Wolf Brother – Book Review

Mild spoilers for Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother throughout, and spoilers for Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls in section ‘I Like Canines’.

Wolf Brother is the first of Michelle Paver’s series ‘The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’. Various bookstores seem undecided on what age group to market these books at, but I’m 26 years old and still loving them as much as—if not more so than—when I was 10.

‘The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ was scheduled to be six books long, however, in recent years Paver has released a further three which are entirely new to me, bringing the grand total up to nine. These new books, along with my recent enjoyment of Paver’s Wakenhyrst, have inspired me to reread the books which introduced me to her. Starting with Wolf Brother.

Wolf Brother – Better Than Harry Potter?

Hear me out; honestly, it might not be better than Harry Potter for everyone, but FOR ME PERSONALLY, it is.

Wolf Brother is largely about two kids and a wolf puppy striking it out on their own in ancient European forests. These kids can hunt, cook, and entirely look after themselves without adult supervision. Furthermore, the protagonists are shunned by the rest of their age group. They’re entirely on their own, living despite everything and they excel at it. Just the two of them and their wolf.

Harry Potter, by contrast, is very much about finding your community. Harry gets sorted into Gryffindor and, despite being an outsider with a dark backstory, he makes a ton of friends. The kids are all dependent on their teachers and parents for accommodation, food, education, cleaning. It’s a story about getting on well together. It’s a story about modern society.

I suck at getting along with people. I have a bad habit of saying something kinda weird and focusing on it for the rest of the evening—even if no-one else cared. Wolf Brother is a fantasy about a society where you can survive on your own. If you say something awkward, you can run off into the forest for a couple of weeks until everything cools down. That’s the dream of it. Complete and uninterrupted solitude.

Of course, living alone forever is not presented as an admirable escape route from society in Wolf Brother. It’s not even an enviable position. Torak’s life lived alone with his father means that he is ignorant of society’s many rules, and when he comes to eventually need their help, he faces great hardship.

Even so, I like to imagine myself strutting out into the nearest forest and surviving there for a couple of weeks undisturbed. In reality, I’d definitely die within three days… but that’s not what I’m imagining after a binge-read of Wolf Brother.

I Like Canines, and Wolf Brother Has One

Unlike Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls where there was no real monster, only a metaphorical one, the wolf in Wolf Brother is not part of Torak’s imagination. The character of Wolf is beautifully written, with a great attention to the nuances of dogs, wolves, and their behaviours. Without Paver’s eagle-eyed details, the character of Wolf wouldn’t stand out much against other fictional canines such as Buck from Jack London’s Call of the Wild, White Fang, Vin’s wolf companion in Sanderson’s Mistborn series, the Stark family direwolves in GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire series,or any of the many wolves from Clement-Davies’ The Sight.

As you can see, I’ve read a lot of books containing canines, but none bring such joy and love to their series as Wolf does in‘The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’. Wolf is playful, vibrant, and mystical all at once. Like Paver, I too grew up with a dog, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen another author describing canines mentioning the detail of how when a dog wants to give you a present, it’s going to try to put it on your face.

In films, the good dog will drop the bone, stick, or whatever it is at the human’s feet. Nicely. Politely.

This is not how a real dog that loves you will give you a present. A real dog will find the present, try to knock you down when you scratch its ears, and then spit it onto your face. I’ve experienced this, and it brings such a huge smile to my face to see Wolf really behaving like a canine.

That’s Paver’s Wolf, and that’s just one example of her fantastic penmanship. I would argue that Paver doesn’t repeat tropes and ideas from other authors. Instead, she uses her own knowledge, experiences, and imagination to truly see how the situation could play out.

The Story of Wolf Brother

I won’t talk too much about the plot. It’s about destiny, survival, and a bear so big and evil that it feels like a physical manifestation of death. Throughout Wolf Brother, loss is a major theme. Each character is shaped by immeasurable grief. Despite this, they struggle on for success and each other, and that’s what makes them truly strong.

This Book Shaped My Personality

I’ve been rereading a few of my childhood favourites in recent years. I think it’s since I finished my university courses that I have the chance to read books of my own choosing, and more often than not I’m choosing something that I know will give me comfort. I’ve spent enough years reading the difficult stuff. I’m taking a break.

I first read Wolf Brother when I was about ten years old. At some point in the haze of my teenage years, I forgot how deeply I connected with this series. Sometimes, while eating a roasted chicken, I’ve uttered things like ‘HONOUR THE CHICKEN’ whilst trying to chew every scrap off meat of its bones.

I got that idea from this book. I had completely forgotten that the people of ‘The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ have all taken vows to use the animals they kill as completely as possible. Nothing should go to waste. As a kid, that struck a chord with me, and what a beautiful lesson to learn.

Wolf Brother also taught me about responsibility, and that I wanted more of it. I lived in a very controlled environment as a kid, as most children do, but this book made me wish that I had the freedom to choose to clean up after myself. Or to choose to make a sandwich for myself. To live just a little outside of my parents’ control. To gain a bit of self-confidence in my abilities.

I didn’t achieve any of that as a kid for various reasons out of my control, but I hungered for it. I believe that aspiring towards independence is a good thing, but my inability to attain that sometimes made Wolf Brother difficult for the ten year old me to read. I felt insubstantial compared to these fabulous twelve-year-old survivalists. I loved reading about their adventures, but at the same time, I envied them for it.

As an adult, I have more control over my life (though I still live in a society bound by rules and dependencies) and I envy Renn and Torak much less. Instead, I sometimes wonder instead how I would raise a child and support their needs for independence. I don’t think it’s possible to raise a child like Torak or Renn–in some ways they’re too adult-like–but the concept is inspiring.

Final Thoughts

Reading Wolf Brother is like a reminder for how to be alone without being lonely. It’s about being twelve years old again, before the complications of romance start to mess with your head. It’s about the true loyalty you can have for an animal companion, and how they give that back to you. It’s about forming a few strong bonds that will last a lifetime, as opposed to making friends with everyone. Finally, it’s about choosing to believe in yourself, despite everything that’s against you.

It’s a great book, and I recommend it for all ages. Even better if you like audiobooks, since they’re read by the wonderful Ian McKellen. Don’t forget to check out my review for the sequel, Spirit Walker!