I had no idea this book was a sequel. And it's an intense one.

In the Starlight Claim, Nate is processing his friend's disappearance. The rest of the family died in a freak accident, succumbing to hypothermia in a lake. Dodge might be alive, but it's unlikely. Nate goes alone to the family campground to properly mourn, when his other friend is grounded, He thinks nothing of the news reporting that several convicts escaped jail. Much to his horror, the convicts happen to be occupying his family's camp in the wilderness. One of them also likes killing.

It's a fast read, and I couldn't stop. Nate is a smart boy, knowing how to use the terrain against some of the men. But he also needs to survive the terrain, the cold, and a few guns. And his father's past may come back to haunt him, since it turns out his dad knows one of the convicts, in a personal way.

Amazing, and it deserves all the love.

I am sad to say I could not get into this book. I'm not sure if it was due to the time I was trying to read it or if it was the book. However, I hate giving up on books so I will give it another try in the future! The synopsis sounds promising and the cover is interesting. So, fingers crossed I enjoy it more the second time.

I liked the sound of this one so I grabbed it on NetGalley a while back. My life got in the way and well I didn't get around to it til recently. I wanted a fast paced chase scene, scared to look around the corner, kind of book. I thought by the sound of the premise, I would get this. The book was okay and it had some quite good scenes, but it didn't quite deliver in the way I needed.

Nate and his best friend Dodge, grew up together, and there was a camp in the woods where both boys' families stayed for vacation. The last time Dodge went up with his family, they didn't come back. Nate is desperate to find him, find out what happened, and get closure on the entire thing. He ends up going to the camp on his own and when he gets there finds there are strangers staying in his cabin. Strangers that are dangerous and don't want to be found. Snowed in, no way out, and in a dangerous situation, Nate must quickly figure out how to survive the weekend.

The book sounded so good when I first grabbed hold of it. It was okay, for the most part I enjoyed it. I had a few issues with it. The story was good and interesting. I enjoyed the survival and the danger. I think my main problem is that I didn't feel it was suspenseful or thrilling enough for what I was promised. It did have a few good scenes, but for the most part the book read as a coming of age for me. Which is fine, just not what I expected.

The main character, Nate, I liked. He was very resourceful and strong. He is quick thinking. He has some guilt going on that is weighing him down. He goes to his families cabin to get answers about his best friend. He gets answers, just not the answers he was expecting. When his world becomes dangerous and turned upside down, he does what he needs to not only survive, but still do the right thing.

The book was promised to be fast paced. For me, it was a bit slow. The entire book happens in one weekend and I felt the weekend lasted forever. I wanted more chase, more shadows lurking, more bone chilling and thrilling moments and didn't get that.

What I did get was an interesting, a little emotional, slow burn through a very broken mind. Which was a good journey for what it was. I think if you go into this read expecting it for what it is, an emotional coming of age journey, you will enjoy this read. Just didn't feel it was a suspenseful thriller at all.


It was an okay read. I enjoyed it, just not what I was expecting and wanted at the time of the read.

The Starlight Claim is a suspenseful and page-turning mystery. And I love survival stories, especially when they are in the harsh winter. Beautifully written and a great adventure story. Fast-paced and action-packed, Nate’s courage provides an excellent coming-of-age story.

This book sounded right up my alley. A disappearance. The opportunity for closure. A mystery. Coming of age. Survival. Psychological and Physical threats. This is all my perfect category of book. And before I continue my review, I think Wynne-Jones is a fantastic writer. The flow was great, it was fast paced as promised in the description but I didn't care about Nate. Or Dodge. Or really any of the characters. I found myself just craving a little more thrill. Like it all seemed to just happen but I wasn't left in suspense enough. I would like to read more by this author for sure but this wasn't a favourite for me.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was pretty excited when I got approved for this book. The synopsis seemed really interesting and I haven’t really read a book like this one. I don’t want to say that I was disappointed with the book, but it just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t connect with the main character for some reason. The book interested me enough to find out the end, and I thought the writing was well done, but most of the time I just didn’t really care what was going on. It always makes me sad when I don’t absolutely love a book, and it makes me even sadder when I have to review it.

We follow our MC Nate, who is planning his yearly trip to the family's cabin with his friend. 4 months earlier his best friend Dodge died along with his father up by the camp. Nate wants to go to the camp and find his best friend because he feels he is not dead. He has not taken his friends' death well and still struggles with it pretty badly. Days before they planned to leave, his friend gets grounded and can’t go. Nate knows Dodge is out there somewhere and decided to brave it alone, but doesn’t tell his mother or father.

Nate is hoping for some strange reason that Dodge is just holed up in the family cabin and will surprise him when he gets there. He is surprised, but not by Dodge. He finds out that 2 guys are staying in his family cabin that he has no idea who they are. When he looks closer he sees that he does recognize these men, they are the runaway convicts he saw on tv. Nate has no way of contacting the police or his parents because he has no service. Worse is that there is a horrible snowstorm that makes it harder for him to find help.

Throughout the book, Nate has to try to defend himself against these men and try to get some kind of help. He meets someone from his past that he actually has never met and becomes an unlikely ally. Luckily, Nate has been taught all kinds of survival skills from his father and can make it on his own until this snowstorm lifts.

Again, this book was full of adventure and survival, which I enjoy, but this book didn’t do it for me. I do recommend trying it out to see if you like it. It was a pretty quick read since the book was so short. If you do read it, please let me know your thoughts down in the comments!

This one was a really hard one to get into, and because of that, I had to DNF it. The dialogue felt a little all over the place, and I couldn't figure out what exactly was going on. 

I was hooked with the synopsis and the craziness that he would've came across later on, but there just wasn't a way for me to skip the first chunk of the book to get to that point.

Nate is still reeling from his best friend's disappearance four months before. Dodge is presumed dead in a boating accident, but the body was never found. Nate has nightmares where Dodge is floating under the ice in the frigid water of Ghost Lake begging him to come save him, find him, help him..... Nate has plans to travel to the remote campsite with a friend. They have proved they can make the journey by themselves. His own father, Burl Crow, made sure Nate has the skills to make the trip. At the last minute, Nate's friend can't go. Nate decides to go alone. He wants to search for Dodge. Maybe he can find him even though others failed. But when he arrives he finds the camp occupied by strange men....violent men....and it becomes a much more dangerous game of survival than Nate ever expected.

I think everyone has an experience as a young person that pushes them over the edge towards adulthood. For Nate, this trip up to his family's remote campsite by himself is just that sort of experience. He learns life lessons and truths about his life, his friend, and even strangers on his journey. We are all the sum of our choices....and Nate has a lot to discover about himself, his parents, and his feelings of guilt about his friend's death.

The story is well-written and engrossing. There's action, suspense, and emotion in this story. It definitely kept my attention from start to finish. Nate's journey is more than a physical one. This is such an action-filled, complex story about a young boy facing loss and harsh truths for the first time. Loved it!

Tim Wynne-Jones has written several books for young adults and children. I definitely want to read more!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Candlewick Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

I could sum this entire review up in one sentence: I expected more. This did not have enough suspense, enough thrill, enough drive to keep me reading. Sure, it was a fast enough read, but sitting down to actually read it took some time. It was simply not all that exciting.

For starters, the book is supposedly a psychological thriller. The only thrilling thing was waiting to see how the day would be saved, because there was never a doubt in my mind that it would be. It was inevitable that Nate would be just fine, which made the whole thing a lot less thrilling. I did enjoy the survival aspect of the book, it was intriguing to see how Nate fended off against mother nature herself. The thing I struggled with was this crew of menacing escapees. They were quite tame and boring in my opinion, they all had big mouths but that was about it. I was never even worried about them. The way the author wrote them paired with how he wrote Nate’s response to their actions simply struck them off the list of things to be worried/excited/intrigued about.

The thing I loved about this book was the growth. Both Nate’s growth as a character and the progression of some of the other characters. We see Nate arrive at the cabin, all alone, looking for answers about his best friend Dodge and trying to come to terms with what actually happened. The psychological aspect of the novel was also enjoyable. Nate’s continuing memories of Dodge made Dodge a character of the novel, even though he is never really there. It was interesting to see Nate try to find his own, now that his world had been so thoroughly turned on its head.

In summary this book sadly did not make it into my list of favorites. It was entertaining enough, but very forgettable. I simply wish it had had more suspense and thrill to it, since that was what I was expecting. If you’d like to read a book about fending for yourself and trying to become independent, while being imprisoned by a snowstorm in a place where both your neighbors (the escapees) and nature is trying to get rid of you, then this would be a perfect read for you!

Also, it is worth noting that this is apparently an intergenerational sequel to the book “The Maestro”. I would definitely recommend reading that first, I have a feeling The Starlight Claim would have been a lot more enjoyable if I had some more backstory!

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review a digital ARC of this!

Based upon the synopsis, this sounded really good and thrilling. Unfortunately, I got about 20% through it and could tell that I wasn't going to like it. It mostly had to do with the writing, I just wasn't connecting to it at all. I was confused a little bit, I believe the flashbacks were a little sudden for my taste. I couldn't really keep up and even with the little that I had read, it felt like a chore to read.

I feel really bad, but I can also see this is a story that others will enjoy way more than I did. Especially for those who enjoy wilderness/survival stories!

Perhaps I'll give this story another go in its finished version.
Thanks again for the opportunity to be able to read this!

Looking for something to feed your desire for books that are full of adventure and survival? Then look no further than The Starlight Claim, which is apparently the companion novel to a book written years ago called The Maestro. I had no idea that this was a continuation of a story, so I have not read The Maestro yet, but I plan to after how much I enjoyed this book.

We all know that tragedies happen every day, and that they leave those affected haunted by memories and nightmares. Nate knows this better than anyone, as his best friend disappeared months ago into the wilderness without a trace. It's clear from the beginning of the book that Nate is not only determined but brave, and some of the decisions he makes throughout the book may not be the smartest, but throughout the course of the story it is made clear that Nate has a good head on his shoulders, even if he does decide to go looking for his missing friend all alone.

Of course, an adventure novel wouldn't be a proper adventure without some unexpected roadblocks popping up along the way, and that just adds to the thrill of this story. Nate thinks he knows the land he's searching for his missing friend on pretty well, but he doesn't account for bad weather and other surprises that he could have never foreseen, and even though Nate has his cell phone with him, he's unable to get a signal in the wilderness of the family camp he is searching, so hard he really has very little resources except for his own smarts.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading it. I know I would have loved this book when I was younger. There were several times while reading The Starlight Claim that I was reminded of Peg Kehret's The Hideout and Gary Paulson's Hatchet so if you've read and enjoyed either of those books, I'd encourage you to seek out this one to add to your library, you won't be disappointed!

This book was extremely slow and it took a long time for me to get into the story.
This is a story about Nate who goes on a solo trek four months after his friends went and died in an accident.
I really didn't enjoy the read because it was really slow.

The Starlight Claim follows Nate, a teenage boy who makes the solo trek to his family’s remote cabin in the Canadian wilderness to connect with his missing best friend, Dodge.

Upon arriving, Nate encounters the unexpected including two escaped convicts, an estranged family member, and memories of Dodge. The story is weaved with elements of survival and suspense.

This one was difficult for me to get in to. I think a huge part has to do with the fact that I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. The setting was also not relatable, as I have never experienced a harsh winter in the wild. Usually, I can see past a setting, but the description of the camp was a bit jumbled for me.

I appreciated the main idea of trying to connect and hold on to the positive memories of a good one.

Overall, this book fell short for me, but I do think it could make for a good movie. It is described as a psychological thriller but it’s definitely more suspense. I would recommend this book if you like a wilderness survival story!

This book ended up not being for me. I did not connect to the characters or story. I ended up skimming the majority of it and because of that, I will not be rating this book on other platforms as it would be unfair to the book and author.

I enjoyed this one a lot. I like fast pace YA, and this one was paced just right for me. The story was really intriguing, I loved the premise, but the execution was amazing too. The writing flowed really well, it had both intense and heartfelt moments, and it brought the atmosphere to life really well. The characters were well developed, Nate was a really great lead and he was so well captures that I couldn’t help but connect with him.
This book caught my interest early on, and it didn’t let go. It’s a very interesting read, definitely an entertaining one.

This book was a bit hard for me to connect with. I thought if Nate, the main character, had to survive the elements and also find escaped convicts in the family cabin, that it would be more suspenseful, but for me, it just didn’t work. Perhaps I didn’t feel enough empathy to really understand or for that matter, care about Nate.

I wasn’t all that impressed with Nate from the beginning: Heading to a remote place by his self and allowing his folks to think a friend was going with him, was concerning. Especially since this was his first trip to the cabin in the winter without his father.

And the way the story is told I had a hard time really comprehending or sympathizing very much with Nate’s choice to camp without his friend. He knew the danger involved and he knew his parents thought he was going with a friend. Nate didn’t bother to tell them that the friend was grounded at the last minute.

The story goes back and forth between Nate’s relationship with his best friend, Dodge, who disappeared near the campsite while boating. And then the story is the present trip to the cabin.

Nate works through memories of Dodge while trying to survive the storm and the convicts, who have escaped and moved into his family cabin.

To add to Nate’s situation, he discovers an unexpected surprise.

What Concerned Me:
I had a very hard time relating to the characters. I also felt some of the story was a bit unbelievable.

What I Liked Most:
I’m always a sucker for a mystery. And this book kept me guessing at times and turning pages.

I also liked the writing style and I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.

I don't know what I really felt about this book. On one hand, it was a well written and researched story that had a lot of potential. But on the other hand, it bored me. Too much. I couldn't understand what was happening in the story and had to continuously go back to the blurb to understand what I was reading.

The mysterious plot built up really well. With excellent imagery, the author did a great job in painting a picture of the setting in my mind. The characters were confusing but they had depth.

It is mostly a survival story but I wanted more, you know. There was some kick lacking in the story and I just couldn't connect to it too much. It fell flat, the whole book. Maybe this book wasn't for me but I do appreciate the writing style. I did enjoy the going back and forth in time and the memories in between. I loved that.

I was quickly drawn in to this story with just the first chapters. The pacing was perfect and the foreshadowing, as well as the backstories, were just the right combination of explaining the plot line and keeping me hooked. So well written! I also loved the complex and highly relatable characters, even as Nate learned that Dodge might have caused the accident with his bravado. The complexity of teen friendship, as well as forgiveness, was a welcome addition to an already superb story.

The Starlight Claim (Tim Wynne-Jones) is the third ARC from Candlewick Press I’ve been lucky to come by recently, and I must say that I’m really enjoying their titles. Here is a fairly clean book (there’s a little bit of language, but much less than its present YA counterparts, if you’re monitoring that sort of thing) that’s full of excitement.

It starts with Nathaniel (Nate) Crow, who is still haunted by the disappearance of his friend, Dodge, after a family boating accident. He had been planning to make a trip back to the site (also their families’ camps) with third friend Paul, partly for closure, partly hoping (though it’s a long shot) that they’ll find the body. But when Paul gets grounded, Nate secretly makes the trip alone, even though a major storm is on the way. When Nate reaches the camp, he finds it occupied by prison-escapees. And though one becomes an unlikely ally, secrets are exposed, and no one is sure who will make it home alive.

I thought this book was nicely paced. The action scenes are intense, and they’re broken up by Nate’s nightmares regarding Dodge and his reminiscing about past interactions with him. It gives him a little more emotional depth, rather than the reader only being thrust in the fight for his survival. I found him to be a sympathetic character and an empathetic one as well: what he chooses when dealing with the escapees threatening his life is pretty remarkable.

Other characters added to the overall tone. The parents (there were two and they were alive and present. This sounds random, but in some circles, there has been discussion why there is such a bleak parent picture in current YA literature) were likable and the criminal element was sufficiently menacing for this age (though when the worst of the lot spoke, he sounded an awful lot like a stereotypical apologetic Canadian!)

I’d definitely recommend this (and I would also check out more works by Wynne-Jones) book, especially for those seeking younger YA or “boy” books.

Bonus points: I cannot fault a book for adding mention of Larry Bird.

Thank you to NetGalley and author Tim Wynne-Jones for providing me with this copy to review.

I was just so bored… I love survival novels especially in an Alaskan or Canadian situation. It brings me back to reading Hatchet for the first time as a teen. But I just could not connect with the characters in this one. I got 20% in before I even knew what the point of the story was.

I didn't like Nate, I didn't really understand the situation he was in. The survivor aspect of the novel was just not for me this time. I needed a more intriguing main character so that I can attach myself to them and live through their experiences. It just wasn't there for me.

I would normally not rate this, because it was a DNF for me, but I'll give it 3 stars to be fair. It just wasn't for me.