Note:
The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the
reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't
available in English (yet). The original title reads
Clarissa #1: Im Herzen die Wildnis.
Christopher Ross' books have been on my radar for a while now. The dude certainly likes writing about wolves and huskies. Sadly my German skills before weren't good enough to check out these books, but by now I've finally reached the level where I'm able to read and understand the books. So let's have a look, spoilers ahead.
Clarissa is a young woman who gets falsely blamed for theft by the rich Frank Whittler, son of the manager of a famous railroad. Seeing no other option, Clarissa flees into the Canadian wilderness where she hopes to be safe. Here, she meets up with a trapper called Alex, and the two soon develop a strong bond. She also manages to bond with a wild wolf, whom she names Bones. But Whittler doesn't like giving up, and Clarissa is safe nowhere. Will she be able to escape Whittler and set the record straight?
Overall I had a great time reading this book. It's an adventure filled with perils, romance, adventure, dog-sledding and interesting characters. I greatly enjoyed reading Clarissa's journey and you just feel so sorry for the poor woman. All she wants is some rest and just to live her life, but literally nowhere she's safe. Not even in the seemingly safe backwater town known as Beaver Creek.
The story itself definitely kept me on edge. Every time it seemed Clarissa was safe somewhere, be it with Alex in his cabin, in Beaver Creek, with a local First Nations tribe, or at a cattle ranch where she assists, Frank Whittler does not give up and it's not until the very end of the book where her name is cleared and Whittler is rightfully punished. So the book definitely kept me engaged and I kept wondering where Clarissa had to flee to next.
The characters are also pretty good. Well, okay, sort of. I like characters like Alex, the widow, the First Nations and the ranchers she ends up staying with. But for Clarissa herself...I just don't think she's all that interesting. Granted, her situation is interesting, and you do genuinely root for this poor woman. But as far as her character itself goes her personality is just not that engaging to me. I do like how she's a quick learner who learns to adapt to living in the Canadian wilderness well enough (such as picking up dog-sledding from Alex pretty quickly), but as far as her personality and traits go she's just not all that deep. She's not a bad character by any means, but I found her to be kind of uninteresting except for the bond she has with Bones.
She also feels a bit like a Mary Sue at times, which I know is a criticism I don't like using but I really don't know what else to call it. She's somehow the only white woman with an animal guide (Bones the wolf) which is apparently a big no-no in the local First Nations tribe. I do like her bonding with the First Nations, but to have her be some kind of chosen one by them feels a bit too over the top for me. Honestly I can just buy her bond with Bones as being a natural, non-supernatural one. Just a wolf and a woman who happened to grow close. I don't need there to be some kind of magical destiny interwoven with it, especially if it's apparently extremely rare. The First Nations in this book make it clear that A) women and B) white people don't have animal guides, therefore making Clarissa a double rarity.
Something which I think is just kind of dumb that, when she goes into hiding in Beaver Creek, Clarissa Howe uses the cover name "Clara Holland" to keep her real identity secret. Which is just a name that's way too similar to her old one not to be suspicious. Not that she stood a great chance to begin with with Whittler and his men looking for her everywhere, but she's certainly not helping her chances by picking such a shitty cover name.
Finally, one thing I wasn't too fond of is how this book constantly uses the outdated term "Indians" to refer to the First Nations people Clarissa comes across. I can maybe buy the white people Clarissa comes across as using the outdated term, but the First Nations she comes across herself also call themselves that, which as far as I know is no longer the commonly used term. Instead using "First Nations" or the actual peoples names feels far more appropriate. I'm not indigenous myself so I can't speak for which would be the real solution here, but from what I've learned using "Indians" is just not really favored anymore, even back when this was published.
Overall this is still a very thrilling book with some interesting characters, it's just not perfect. I did have a good time, though, and will likely be checking out future installments.
Rating: 4/5
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