North Wind

The future: mankind has suffered a disaster. Where there was once a lush, thriving planet, there is now only glaciers and snow. The cities that still stand are buried under the surface in caves of ice. Skinrunners trade valuable pelts for rations, warmth and survival. Into this violent, damaged world, a hero will rise... in the vein of Mad Max and The Road Warrior!

Grade 8 Up—When a nuclear holocaust casts Los Angeles into a second ice age, a small band of scavengers must contend with both the freezing cold and the demands of Slaughterhouse Joe, a cruel and greedy warlord. After the tribe is massacred in a fit of rage by the despot, Pak, the son of its leader and one of the few survivors, is taken under the wing of a taciturn old hunter. Growing in strength and fighting skill under the old man's tutelage, he returns to "Lost Angeles" to avenge his mother's death and free his kidnapped childhood love from the clutches of Slaughterhouse Joe, even if it means dying in the process. Although the book is reminiscent of the "pulp" comics of yesteryear in some respects, it's little more than a mediocre reworking of The Road Warrior and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, albeit with more snow. The plot is entirely predictable, and the characters are uninteresting and two-dimensional. The artwork is average but the use of color is excellent, almost popping off the pages. Although the book might find some success with younger readers who are not familiar with its antecedents, libraries can safely hold off on purchasing North Wind as a first or even second choice.—Dave Inabnitt, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
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Because you can’t have a postapocalyptic loner hero without mythological overtones anymore, when the Outcast returns to Ice Age–stricken Lost Angeles to settle a score with its fuel-hording dictator, you can bet the story is plumbed for all the epic grandiosity possible. A stew of Waterworld, The Day after Tomorrow, and Batman Begins, this unsurprisingly reads at a cinematic pace, particularly its energetic and suspenseful action sequences. Nothing terribly original here, but there’s plenty to enjoy if you’re looking for straight up derring-do. Recommend this alongside Michael Hague’s In the Small (2008) for postapocalyptic action-adventure fans. Grades 8-12. --Jesse Karp