Description
There are places in the world so remote, that if you get lost, you may never be found. Olive, Ted, Knox, Birdie and Silas enter a challenge to survive in the wild, without technology. Their stage? The majestic Blue Mountains. Working as a team, they must read maps, build fires, camp and trek through the most dangerous of terrain, in subzero temperatures. But when the teenagers are split over a decision to climb a dangerous rock, disaster strikes. And in their quest for survival, one of them makes an unforgivable choice. With catastrophic consequences. Nobody is blameless. And they may not all make it home. But those who do, may never forgive each other.
Review
Five teens from the same school set out into the Blue Mountains, determined to win a survival competition that will get them to the base camp of Mt Everest.
It was Silas’s idea - he comes from a long line of famous adventurists. He is the captain of the team and invites others to join him, but after a last-minute withdrawal he has to include Ted, who is surely not up to the trek.
Ted is made the group’s writer and has to pen their journey. This is something that he is good at - and he really only wanted to come because of his desire to woo Birdie, the incredible sports girl, that he has only observed from afar.
Birdie joined because her family were sure that she spends all together too much time on sport and should try other things.
Olive, whose story the novel is based around, lost her Mum rather quickly last year, to cancer. She wants to get out of her comfort zone again, but also she always felt closest to her Mum when they were out trekking.
Finally, Knox. He has done cadets for years with Silas and Olive, since before her Mum got sick, and he is the reliable, strong and silent type. With his parents in the middle of an ugly separation, he just wants some respite from their fighting.
So off they go. Route mapped out, all prepared for the three-night trek across the mountains. But it is not a bed of roses. It quickly becomes apparent that Ted will have difficulty completing the trek, and then an argument occurs when some of the group want to deviate from their route to visit Orphan Rock, a site that holds a connection for Olive and her Mum. Silas is furious, and leaves the group and from then on things start to go seriously wrong. Not all of our group will leave the mountains together, and some may not leave at all...
This is a fabulous adventure, showing people challenging themselves, and for some of them being very far out of their comfort zone. It shows how people react differently in tough situations, and indeed how we each face tragedy. It also shows how circumstances can place people in positions that will have them forming bonds that can be lifelong.
With themes of grief, mountaineering, survival skills, teamwork, and more importantly the different human reactions and interactions to tough times, this is an intense survival story that will be loved by teenagers aged 13 to 16 years.
