I liked books one and two of this series so far. So let's continue this journey. Spoilers ahead.
Ujurak, Toklo, Lusa, Taqqiq and Kallik now continue their journey to the Last Wilderness, finally having found out what their destination is. However, the journey there is perilous, and Taqqiq's unfriendly mannerisms are causing strife within the group. In the end, our group will have to cross the dangerous Smoke Mountain to get to their Last Wilderness. Will they make it?
I liked books one and two, but this book really sold me on the series. At least for now, future books can of course dampen my enthusiasm. But book three was genuinely the first book I really loved here. Why? Well, it's mostly down to the characters and their interactions.
While they met up in the last book, this one is where our main team really gets together and gets closer to one another. You really see them go from four separate bears to a unit where they look out for one another and work together. The first part of the book makes this difficult, with Kallik's brother Taqqiq constantly causing arguments to happen. Eventually he and Kallik have a heartfelt conversation and Taqqiq goes back to his old friends, leaving the group of traveling bears. I felt sad about this, but at the same time it does make sense. Kallik and Taqqiq do recognize one another as brother and sister, but they really have grown apart and Kallik is much more faithful in their quest, unlike her brother. Taqqiq was also an genuine asshole in this, but not to the point that you don't see why Kallik still loves him.
The rest was also great. I loved Lusa and Kallik becoming really close friends, as well as Toklo slowly becoming less of an asshole and more a genuine protector of the group, though he does retain some of his standoffish attitude, which I honestly like because for him to suddenly act differently would be a bit of character assassination if you ask me. Ujurak also is pretty great in this and I really appreciate how he always wants to stick close to his friends even when they are in danger and he could easily flee because of his shapeshifting abilities. The group just genuinely gets close in this book and I loved seeing their interactions.
The journey is also still very interesting, which I think is praiseworthy because I tend to dread Warriors traveling books, also by Erin Hunter. Those are rarely written well, yet here I've been invested in the journey for three books now, especially so in this one. I'm also glad that we finally get an actual destination here: The Last Wilderness. In books one and two the squad knew that they had to travel somewhere, but where exactly was rather vague. In this book they come across an old bear who lives just long enough to tell them of their journey's end, which may or may not exist. Despite Taqqiq (and to a lesser extent Toklo) not really believing in the story, they make the journey anyways because they and most notably Ujurak feel like he's right. Taqqiq of course halfway into the quest leaves the group, but the rest makes the trek despite not exactly knowing if their destination is real and having to face many perils on their way. I just loved the way this journey was handled here and I'm glad to see our main three having reached their actual destination here.
There also seems to be some supernatural things going on around Lusa. At one point in the book, she almost dies because she's hit by a car, and then has a dream vision telling her that she's meant for great things such as saving the wilderness. Lusa of course doesn't know how to feel about this, and we don't know exactly what role she is meant to play yet, but I do love her character a lot and I like how out of the main four she seems to have the biggest destiny as of yet (sans maybe Ujurak? We still don't know why he has his powers).
Overall this was a great entry in this series and really solidified my love for the main cast. I really hope that they stick together in future books because I love this odd little found family they've become. It's good to see these bears who are very different and comes from all kinds of walks of life come together to work towards a bigger goal and grow closer over the journey. I do wonder what is in store for them now that they've reached their destination, however.
Rating: 4.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment