which in reality literally none survived of? I'm just not quite certain if this was the right topic to choose for a book about animals surviving arduous circumstances.
Heck, if they really wanted a story about sled dogs surviving in Antarctica based on true events, that's possible. The story of Taro and Jiro the Sakhalin huskies is right there for the taking (long story short these are two dogs who ended up surviving in Antarctica for eleven months after being left behind). I don't know, I just feel a bit funny about this deceiving ending. Especially since this book is for children and it's a bit much to dump on them in a curt afterword after giving them such a happy ending for the dogs in the main story.
Overall the book is fine thought, just be prepared for some intense whiplash when reading the afterword. Also, like said before, Samson was pretty static as a character which made him uninteresting. But otherwise, if you just are looking for some canine xenofiction about a difficult journey, it's not bad or offensive either. Just a bit simple.
Rating: 3.5/5
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