Book Review: Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic

In all honesty, I’ve taken the natural beauty of Canada for granted since I’ve moved out here. Having lived the UK for most of my life, I never really weighed up the substantial geographical difference Canada has in contrast to the tiny British continent.  Ontario is only one of the ten provinces that fill up the ten-million-kilometre land mass of the Great White North. While trying to trek and explore more of what Canada has to offer in person, I figured it would also be a great opportunity to explore Canada’s vast wilderness in written form as well and that’s where Adam Shoalts and his canoe came in.

Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic is a book which outlines the tremendous journey the books author Adam Shoalts ventured on from his home southern Ontario to the northern Arctic regions. It’s a reflective account of Adam’s day to day canoeing through Canada’s rough rivers and lake waters, while along his way meeting and conversing with the nicest of the Canadian population.  I never knew of Adam Shoalts prior to picking up this book, but a little research showed me he is one of the biggest modern natural Canadian explorers of our time.  When he’s not being one with the natural environment he’s also serving as a keen activist and advocate for better policies to serve and protect Canada’s wilderness, all in all a really swell guy!

Adam does a great job in transcribing a lot of his thoughts and motivations behind why he chose to venture on this journey.  His love for the environment and the wildlife that inhabit it is clear to see and he gives so much effort in articulating a lot of key information in a really digestible format. Reading how Adam worked his way progressively further through Canada’s northern regions is made a lot easier when he utilizes his time to convey the journey in such an engaging and informative format.  While I did thoroughly enjoy reading all the ins and outs of how Adam’s journey through the wilderness, if you were to pull a criticism out of me it would be Adam’s tendency to lose focus on the segment when he decides to give a history lesson.  Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate him trying to give a bit of historical context to the locations he’s visiting, but I find he tends to veer off focus with these segments too much and it definitely hinders the pacing.  Thankfully he does this less the further up north he gets so the latter part of the book doesn’t have this issue.

Where the Falcon Flies is a fantastic book if you really want to dive into the natural beauty of Canada.  Adam’s journey is admirable and one people could only dream of doing themselves.  The way he puts a central focus on highlighting all the natural beauty with factual context makes following his journey north all the more intriguing.  It’s left me with an even deeper appreciation of the country I now call home and I look forward to seeing even more of it’s many natural wonders as the years go by.