During the darkness of midwinter a meteorite strikes the Forest, obliterating everything in its path. The survivors gather, afraid for their lives: will the sun ever return? Has the Thunderstar blown away the First Tree for ever? Meanwhile, the ice demon trapped in Naiginn's body takes advantage of the chaos and his superior abilities so that the Deep Forest clans are in thrall to him. Will Torak, Renn, Dark and Wolf find a way to restore hope to the clans?

While I enjoyed reading about the close relationship between Torak, Renn and Wolf again and the clans' struggle for survival in the aftermath of the disaster, this volume also brought a first: I struggled to make it through the book. This has never happened before, and I can only ascribe it to the perceived drop in writing quality that I first noticed in Viper's Daughter. Not only is there a lot of telling not showing, especially when it comes to the villain, but this volume is also brimming with comma splices, turning text that used to flow so well into an uneven and rather jerky reading experience, never allowing tension and suspense to take hold of my imagination.

Despite the rather mixed feelings, I was sad to read that the forthcoming Wolfbane, to be published next spring, is going to be Torak, Renn and Wolf's final adventure. I believe I need to prepare myself for a tearful farewell. ( )