Looks like I'm finally back to reviewing more of Seekers. I do hope to review all Erin Hunter books (not counting graphic novels and guide books) in the future, so I gotta get through both Seekers arcs for that as well. Spoilers ahead!
Lusa has united with Toklo and Ujurak, and the trio now continue on the journey which the latter insists they have to make. Kallik is still looking for her brother and traveling further south by herself. All bears finally meet up at Great Bear Lake, a place where all three types of bears come together in order to celebrate the Longest Day.
Once again a sometimes pretty plot-less feeling book, but at the same time there is more than in the last one. At least each character has a distinct goal to work towards in this book, even if it isn't reached here. The trio of Toklo, Ujurak and Lusa go on their journey, and Kallik is still trying to find her brother. While the trio's journey does not come to an end here (as Great Bear Lake is merely a pit stop before they continue), Kallik does end up finding her brother Taqqiq, so at least her journey built up in the last book does come to a close.
I did feel so sad to see for Kallik that Taqqiq has changed a lot by the time she finds him. He's become a bully who gets around by stealing rather than hunting, and has clearly forgotten their mother's philosophies on life. Kallik is distraught by this, but at the same time I do see where Taqqiq is coming from as he has been through hell, thought his entire family to be dead and this was the only way he could survive. I was glad to see him come around to Kallik in the end, though. But she doesn't stay with him, instead joining the other trio for their journey.
I overall liked this book fine, pretty much as much as the last. However, I found the characters here to be a little less interesting. Funnily enough, Toklo, who was my least favorite in book one, has the most personality here out of the trio as he's kind of an asshole to the others. Kallik, Ujurak and Lusa are all pretty generic nice and heroic Erin Hunter protagonists by now and their personalities kind of start to blend together, especially once they unite in the end. I do hope that in future installments they really set each of the four bears apart personality-wise and arc-wise, because having a rotating main cast where most characters feel the same personality-wise is rather boring (see my reviews of Bravelands).
I did like more of the lore that got introduced here and how all bears gather at Great Bear Lake, but they still don't get involved with one another. Just goes to show how unlikely our main team of four bears is. Shoteka also returns briefly as a villain, so I wonder if he'll have more appearances in future books as one. I do find it funny that the book describes him as the only hump-backed bear, when all the brown bears featured here are referred to as grizzlies. Shouldn't they all have a hump, since it's a very defining characteristic of grizzlies? Ah well.
Overall a good book, however I don't really consider it a step up or step down from the last book. My main gripe for now is the pretty generic-feeling main characters (aside from Toklo) and the lack of a defined plot. We know that the bears are making a journey, but where to and why is still left very vague for now.
Rating: 4/5
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