Hi Michelle Paver,

I'm a great fan of your Wolf brother series. I first read the seven original books when I was in my early teens. Now I'm almost 30 years old and I decided to re-read the series and the later additions.
I just finished Ghost Hunter, so I'm exactly where I was almost 15 years ago.
And what a journey. It's so wonderful to realize that the books hold up even at my current reading-age and that my liking to them is not only based in nostalgia. They are properly good books with deep, rich themes and extraordinary writing that immediately grips you and immerses you in a world long forgotten. I love these books and I look forward to reading the new additions to the story of Torak.

What I love the most about the books is the always-present theme of respect towards nature and the soul of the world itself. The books tap into something deep and true. It's beyond the melodramatic dramas of human society and civilisation in later ages and instead focuses on what really matters. In the books, no matter where Torak or Renn are situated, there's always the notion of things happening on a deeper, unseen level. Be it the hidden ones whispering in streams or in shadows of the rocks, or the trees murmuring to one another, or the wind carrying messages from afar. In subtle, almost imperceivable ways, the world is constantly in communication, and it's up to the characters to stop, listen, and tap into the world and hear what it has to tell. Be it through Torak's hunting skill, Renns mage craft, or Wolfs nose and other-worldly sense as the Guide.

There's thus always this depth within these stories. We are constantly reminded that there's more beneath the surface. The depth is anchored in the bedrock of the world itself, and not some alien or magical dimension. It is rooted in our very own earth and its complexity. It's a spirituality which feels very realistic. Almost as a truism that we have once lost. And much of the books do discuss the ever increasing degradation in the connection between man and forest, so it does make itself into a sort of prequel to today's way of living.

Today we do not have as strong of a connection with the forests and the lakes and the mountains as they do in Wolf brother. The old respect for the land has died out. Looking around today, it rather seems that the callous, greedy and power hungry ways of the Soul-eaters have slowly taken hold in the world.
This is why I believe the ways of the people in the Wolf brother books are so captivating and refreshing to me. I long for an age in which we lived more at peace with nature, an age where we knew it and treated it as our kin. It hurts seeing it being treated so recklessly and being so easily discarded with.

I hope for our own sakes, and our earth, that we sometime re-learn how to stop and tap into the subtle signs and clues that the world leaves for us to take part in. I hope we learn to listen to world again. And once we can hear her once more, I believe the respect comes naturally.

I believe any in any good book, especially in the fantasy genre, the most well-written character must be the world itself. The greatest pleasure while reading Wolf Brother is receiving yet another clue as to how that world functions. What clans there are, and what their world-view is. How they all coordinate with one another and with their part of the world. How they survive and make sense of events. It's all so fascinating.

Thank you Michelle Paver for this amazing collection of books. They will always be brandished upon my bookshelf.

Dear Niklas, thank you for such a beautiful and articulate message! I’m really glad that you can still enjoy the books as an adult, and it’s so gratifying that you have completely grasped what I was trying to do in creating Torak’s world.  I remember when I was writing the stories I found the hardest thing by far was to stay in the hunter-gatherer mindset: that is, to create and maintain that sense of an effortless connection with the natural world, but without becoming portentous, or overloading the story.  I think I found it hard because it meant I had constantly to override my own urban, twenty-first century outlook, which has lost that connection with nature.  So it’s very good to know that for you I managed to pull if off.  I also find your insight about the influence of modern-day Soul-Eaters both fascinating and perceptive (I love it when readers point things out in my stories which I hadn’t spotted!).  But I think all is not lost, so long as there are readers like you.  Thank you again for getting in touch, and I really hope that you enjoy returning to the Forest in the remaining three books.  With very best wishes, Michelle