If you want a good, fast moving novel this is the one for you. The main character, a dog called Buck, gets stolen from his Californian home and is sold on the black market. He gets sold for a large sum of money.
He is shipped to northern California where he is trained to be a snow dog. Buck learns all about being a snow dog and soon understands the life of one. On his first adventure he faces a fierce rival, Spitz. After a few days the dogs become more and more aggressive to each other until the day comes where they have a face off. Spitz had more training but Buck had the strength so they were well matched.
On Bucks second trip with Hal, his new master, he is harnessed to a sled of supplies to prospect in a new territory. Hal runs out of all resources and all the dogs were very tired and some were starving to death, but they push on. They come to a frozen creek where they fell half dead. Buck wouldn't get up but his owner wanted to push on. Buck sensed that the ice was too rotten to travel on. His owner started to smash him with his club. Soon a man named Thornton came up and said “Stop that!” But Hal just kept bashing Buck, so in the end Thornton took the dog and went on his way. Just as the other dogs and Hal reached the middle of the river the ice collapsed. All the dogs, people and the sled went straight to the bottom of the river. Buck then became Thornton's dog and he traveled with him.
One night Buck was sitting by his master, Thornton's, feet near the fire when he saw an image through the fire, who is this? What does it mean? Will Buck hear “The Call of the Wild?”
I found this style of writing very easy to understand and would highly recommend this book. Jack London in this book has tried to take the reader into the life of a snow dog. I think he has succeeded in his purpose and the reader feels empathy with Buck.
