The main story arc revolves around Torak and his quest to defeat the Soul Eaters, a group of power hungry mages who seek out to destroy all life in the forest.

Wolf Brother became a national bestseller in the United States, and the rights to the series were bought by 20th Century Fox to be made into major motion pictures.

Torak's quest, along with Renn and Wolf, is to defeat the Soul Eaters, a group of former clan mages who have turned to evil, and who seek to control the forest.

[4][5] In 2019, Paver announced that she would be returning to the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness with three further books, set after the end of the main series, once again following Torak, Renn and Wolf.

At first he hates Renn intensely because of the way he treated her when he and Torak are first captured, and in the chapters that are written from his point of view, he initially refers to her as the "female tailless": as he develops affection to her, he begins to call her pack-sister.

In Skin Taker, Dark briefly leads a group of survivors in Fin-Kedinn's absence, and helps Renn perform the rite to bring back The First Tree.

Torak appears to be the fulfillment of a prophecy about a "listener" who will give his heart's blood to the Mountain of the World Spirit, kill the bear and defy the Soul-Eaters, a group of erstwhile Mages who were once healers but became power-hungry and now use their magic for selfish ends.

Torak realizes Hord unknowingly helped the Crippled Wanderer, one of the Soul Eaters, and his father's sworn enemy, create the bear.

In their desire to subjugate all the clans, the Soul Eaters have captured a range of hunting animals, including Wolf, which they will sacrifice to unleash demons.

Torak and Renn make a dangerous journey across the frozen wilderness into the Far North to rescue Wolf; their friendship is tested to the limits and they become separated.

Two summers after the final defeat of the Soul Eaters, Torak and Renn have been living their own life apart from the Clans, with Wolf, Darkfur and their growing pack of new cubs.

After seeking guidance from Dark and Fin-Kedinn, Torak and Wolf leave Darkfur and the cubs behind to follow Renn, who has left for the Far North in search of answers.

But, when Seshru died on Laxe Axehead, Naiginn's curse remained in place and condemned him to grow as a man without being able to free his demon nature.

Eager to finally be free, Naiginn tricked Renn into believing she had almost killed Torak in the Forest, knowing she would follow her mother's path to the Far North where he could make her break Seshru's curse.

His prediction is shown to be true when he reveals that the First Tree, the winter lights of the sky where the Clans' dead go on the death journey, has been destroyed by the Thunderstar.

The disappearance of the First Tree is a bitter blow to the surviving Clans, but the Walker reveals that there is a way to bring it back, a ritual from the Old Time when the first demon was defeated by the World Spirit, assisted by the first men who had shot their arrows into the sky to help it in its battle.

In the Deep Forest, Torak and Renn come across the Red Deer Clan, who have become a shell of their former self and believe the Thunderstar was a sign of the World Spirit's displeasure with them.

Those Clans whose lands had been spared by the Thunderstar had abandoned their ways and, calling themselves the 'Chosen Ones', followed a new leader who defended them against a new threat which had emerged in the wake of the disaster: Skin Takers.

As they hear tales of the Skin Takers, Renn shares with Torak her suspicion that Naiginn had survived their confrontation in the Far North and is responsible for the turmoil in the Deep Forest.

Soon, both are separately captured by the Chosen Ones and, while Renn manages to escape with help from a sceptic hunter, Torak is brought to the Leader, who reveals himself to be Naiginn.

Naiginn had created the myth of the Skin Takers, faking their cries and convincing the Chosen Ones and the subdued Deep Forest Clans that only he could defeat them.

Torak regains his body long enough to give Renn and Dark his piece before the Forest pulls him back in and, only by spirit walking into a bear is he capable of escaping the vastness of the trees' consciousness.

We return to Torak and Renn as they hunt Naiginn, a human (known as a Shadeless) who is bound to the spirit of a frost demon, marking him as a dangerous enemy since his appearance in Skin Taker.

This pivotal moment launches Torak and Renn on a harrowing and heartfelt journey to rescue Wolf and ensure Naiginn's dark ambitions are defeated, leading to a powerful tale of loyalty, courage, and survival.

Fifteen years after writing the original rough draft, while Paver was hiking by herself in southern California, a large female black bear with two cubs walked onto the trail she was following.

To understand life in the New Stone Age, they used tools and clothing that would have been available 6000 years ago, slept in a traditional laavu[broken anchor] shelter in a sleeping bag made of reindeer skin, and ate only foods that Stone-Age hunter-gatherers would have.

A few years ago, I was asked to open a special WOLF BROTHER display case at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The Museum had taken excerpts from the book, and exhibited them alongside real archaeological artifacts mentioned in the story, such as flint blades, red ochre, etc.

The project has since been revived as announced at a Superfan event in July 2012, when Paver revealed the books will be made into films for theater or television.

Paver said "I've had more meetings with producers about Wolf Brother than I can remember but Anne Brogan and Melanie Stokes from Kindle Entertainment stood out from the very first time I met them.