I Am Wolf
Alastair Chisholm
Nosy Crow

I read this thrilling dystopian story in proof form but liked it so much that when a finished copy arrived I couldn’t resist reading it again.

Coll, the main character has two prosthetic limbs – a leg and an arm – more advanced that those currently available, as the author discovered when researching limb differences for the book. Like many of the people he met through the Limbo Foundation and Finding Your Feet, Coll’s limb difference is part of him, but does not define him.

When first we meet twelve year old Coll, having been used to living aboard Wolf, the gigantic construct that is almost always moving, he is finding standing on still ground weird. However he joins crewmate, Luna to salvage whatever useful bits and pieces they can, mostly lost by Hyena after the previous evening’s battle between the two massive machines, when their rival was defeated.
But shortly after the two have delivered their sacks of salvaged pieces Coll learns that senior crew member Alpha, who had promised him he could go on a mission he really wanted to, now won’t let him; Coll puts this down to his limb differences. Instead she, who is not proud of being his mother, suggests he accompany her into Scatter to speak to the Mayor.

While Alpha and Mayor Ruprecht talk, Coll wanders off and comes upon a child being attacked by a group of others. He intervenes and horrified by what he’s told, takes responsibility for the boy who had once been a member of Boar. “That child is your problem now”, Alpha insists. Coll renames the terrified child Fillan (little Wolf) so he can fit in aboard Wolf.

Then the others of Wolf crew return with a cache that had been hidden and it’s time to move on, but almost immediately there is an attack from an enemy construct. After rounds of fierce fighting and an accident that involved Rieka, she, Coll and Fillan find themselves left behind by Wolf. Not long after they come upon another stranded girl, named Brann.

Coll is Wolf, but he starts to question everything he believes himself to be and wants to be. Does his original family really have his best interests at heart? It’s time to confront uncomfortable truths, shed his preconceptions and learn that trust and new relationships are possible. Is Rieka right when she says, ‘perhaps I’ll find a better way to live.’ Maybe, as Brann suggests, ‘A Cub way’.

With awesome world building, perils aplenty, sack loads of suspense, some quiet contemplative moments and several terrific characters, this is a read that grips you tight. Moreover the ending leaves you dangling, eagerly awaiting the sequel, I Am Raven.