Spirit Walker (novel)
UK cover of the book
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| Author | Michelle Paver |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Geoff Taylor |
| Cover artist | John Fordham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Chronicles of Ancient Darkness |
| Genre | Children's adventure, fantasy novel |
| Published | 2005 Orion Children's Books |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback), audio book (CD & cassette) |
| Pages | 360 (paperback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 60671707 |
| Preceded by | Wolf Brother |
| Followed by | Soul Eater |
Spirit Walker is the second book in the series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver. The plot follows Torak and his friends travelling to the mysterious Seal Islands to find a cure for a terrible sickness circulating throughout the forest in which they live. The book was first published in 2005 by Orion Children's Books.
"Torak is a boy apart. A boy who can talk to wolves. A boy who must vanquish the Soul-Eaters... or die trying. As the Moon of No Dark waxes high, the clans fall prey to a horrifying sickness. Fear stalks the Forest. The very breath of summer seems poisoned. No-one knows the cause - and only Torak can find the cure. His quest takes him across the sea to the mysterious islands of the Seal Clan. Here, Torak battles an unseen menace, and uncovers a betrayal that will change his life -forever" - Spirit Walker
The story takes place in Northern Europe, in an area inhabited by clans of humans named after different animals. These clans live a hunter-gatherer existence and adhere to a shamanic belief system.
Six months after the events of Wolf Brother, Torak, the young male protagonist, is now living with the Raven Clan. One of the clan members, becomes sick and attempts to kill himself and his young nephew, but is stopped by the clan's leader. He is tied up and quarantined. Torak suspects that the sickness has been created by a group of renegade shamans known as the Soul-Eaters.
Leaders from other Clans come to the Raven camp and tell them the sickness has been spreading through the forest. Torak realises that a small creature has been stalking him and trying to kill him, and when Oslak escapes and kills himself, Torak discovers that the creature was responsible. Torak sneaks out of the camp and goes into the forest seeking a cure. The cure, he discovers, can only be obtained by going towards the ocean to the west.
Wolf, Torak's companion from the previous novel, has been living with a pack in the High Mountains, but becomes unhappy with his life and he goes off to find Torak.
Renn, the female protagonist, has encountered the creature at the Raven Camp and the clan's shaman, Sauenn, explains that a it is a Tokoroth: a child who has been stolen from their mother and abused by the Soul-Eaters until he or she does their bidding, the Soul-Eaters then put a demon inside the child. Renn sneaks out of the camp to find Torak and she and Wolf encounter each other. They then both go looking for him. At the seashore, Torak encounters and fights three boys from the Seal Clan: Bale, Detlan and Asrif, but is eventually overpowered. They believe that, by washing his hunting gear in the sea, he has dishonoured the Sea Mother and must be punished, so they take him by canoe to their home in the Seal Islands.
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Wikipedia