Spirit Animals 2 – Hunted

Maggie Stiefvater's Hunted, from the Spirit Animals series, is a fantasy adventure for 9 year olds about four young heroes who haven't learned to trust each other yet.

What happens

This isn't the place to start. Rollan, Meilin, Conor and Abeke have each already called up one of the Four Fallen, great beasts from the old stories. Now they live at Greenhaven, the Greencloaks' castle on an island, and they're training hard.

Training isn't going well. Abeke's leopard Uraza chases someone else's spirit animal right across a breakfast table (plates fly, and one man ends up with a faceful of oatmeal). The others don't trust Abeke, and she feels it every day.

Before any of that, though, there's a chilling first chapter. Devin, a lord's son who called up nothing at his own ceremony, stands in a dark forest and gulps down a flask of something called the Bile. It's meant to force a bond with an animal. What's waiting under the cloth on that big cage? You'll have to wait to find out.

Then the news from home gets worse. Meilin's country, Zhong, has fallen to the Conquerors, and her father is missing. She's ready to walk out. A quiet, tattooed Greencloak called Finn talks her into trying one thing first (playing music to her panda, Jhi, of all things).

Soon they're off by sea to find Rumfuss the Boar, with Finn as their guide. Their ship is pulled by whales with boulders on their backs!

What makes it such good fun is that the chapters take turns with each of the four. You get Conor's worry about his hungry family back home, Rollan's cheek (he really doesn't like boats) and Meilin's temper. They squabble like real kids who've been thrown together and told to save the world.

Finn's own story is a sad one. His brothers were killed in a battle before the book begins, and he tells Meilin about it plainly. It's backstory, but a sensitive reader might want to talk about it.

If you've got a reader who likes a team adventure with animals at its heart, this is a great pick.

What to read next

If they haven't met the four yet, go back to Wild Born, where Conor, working as a servant to pay off his family's debts, drinks the Nectar at the ceremony on his eleventh birthday.