The dreadful secret that Torak carries with him at the close of Soul Eater is revealed and he is cast out from the clans.
It's his fourteenth summer. He's alone, cut off even from Wolf and Renn. Hunted and on the run he takes refuge in unknown territory - the haunted reedbeds of Lake Axehead, where he is menaced by the Hidden People. Other threats lurk nearby and his battle with the Soul-Eaters is far from over . . .
As he fights for his life Torak uncovers a deception too awful to contemplate, one that shakes him to the core and shatters his world.
About the Author
Born in Malawi to a Belgian mother and a father who ran the tiny Nyasaland Times, Michelle Paver moved to the UK when she was three. She was brought up in Wimbledon and, following a Biochemistry Degree from Oxford, she became a partner in a big City law firm. She gave up the City to follow her long-held dream of becoming a writer. Successfully published as an adult author, the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness are her first - brilliant - books for children.
Industry Reviews
The fourth episode in this prehistoric epic pitches young spirit-walker Torak into a struggle to keep his multiple "souls" out of the clutches of the power-mad Viper Mage. Unjustly accused of being a Soul Stealer, Torak is cast out of his clan and summoned by the Mage, who inflicts him with a "soul-sickness" that robs him of his superb woodcraft, his intimate awareness of the world and, almost, his ability to tell good from evil. The vividly interwoven natural and spiritual settings that have distinguished this series emerge in long stretches seen from the point-of-view of Wolf, Torak's faithful four-legged companion. Much of the journey and ensuing confrontation, however, seems distant, filtered through Torak's sharply felt inner turmoil. Paver moves her cast along, springs major revelations and brings everything around right in the end, but the plot's most dramatic elements (notably a major flood that is over in half a page) take a back seat to character development. (Fantasy. 11-13) (Kirkus Reviews)