A review by jaclynday
Into the Savage Country by Shannon Burke

4.0

Burke bothers little with initially fleshing out his main character, William Wyeth, but that’s because he doesn’t need to. The story, set in the West in the 1820s amidst the risky world of fur trapping, is enthralling and suspenseful from the start. I know little about fur trapping and even less about the political upheaval surrounding it at the time, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying every page. Burke paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of the American West—I could see the hills, trees, snow. There’s a horse race partway through the book that was a fantastic bit of writing. As Wyeth’s character develops more, I became deeply attached to him. The story has fun moments (some romance) and lots of action, though it takes a bit for the plot to really get moving. Still, it’s a great adventure story and I loved it.