Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce - Book Review

Wolf-Speaker is the second book in The Immortals Quartet written by young-adult author Tamora Pierce. The reader follows Daine as her ability to talk to animals grows and as her adventures continue.

In Wolf-Speaker, Daine, now fourteen years old, is summoned by Brokerfang, the leader of the wolf pack she associated with after her family was killed. She rides to answer the summons along with her pony Cloud, dragon Kitten and the mage Numair. The pack tells her that the humans, in Dunlath, are cutting off all the trees, chasing away all the game and doing extensive mining, which is disturbing the wolf pack that has had to relocate.

When they arrive at Dunlath, Daine and Numair realise that something is amiss. Numair meets an old-school friend/enemy, named Tristan as well as three other mages.

Daine’s character continues to grow and she learns several valuable lessons in Wolf-Speaker, highlighting great character development. The story has lots of rising tension but not the type of rising tension that shatters your brain. There is also some sarcasm and light humour here and there to break the tension even for a few seconds.

Wolf-Speaker introduces the reader to many new creatures from Tamora Pierce’s vivid imagination, such as ‘Hurroks’, ‘a slurring of horse-hawk’, a wholly different take on the Basilisk and others.

This second installment in Tamora Pierce’s The Immortals Quartet is as exciting as the first. Also, the character descriptions at the beginning allow the reader to read each installment without having to refer to or read the previous parts.