Spirit Animals 4 – Fire and Ice

Shannon Hale's Fire and Ice is a Spirit Animals adventure for 9 year olds that sends four friends and their animals north to a village with no children and no old people.

What happens

Rollan, Meilin, Abeke and Conor are Greencloaks, each bonded to a legendary beast (a falcon, a panda, a leopard and a wolf). This one sits well into the series. They've already chased talismans across Erdas, and Meilin is still raw from losing her father before this book begins.

Now they're heading for Samis, a tiny walled town in the frozen north. Legend says the great polar bear Suka used to drink from a pond there. Find her, and they might reach her talisman before the enemy does.

Samis doesn't want visitors. The gate only opens after Conor's wolf Briggan chases off a pack that's been after the villagers' caribou. Inside, everything is a bit too perfect. Pretty painted houses. Everyone tall and golden and smiling. And the gravestones have names but no dates...

Isn't that just a little bit creepy?

The best part is watching the friends work out what's going on, each in their own way. Conor recognises the pond from a dream. Abeke fits the clues together like one of the puzzles she used to solve at home. And Rollan simply tells the mayor to her face that she's lying (which is very Rollan).

There's lots of banter too. Rollan is determined to see a walrus and isn't convinced they're real. Their new Greencloak friend Maya chats away to her fire salamander as if he's a person. There's even a hand-holding moment between Rollan and Meilin that will have some readers squealing!

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The prologue is quite dark. It's told from inside the head of Gerathon, a giant serpent, who swallows a young man alive and then sends an old woman over a cliff just to amuse herself. It's short and it's right at the start, but it's properly chilling. Later there's a punch-up in the village square too.

A sensitive reader might be better off sharing that opening with you. If yours already loves this series and the danger that comes with it, they'll be gripped.

What to read next

New to the series? Wild Born goes right back to the beginning, with Conor stuck fastening forty-eight clasps on a spoilt lord's coat on the day the local eleven-year-olds try to call their spirit animals.