Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver
Genre: Children’s/Fantasy Novel
Rating: 4.7/5.0
Spoiler-free Synopsis:
Wolf Brother is the first in the series, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. It is a prehistoric fantasy novel set in stone-age Europe.
The book starts off with Torak, an eleven year old boy and his father setting up camp when they suddenly get attacked by a wild grizzly that seems to have lost its mind. While Torak manages to barely escape, ‘Fa’ gets fatally injured by the bear.
As the boy keeps wandering in the forest, he comes across a tiny wolf cub who soon becomes his pack-brother. Join Torak and Wolf in their quest to find their destiny.
Here is a bit of a story. I saw the second book in this series, “Spirit Walker” in a local book fair and was instantly attracted to it. Naturally, I bought it and ordered the rest of the series when I got home.
A book about spirit animals, forests and clans set in prehistoric times?
Take my bloody money and give me that book!
Review:
It always starts with the cover. This book has an interesting cover that looks runic. Definitely sets the mood before you start.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and literally could not put it down. Paver has managed to construct a universe so exclusive, so vivid and so creative. You can practically see the amount of research that must have gone into making this happen.
Wolf brother is just the beginning of all the adventures our young hero is going to have and you simply will be left craving for more.
In particular, I like the narration in this one where it shifts in between Torak and Wolf’s perspectives. The way Wolf addresses his pack-brother as Tall-Tailless is just adorable. Writing from an animal’s perspective is such a complex task, when you think about it.
Another notable thing with this is how sweetly she has subtly incorporated PTSD into the story. It’s important to educate children about mental health and how to be tolerant towards someone that’s struggling.
Anyone that enjoys the genre would love Wolf Brother, in my opinion. It makes a great read for all age groups above the age of eight.
Makes one hell of a bed-time read for any young ones in the house. (You’ll get to do a lot of voices and accents.)
Re-reads – ?
HELL YEAH! This certainly is a piece of work you would want to read again and again. There is something very comforting about it. It’s like a mug of hot-chocolate on a cold night.
Parallels:
On that note, there is also something I noticed. Fa’s character sort of reminded me a bit of Dumbledore from Harry Potter. Anyone else that felt it as well?
Mosaic-of-the-Soul