Waiting on Wednesday – The Rise of Wolves by Kerr Thomson

Synopsis:

Innis Munro is walking home across the bleak wilderness of Nin Island when he hears the chilling howl of a wolf. But there are no wolves on the island – not since they were hunted to extinction, centuries ago. He decides to investigate his island home and accepts an ancient challenge: he who jumps the Bonnie Laddie’s Leap wins a fortune. As the wolves rise from the darkness of history, and long-buried secrets resurface, Innis’s adventure truly begins …

 

Why I can’t Wait to read The Rise of Wolves:

• I love the concrete challenge – to jump Bonnie Laddie’s Leap. My theory is Innis will jump the gap in the form of a wolf. How cool would that story be? If this isn’t the story, I’m writing it. My imagination is going wild, and I’ve only read a short synopsis.

 

• Done badly, they’re a cliché. Think drooling, snapping wolves, or princesses made brave by the first sight of a bushy tail. Wolves have been in stories since time began. As I said in my review of The Wildings, the best animal stories respect animal behaviour as equally as they anthropomorphise their characters. The setting makes me feel The Rise of Wolves will be in the second category.

 

 

• I love stories where the protagonist learns about their environment by learning about its past. Think Kit’s Wilderness, Wolf Hollow or The Crowfield Curse. The history of the wolves, hunted to extinction and the ‘ancient challenge’ sound promising.

 

• Kerr Thomson won the 2014 Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction competition with The Sound of Whales. Chicken House have a great reputation for knowing a good story, and the competition has unearthed some fantastic authors. It’s not only an accolade, it’s an indication of a great author.

 

The Rise of Wolves by Kerr Thomson

Chicken House

November 2017