Kitty Horror

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I picked this up from Netgalley thinking it was a graphic novel and was initially disappointed to find that this was in fact a novella that ties to a graphic novel series (Winterworld). It tells the younger years of Scully and his harsh start to life in the frozen landscape of a very bleak world.

Scully's is part of a family when we first meet him, you never really find out if this is his real family but I despised his 'mother' and 'father', his father being an abusive bully who uses Scully to take out his frustrations. His mother is too meek to stand up for him and it's not until an accident incapacitates his father that she even begins to notice him.

This was an enjoyable novella that sees Scully transitioning to manhood at a time where everyone is either hunting or being hunted. The brutality of the environment is described well and you get a real sense of how savage mankind has now had to become, as groups of people cannibalise and abuse the weakest members of society.

The pacing is pretty good for most of the read but for me it dropped off a little bit at the end and I wasn't as engaged in the outcome, I also felt the ending was very anti-climatic, to the point that I wondered if the e-arc had cut off the story prematurely.

Scully is a great character though and I wouldn't mind picking up the graphic novel series at some point. Recommended for those that love dystopian fiction.