Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

This was another one of this years Printz Honor books, so it's another check off on my list. It also fits into the YA historical fiction challenge that I am participating in on Goodreads.

Sig finds his father frozen to death on the ice. The same day while his sister and step mother go for help a man he's met before as a child that he has no memory of appears in their cabin in Giron. Gunther Wolff claims to have been Einar's business partner and that he and Wolff were cheating prospectors and that Sig and his family ran off with Wolff's half. Sig must figure out what the truth is and whether he should get his father's revolver and try and get out. The story alternates between Sig and Wolff and what really happened ten years ago between Einar and Wolff.

This story felt like it was all about the mood. The tension just built and built as Sig tried to figure out how to escape, what he should do and what could possibly have happened ten years ago. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat wondering what Sig would do. I really liked how the Sig chose to handle the situation in the end. He was true to himself by finding a mid ground between his mother and father and their feelings on the revolver.

I also thought that learning about how Einar and the family survived in Nome in 1900 was interesting. I also liked the quotes between sections; they were interesting and gave both an interesting idea of how the colt revolver has been perceived and a few other interesting elements of the story. I also liked the very ending of the story, which I wont discuss to avoid spoilers. I felt like it gave an interesting sense of realism to the story.