Book Review: Wild Trek by Jim Kjelgaard (Chiri #2)

 

I didn't even know that Snow Dog was the first installment of a duology when I got it. So let's take a look at the sequel. Spoilers ahead.

Trapper Link Stevens and his half-wild dog Chiri are sent out into the wild Caribou mountains to rescue two people who are stuck there after a plane malfunction. Link and Chiri must now go on this dangerous journey, where they'll have to face the roughness of winter without supplies, wild animals an an insane armed man tracking them down.

I was initially a bit disappointed when I started this book. While book one of this duology is a xenofiction written mostly from Chiri's POV, this sequel is written pretty much entirely from a human POV (mostly Link's). And you know me, I love animal xenofiction; that's the reason why I picked up Snow Dog in the first place. 

But despite my initial disappointment with this book... I was honestly hooked pretty soon after getting started. Honestly even more so than with book one. Yeah, this one just kinda really captured my attention and soon I was just totally invested in this journey of Link's and Chiri's.

The main thing I loved about this book is that I never quite knew where it was going next, I love when a story is unpredictable like that and keeps me consistently on the edge of my seat. 

Another aspect I really, really enjoyed was the character of Antray. Link is a fine protagonist, don't get me wrong, but he's a pretty standard and not very interesting character. Just kinda your standard rugged outdoorsman protagonist type. Antray, meanwhile, is just a really enjoyable and pretty unique character. He's a naturalist and even while he was declining in health because of the cold and starvation, he never gave up being interested in his surroundings. He also has this fascinating approach to things as a naturalist, and a very positive attitude as well, which worked wonders as throughout most of the story him and Link were actively in a hopeless situation slowly starving. It's also really refreshing that he isn't just trying to kill almost every animal that he comes across, something Link is pretty guilty off throughout this book. 

If I do have to put some negatives here, it's that Chiri's absence throughout most of the story was a bit annoying. And I guess there's pretty much no female characters in this book, which is of course sexist. Also, while I'm no authority on the subject, I do feel that the writing of the villain could be seen as ableist as it falls into the "insane killer" stereotype. I do wish that the villain got the help he needed instead of being mauled by a cougar in the climax.

But honestly even with these flaws and it not really being a xenofiction, I immensely enjoyed myself here. It was a thoroughly engaging story that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Rating: 4/5