By S. D. Crockett, published by Macmillan.

“A winter’s day has become a winter’s nightmare…”

Teenage Magda Krol is living in her quiet, Polish village until strange men arrive. She hides in her cellar, and upon emerging realises that they were not thieves, but people evacuating the village because of the harsh weather! She ventures across the frozen wasteland to the next village, in the hope of getting on the next evacuation truck, when she encounters Ukrainian boy Ivan. Together they smuggle themselves onto a truck bound for London, where they will search for Magda’s only remaining relative; her mother. But London is a whole lot worse than Poland…

*REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS :)*

I really loved S. D. Crockett’s first book, After The Snow, and I loved this one just as much. Although I expected the sequel (Well… technically this is a Prequel) to be about the further adventures of Willo and Mary- but it wasn’t. In fact, they only had three short chapters in total. The whole of the book was about a minor character, Magda (Willo’s step-mum), from ATS. It was unexpected, but great to delve into a story of a different character. It’s was really great to see how she accidentally fell into Willo’s future.

The character of Madga was great; she made for a really adventurous, determined protagonist! She was really love-able, and I was rooting for her, hoping that she would find her mother, all the way through the book. I also really liked Ivan, the love interest- although when he decided to run off and leave Magda alone my mind really changed about him. He was portrayed as quite caring, and always stuck by Magda’s side- so it kind of confused me as to why he left for no given reason. The way all of Willo’s family fell into the story at the end was absolutely brilliant, and quite unexpected, too!

As for the plot, it was great, and I really enjoyed the adventure and action. It was dark and scary, and all about hope, survival, and loss. There was even an essence of romance in there too! I was also given a much better insight into S. D. Crockett’s dystopic world, actually giving us the date in which it’s set (late 2030’s and onward!). Overall it’s a really great, thrilling read from an author I love. Highly recommended!