This series was one of my favourites when I was younger and when I saw the box set on sale in The Works I couldn't help myself but buy it. I used the first book in the series Wolf Brother to break up my read of HOSAB by SJM and found I enjoyed it probably more than I had the first time around. In this book we follow Torak where his Father is tragically killed by a bear in the forest. Torak and his father live alone, separate from their own and the other tribes and so he starts off on his own towards the spirit mountain, the task given to him by his father in his last moments.
Soon after Torak meets an orphaned wolf cub who he forms an unlikely bond with and the rest is history. I think this book is the right mixture of simplistic and complex which allows it to be easy reading and give your brain a rest while also drawing you in to the story and making you want to continue to see if our characters manage to complete their tasks. For it being a book I read quite young I forgot how much death and physical violence there was in it but it definitely fitted with the setting and is quite probably how real people would have reacted in these situations especially when the fate of the whole forest and all the tribes rests on a child's shoulders.
I feel like all the actions and relationships develop naturally and at a good pace and the friendship between Renn and Torak is so lovely to see, him being companionable with someone so soon after the death of his father was definitely nice and a different route than a lot of authors might have taken.
If you're looking for a nice easy throwback read I'd recommend this, you can easily knock it out in an afternoon if your head just needs a wee reset after heavy fantasy and I'd also say it's definitely suitable for YA/older children looking for something a bit different to read.
Comments
Post a Comment