"Devil's Pass" by Sigmund Brouwer

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Webb's abusive stepfather has made it impossible for him to live at home, so Webb survives on the streets of Toronto by busking with his guitar and working as a dishwasher. When Webb's grandfather dies, his will stipulates that his grandsons fulfill specific requests. Webb's task takes him to the Canol Trail in Canada's Far North, where he finds out that there are much scarier things than the cold and the occasional grizzly bear. With a Native guide, two German tourists and his guitar for company, Webb is forced to confront terrible events in his grandfather's past and somehow deal with the pain and confusion of his own life.

My review: I love the concept of the series: a grandfather dies, leaving each of his seven grandsons a task to complete.  In the course of completing the tasks, each grandson learns about life and themselves.  It is psychological coming-of-age stuff nestled inside an adventure.  And that's probably why I intend to read them all.  Of the six books I've read in the series so far, "Devil's Pass" is the one I've liked the most...and the one that ruffled my feathers the most.

Usually it's my own psychological baggage that makes me avoid books with too much melodrama/heartache/unhappy endings.  And after reading this book, I now know it's because of my emotional reaction when reading them.  Having to read what Webb was put through by his stepfather made me burn with anger and frustration at the injustice of it.  And the power of threats when a person is powerless to fight against them.  The whole "my word vs. your word" thing is an issue I've had to deal with in my own life and is my greatest fear...not being believed when you tell the truth.  In this book, it begins with the truth of an 11-year-old boy vs. his new stepfather.  This book got me thinking about what truth is and how our society requires proof and irrefutable evidence for pretty much everything.  This book talks about strength, particularly <i>what doesn't kill you makes you stronger</i> and the things you will go through for the things and people that matter the most to you.  This is also the first book of the series that I think was more intensely focused on the life lesson over the adventure.  Where other books might put in more detail and internal dialogue about the grizzly bear attack, this one skips all the resulting minor action in order to move on to the next portion of the task.  Thankfully, there is a short somewhat-happy ending that left me trying to figure out how things would work out if the book hadn't ended where it did.

  Even though this is a young adult series, I would highly recommend it to anyone.  The writing is accessible and the stories are compelling enough to keep you reading.  Each one of these books has taken me no more than one or two days to read.  And, of course, one of the greatest things about the series is that it's Canadian!

Read on,
Paula