Wolf-Speaker

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Continuing on with the magical and exciting adventures in the Kingdom of Tortall, this week saw me power through the second instalment in The Immortals trilogy. Daine is older and a little wiser, but she still has a lot to learn about her wild magic and in Wolf-Speaker we get to see her use her knack with animals like she never has before.

Sent to investigate the disappearance of a group of King’s soldiers, Daine and Numair find themselves in the beautiful mountain lands of Dunlath. While on the road, Daine’s old friends and former wolf pack call for her help to stop the humans who are destroying the land and when Daine and Numair meet the Lord and Lady of Dunlath, they discover that their two quests are intertwined. Lord Belden and Lady Yolane, under the advisement of the Carthaki war-mage Tristan Staghorn, are mining the mountains for black opals which they then secretly export to Carthak in the hope to get enough riches and power to overthrow King Jonathan. As if this weren’t bad enough, Staghorn has created a cataclysmic weapon, that he plans to unleash on this beautiful land.

The first book introduced us to our protagonist, now the second one is where she really starts to grow and go through her character arc. An interesting take on bildungsroman, this ‘coming-of-age’ tale sees our heroine separated from her teacher and having to navigate social and political battlefields alone. Discovering the true reason for her being brought to Dunlath, Daine goes through a really lovely and eloquently written change of perspectives and learns a lot about the way of the world and how she is best served in examining circumstances before passing judgement.

On top of this intellectual and emotional journey, we get to see Daine’s magical journey take a huge leap forward, with her wild magic allowing her to enter the minds of animals, see through their eyes, and even take on some of their features.

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With the return of our favourite teacher comes a whole retinue of new characters that turn out to be the fiercest of friends and allies when it comes to the final shove. The book beautifully explores the struggles of situational cooperation, a little like The Breakfast Club, but with a pack of wolves, a baby dragon, a Basilisk, and a 10-year-old noblewoman. Prejudices and the prior experiences that shape them get deconstructed so that new lessons can be learned and new friendships can be formed.

All of these things are explored and explained in simple and exciting prose that compels you to keep turning pages. Filled with action, stealth, drama, comedy, and emotional growth, Wolf-Speaker is a great second instalment in what is promising to be another exciting and compelling Pierce quartet.

Author: Tamora Pierce, 1993

Published: First published in the US by Atheneum, 1993. First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 1994.

Wolf-Speaker is the second instalment in The Immortals quartet. It’s predecessor is Wild Magic.