*Pertama kali dipost di thread Pembahasan Berbagai Novel di forum Role Playing Cyber Novel Video Games Indonesia tanggal 20 April 2008*SinopsisPenyakit aneh mengancam Klan Gagak dan klan lainnya. Ketakutan menyerang seantero Hutan. Udara seakan telah teracuni. Tak seorang pun tahu sebabnya dan hanya Torak yang dapat menemukan obatnya.Pencarian ini membawa Torak mengarungi Laut ke tempat Klan Anjing Laut yang misterius. Di sini Torak bertarung melawan ancaman yang tak terlihat, dan menyibakkan pengkhianatan yang akan mengubah hidupnya.SampulSpirit Walker tampil dengan sampul yang lebih menarik jika dibandingkan dengan Wolf Brother, buku pertama di Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. Siluet Torak dan si Pemburu dengan latar belakang biru lebih enak dipandang mata dan cukup bikin penasaran. Satu peningkatan yang lebih baik dari pendahunya.PenulisanSeperti buku pertamanya, buku kedua juga dipenuhi berbagai detail yang luar biasa. Sayangnya, seperti buku pertamanya, ada banyak hal yang seharusnya bisa diterjemahkan ke Bahasa Indonesia malah dibiarkan begitu saja dalam bahasa aslinya. Ini sangat disayangkan karena penerjemah berhasil menerjemahkan “Spirit Walker” ke “Klanaroh”, sementara tidak menerjemahkan “harness” sama sekali.Tidak jauh berbeda dari pendahulunya, cerita ini disajikan melalui sudut pandang Torak, Serigala dan Renn. Tetap proporsional dan tetap menarik.CeritaUntuk mengakses kisah novel ini secara utuh, Wolf Brother adalah bacaan wajib. Meski demikian, satu hal yang gw suka dari cerita Spirit Walker adalah dia tidak terlalu menggembar-gemborkan status Torak sebagai penyelamat. Elemen klise masih tetap ada seperti peningkatan kekuatan Torak seiring dengan status barunya, tapi masih dalam proporsi yang wajar dan tak berlebihan.Intrik-intrik ceritanya pun lebih menarik dibandingkan buku pertama. Konfliknya terasa lebih mengena dilengkapi dengan interaksi antar karakter yang terasa hidup dan manusiawi. Semua itu ditutupi dengan konfrontasi akhir yang menurut gw jauh lebih keren dari yang kita dapati di Wolf Brother.Karakter Torak, Renn dan Serigala masih sama seperti dulu, tapi hubungan antara ketiganya makin diperdalam dan diperkaya. Torak dan Renn berselisih paham, Renn dan Serigala makin akrab dan sebagainya. Karakter-karakter baru seperti Bale dan Tenris turut menambah warna tersendiri bagi cerita ini.Lain-LainPeta yang menggambarkan lokasi klan dan tempat-tempat penting masih ada. Sayangnya ilustrasi yang mengawali bab baru absen. Bukan hal besar memang, tapi hal itu bisa menjadi pelengkap yang sempurna mengingat kisah Spirit Walker pada dasarnya lebih unggul dibandingkan dengan Wolf Brother.KesimpulanSampul yang lebih menarik, jalan cerita yang lebih baik, interaksi karakter lebih dalam, tidak ada ilustrasi, dan penerjemahan yang bisa dibilang belang-belang. Secara keseluruhan, Spirit Walker lebih baik dari Wolf Brother dan hal ini sangat melegakan. Meski gw merasa hal-hal kecil macam ilustrasi akan makin menambah keunggulan novel ini, Spirit Walker sama sekali tidak mengecewakan.
"You must read this, miss - it's fantastic." Hmmm. It was a bit of a slow start compounded by the failure of Kirstin, who recommended it, to tell me it was the second book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. I was baffled, to put it mildly. It's the story of a boy of neolithic times who can communicate with a wolf. This ability is strange enough to make the tribe he lives with after his father's death quite wary of him. A strange sickness, causing madness and death, comes to the Forest and the boy, Torak, sets off to find a cure. Told partly from his point of view, partly from the wolf's, and partly from that of the girl Renn, it has twists and turns that I felt I would have appreciated more fully if I'd read the previous story.The full impact of the final revelations about the nature of the illness and why it was caused would have packed a bigger wallop, I'm sure, if I had any sense of Torak's father who, it transpired, had died in the previous book.I would have liked to have seen more of the tokoroth, the demon-possessed children, who were quite sympathetic characters by the end. One big quibble I have with the book is that Renn and Wolf at times seemed to arrive just in time to rescue Torak, although there was no sense that they had caught up with him from a distance. There was an odd feeling of geographical violation - or maybe that's too strong - maybe it's just inconsistency throughout the story. On the other hand, I'm prepared to believe this was a deliberate stylistic choice of the author's: there was a sense of 'spirit walking' in the book long before the revelations of the plot to find and trap the spirit walker.
What do You think about Spirit Walker (2007)?
I just finished reading this one, a few hours ago. TBh, I`ve been waiting to read this since I`ve finished with the first book in the series, the wolf brother. In this book, we get to know more about Torak and his ability. IT wasn`t a big surprise when the real him was revealed at the end part of this book, cause reading from Wolf brother, I can sense how special this guy was. His character can be compared to Harry Potter in some way. Seeing his interaction with Renn only make me eager to read more books in this series...Will they developed a love line? Or will they just become friends?I really wished for the former though..A bit of love will add some spice to this awesome story! The story revolved around how Torak had to adapt his self with his new surrounding, being with more people than he ever met before. Not to mention his life was being threatened now with the 'soul-eaters' who had realized Torak`s potentials and the power that he can bring with him. I really love Wolf`s character here. FOr some reason, I think he was the comic in the book..His antics were both funny and awkward when he`s with other tailless, but somehow he was courageous when Torak`s was in danger. One thing I love about this book was the writer herself. She has a very unique writing style. It seemed to me that she knows how to portray the awkwardness of the characters, the details of the actions that she wrote and not to mention her uses of words were amazing!A very good read^^
—CekMoNSter
I like the interesting way Torak and Wolf think of things. e.g. Great Wet = Ocean, Great Up = Sky, Tall Tailless (Wolf) Pack Brother = Torak. The language is awkward at first, but the story is worth it!Clan cultures, beliefs and people were fascinating. Torak is taken in a seal skin boat to the Seal Island by Bale, Asrif, and Detlan to meet his mother's seal clan kin.Torak learns more about his power and finds answers to some Wolf Brother mysteries.I liked the shifting point of view between Torak, Renn and Wolf. (view spoiler)[ I was glad Wolf and Renn saw Tenris for being evil and I hope Torak will learn to trust their perceptions.Complicated story with tokoroths, forest sickness, search for the cure, Tenris (seal mage), seal clan, Notched Fin and Torak's power. I hope we don't see any more soulless tokoroths, because they made my skin crawl.There were a few things that I didn't like: it seemed too easy for Torak to learn to paddle a seal boat, Torak wasn't punished for violating clan law, I wished the guardian would've helped Torak instead of just showing up, no one asked Renn how she got there, and Bale trusting Renn was not believable without something major happening. (hide spoiler)]
— Marla
~4.5 Stars~When I read this series as a child, Spirit Walker was my favorite. Whether it was the inclusion of the Sea Clans, and the slight jerks that populated them or something else, I always really loved this installment in the series. And it's still awesome.This story picks up a few months after the last book left off, and bad things are happening. As always. Duh. But it's just so much fun! I love how different all the Clans are, and how everything's described, and it's really hard to say anything except "I LOVE IT" about one of my childhood favorites, man. I just love it. I just really, really love, and can't wait to continue this re-read. I don't actually think I read past book four, so eventually I'm going to be in completely new territory and that will be fun.Overall, this is a very well-done, obviously well-researched middle grade series that's just absolutely phenomenal. I adore it, and I do think that I still like this one better than book one. Just because of those jerks in the Seal Clan. Just because of them. Because I really, really loved them. I always have, because my favorite characters have always been jerks, apparently.
—Aurora Dimitre
