Soul Eater (Paver)

"This article is about the book Soul Eater. For the characters in the book, please see Soul Eaters."

Infobox Book |
name = Soul Eater
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Soul Eater cover
author = Michelle Paver
illustrator = Geoff Taylor
cover artist = John Fordham
country = Great Britain
language = English
series = Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Orion
release_date = 6 September 2006
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 272 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 978-1842551721 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = Spirit Walker
followed_by = Outcast

"Soul Eater" is the third book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness written by Michelle Paver and first published in 2006. There will be six titles in the series.

ummary

While Torak, Renn and Wolf are hunting in winter, Wolf is captured and taken into the far north. Torak and Renn set off in pursuit. They encounter another hunting party, and send a message for Fin-Kedinn, the Raven Clan leader. Once they have left the Forest and entered the land of ice, Torak and Renn lose Wolf's trail, but Torak discovers that Wolf has been taken by the Soul Eaters.

Torak and Renn have difficulty surviving in the icy conditions. They are rescued when a man from the White Fox clan finds them. The White Fox clan feed them, and give them new clothes more suitable for survival in the cold. However, instead of returning south as is the White Foxes' intention, the two continue northwards by boat to find Wolf.

Torak and Renn arrive at a cave called "The Eye of the Viper", and discover that Wolf is definitely inside. They overpower a White Fox boy who is apparently a Soul Eater apprentice: Torak disguises himself as this boy and goes in to the Soul Eaters. He finds that in their quest to subjugate all creatures, they have come to this cave to sacrifice hunter animals, including Wolf. They want to open the door to the "Otherworld" from where they will summon demons, which they will control with their fire opal. Renn follows Torak into the cave, and overhears that the Soul Eaters count nine hunter animals, including man: Torak has taken the place of one of their intended sacrificial victims.

In the end Renn, Wolf and Torak escape the Soul Eaters but get separated. Torak is later captured by them and survives by tricking them into thinking Renn, and not he, is a Spirit Walker. Torak also is forcibly tattoed as a Soul Eater by Seshru, the Viper Mage. When they catch up with Renn she threatens to drop the Opal. This distracts the Soul Eaters sufficiently to allow Torak to spirit walk into a polar bear and scatter the Soul Eaters. The Soul Eater Nef, who owes her life to Torak's deceased father, sacrifices herself by casting her body into the crack of a closing iceberg. Torak and Renn being are escorted back to the Raven Clan camp by Fin-Kedinn, who has come after them.

The next book in the series is Outcast.