After an eleven-year gap while writing other fiction, in 2020 Michelle Paver returned to her ‘Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ YA series with the seventh installment, Viper’s Daughter. Torak and Renn’s peaceful life, living alongside Wolf, Darkfur and their cubs, is broken when Renn disappears without a word. Once again, the trio are catapulted into danger as they travel to the Far North, an unfamiliar land without trees, negotiating ice flows, ice bears, mammut and firey demons. Wearing claws strapped to their feet and shields over their eyes, their always sharp senses are minimised in this unfamiliar territory, oh so cold and without their normal forest prey for food. But the foe they seek is worse than they could ever have imagined.
The story is told in turn from Torak, Renn and Wolf’s viewpoints. As always, Wolf’s voice is a standout. The world created by Paver is so believable, based on a phenomenal amount of research and expeditions in Scandinavia, Siberia, Greenland and Alaska. She knows what she is talking about. And Wolf’s observations seem to clarify the differences between the trio’s home in the Forest and this eerie place of the ‘Great Hard Cold’ where the ground rumbles ‘like the earth talking to itself.’ Paver’s love for the natural world is behind every description and her imagination continues to thrill as this mature series continues to surprise and delight.
This is a great read, full of magic, love, loyalty, challenge and adventure. Such a pleasure to be back with such well-loved characters, though if you are new to the series Viper’s Daughter can also be read as a stand-alone novel.
Seventh in the fantastic ‘Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ series, which started with Wolf Brother, with another two books, Skin Taker and Wolfbane, taking the series to nine. Don’t miss the audio series, narrated by Ian McKellan. Great for children and adults alike.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

And read my reviews of two other novels by Michelle Paver:-
THE OUTSIDERS #1GODS&WARRIORS
THIN AIR
WAKENHYRST

If you like this, try:-
‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar
‘Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane’ by Suzanne Collins #2UnderlandChronicles
‘Insurgent’ by Veronica Roth #2Divergent

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview VIPER’S DAUGHTER by @MichellePaver https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7g8 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-