Wolf-Speaker

Wolf-Speaker
The Immortals, Book 2
Tamora Pierce

Yay - I finished a book! On Sunday I posted about my current slump. I'm cautiously hopeful that it will soon be behind me after tearing through this quick novel on Wednesday afternoon.

Wolf-Speaker is the second book in Tamora Pierce's Immortals series. I read the first one, Wild Magic, back in January (back when I was actually reading books). I really enjoyed Wild Magic, and was taken with Daine's journey of self discovery.

In the second book, Daine is on her own, without a human mentor, for most of the book. Of course, she's not totally alone. She's helping her old wolf pack with a new problem - humans invading and destroying their territory. But it's not just the animals that these invaders are threatening. The kingdom of Tortall and King Jonathan are also at risk.

For whatever reason, I didn't like this book as much as I did Book 1. There seemed to be a big jump in Daine's maturity between the two books. In the first, she needs a lot of hand holding by her older mentors. Yes, she is a strong, independent character, but she's still a pretty young girl. In Wolf-Speaker, her teacher leaves her behind in dangerous territory with nary a word. I  understand it was a decision that had to be made quickly, and Daine insisted on staying with her wolf pack. Still, it felt a bit forced.

I do like how the animals refer to them selves as the People. Humans are, well, humans. Not People. The People have a respect for the ecosystem and inter-species relationships that humans lack.

Despite my lack of overwhelming enthusiasm, I still checked Book 3, Emperor Mage, out from the library in preparation for this weekend's read-a-thon. Maybe I should go get the last one, too, just in case...