Chronicles of Ancient Darkness: Spirit Walker

Spirit Walker is the 2nd book in the 6-book-logy of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. I jumped straight into the 2nd book so that I'll keep my reading momentum going, which is quite hard these days.

Torak had been living with the Raven Clan since the event of the demon bear. But another event of disaster in in motion to effect all the clans of the forest. And this time it is a quiet deadly sickness that slowly beginning to infect the clans.

The writer didn't really hide her intention on the new danger in this 2nd book either. Early in the 1st chapter, Torak had been experiencing first hand in seeing a victim of the sickness when he encountered one hunter that bared the fever during hunting. He tried to warn the Raven Clan, but only when the sickness took of them Oslak, that Fin-Kedinn and the clans took notice. And who else that being entrusted to find the cure other than Torak, that had being sent by Fin-Kedinn to go to the Deep Forest by stealth.

The expedition of Torak to find the cure found him unexpected brings him to the beach & being kidnapped by the Seal Clan boys. This is where the story gets interesting. This is where Torak should be heading in the first place - The Seal Islands.

It was in the island that he found his root. It was in his mother side that comes from the Seal Clan. Since his father was from the Wolf Clan, it was a very unlikely reunion since the Seal Clan is from the sea while the Wolf Clan is from the land. But Torak managed to show his origin by showing his parent's belonging. His father's blade have the hilt of the read deer antler mated to a blade of the Sea slate.

After proving that he is a kin of the Seal Clan, it was time for him to get the ingredients for the cure at the help of the Seal Clan Mage, Tenris. But the expedition to get the cure is not as what it seems as one of the Soul Eaters - the evil band of Mages is on the island working his schemes.

As the story unravels, Torak learned more of his pasts from an unexpected person. He also discovers another side of him as a Spirit Walker - someone who can enter animals body as a soul. Unsurprisingly, this side of his does come in handy when he was between life and death several times in the adventure.

And what about Wolf and Renn throughout the adventure? Since Torak only departed from the Seal Clan Village alone with Wolf to get the cure, Renn was not together with him in the beginning. But after following & tracking him for days, she found Wolf at the side of the beach after Torak had been captured by the Seal Clan boys.

Does she and Wolf have any significant to the story assisting Torak? Surprisingly they does. If Torak travels alone, he actually might be dead before he could get his hand to the cure to the sickness.

Paver does have her ways to explained the ancient world in detail. In fact after Torak had been captured and being brought to the Seal Islands, I could imagined the excruciating feeling of being separated and the helplessness of his situation.

Modern science could explain a lot of everyday things around us so that we don't always in the afraid. But ancient people don't have the luxury of knowledge. They based their everyday lives on the nature. And most of the time, living in fear.

Great read. Looking forward for the third book - Soul Eater. Unfortunately, I still didn't have the book in my hand. So, I might skip to the 4th book - Outcast.