Seekers (novel series)

Seekers

The cover of The Quest Begins
The Quest Begins Great Bear Lake Smoke Mountain The Last Wilderness Fire in the Sky Sea of Chaos
Author	Erin Hunter
Cover artist	Wayne McLoughlin
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Teen literature, fantasy
Publisher	HarperCollins
Published	May 2008 – present
Media type	Print

Seekers is a children's novel series published by the same team of authors who created the Warriors series under the pseudonym of Erin Hunter. It revolves around three young bear cubs, Kallik (a polar bear), Lusa (a black bear), and Toklo (a grizzly bear), when they lose their mothers and are left to fend for themselves. Each determined to survive in the harsh wilderness and they find themselves brought together by a perilous journey guided by a shape-shifting grizzly cub whose destiny will affect them all. The first book of the series, The Quest Begins, was written by Tui Sutherland and published on May 27, 2008. Great Bear Lake, the second book, was written by Cherith Baldry and released on February 10, 2009. Smoke Mountain, the third of the series, was written by Tui Sutherland and was released on May 12, 2009.

Publication history

The series is expected to contain a total of six books. It was originally to be called The Clawed Path, as the journey the four bears make through all six books in the series is referred to as "the clawed path". At the very last moment the title was changed so that the titles would look similar to the Warriors series. Holmes was initially unhappy with the change, but has since said that she has come to like it and the way it looks on the books. The first novel of the series, The Quest Begins, was first featured on the HarperCollin's FirstLook Program in November 2007. Readers who signed up for the program had a chance to read an early edition of this book, an Advanced Reading Copy, before it was published in stores. The reviews of those who received an ARC of The Quest Begins can be found here.

Overview

The books follow the adventures of three North American bears, Lusa the black bear, Toklo the grizzly, and Kallik the polar bear, and a fourth bear, a shape-shifting grizzly cub by the name of Ujurak, and help him make a long and difficult journey where he will learn the true nature of his destiny. After a series of extraordinary events bring all four bears together, they set out on a long and dangerous journey in order to discover something vitally important, not just for themselves, but for every one of their species. The books are set a little way into the future, where the lives of all wild animals have been severely compromised by human encroachment on their habitat and natural sources of food. All these three kinds of bears have forgotten how to be truly "wild", which is a lesson they must learn as they travel away from their homes to help their very special companion.

Books

The Quest Begins

The first book of the series, The Quest Begins, was written by Tui Sutherland and published on May 27, 2008.

Kallik has lived her life on the ice with her mother and brother, but her mother dies. Lusa has never left the zoo where she was born. And Toklo roams the forest with his mother and younger brother, who has always been ill. His brother dies and his mother abandons him. Suddenly separated from those who have always cared for them, these three bears are learning to survive in the wild. With the shape-shifting cub Ujurak, the bears embark on a long and dangerous quest. They travel through magnificent and often hostile landscapes to the frozen north, where the swirling lights of the Aurora Borealis guide the bears to their journey’s end.

Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake, the second book, was written by Cherith Baldry and released on February 10, 2009.

One by one the bears have joined together, and all four are finally united at the sacred Great Bear Lake, a place of peace and healing. Great Bear Lake continues the story of Kallik, Lusa, Toklo, and Ujurak as the bear cubs try to find their way to the Arctic. At the end of the book, Kallik joins the other bear cubs along with her brother Taqqiq.

Smoke Mountain

Smoke Mountain, the third of the series, was written by Tui Sutherland and was released on May 12, 2009.

The five cubs begin to travel together to the Place of the Endless Ice. On the way there, they meet a very old white bear named Qopuk who tells them about the Smoke Mountains (Mackenzie Mountains) and how dangerous it is, as well as the Last Great Wilderness. During the journey, Taqqiq decides that he does not belong at the Last Great Wilderness, or with bears that are not his pelt color, so he decides to return to the Melting Sea. After Taqqiq leaves, the remaining four bears cross the Big River (Mackenzie River) and escape an area of flat-face (human) construction. During that time, Lusa gets injured, so they are forced to take shelter on Smoke Mountain. Toklo and Kallik realize that the mountain they are staying on is possibly a dormant volcano. After defying hardships such as hunger and bear hunters, they finally make it to the Last Great Wilderness.

The Last Wilderness

It has been confirmed in a recent Author Tracker letter that the fourth book in the Seekers series is titled "The Last Wilderness".

Fire in the Sky

It has been confirmed in an Author Tracker E-Mail that the fifth book is titled "Fire in the Sky".

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Characters

• Kallik – Kallik is a female polar bear cub who was forced to leave her home with her mother, Nisa, and brother, Taqqiq, when the ice began to melt. Like all other polar bears, she depended on her mother to teach her how to hunt and survive until she was old enough to do it on her own. Her brother Taqqiq was her favorite playmate, but he was restless and had trouble paying attention. Kallik was a good learner, and was anxious to know the secrets her mother had to impart. However, her anxiety sometimes took her over and caused her to worry or be afraid of things like burn-sky (summer), when the ice melts and the polar bears go hungry. Then one day when Kallik and her family were traveling to land (the place where polar bears go in burn-sky), Nisa and Kallik got attacked by orca whales. The orcas ended up killing Nisa, but Kallik escaped and was limited to doing nothing but listen to Taqqiq wander away. Now alone, she had to depend on herself to survive. She eventually met Lusa, Toklo, and Ujurak at the end of Great Bear Lake.

• Lusa – Lusa is a female black bear and was the only cub in her family, but lived with another cub named Yogi who she loved and hated as a brother. Her father, King, used to live in the wild but does not like to share stories about his experience because he guarantees that she would never live in the wild as long as she lived. She started living in what she calls a "Bear Bowl" (the zoo) and had never seen any animal, other than a few birds and bears. Lusa is very anxious and loves to learn. She always asked Stella, an adult black bear who came from another zoo, many questions. Stella was like a mother to Lusa. She told her stories and encouraged her to do what she wanted to do. So did her real mother, Ashia. Later in the story, Toklo's mother, Oka, arrived in the zoo. Lusa, curious, came up to Oka and saw that Oka was muttering things like "Tobi" and "Toklo". Then, Lusa learned that "Tobi" and "Toklo" are Oka's cubs. Oka told Lusa that she had left her cub, Toklo, alone, and that she had regretted it deeply ever since. Oka was not sure that Toklo was still alive or not. Lusa promised Oka that he still was, and that she would find him. Lusa escaped the zoo and found Toklo at the end of the first book.

• Toklo - Toklo is a male grizzly bear cub who lived with his mother, Oka, and his brother, Tobi. Tobi was very sick, so Oka was afraid of going anywhere because she didn't want Tobi to suffer even more. Sometimes, Oka payed so much attention on Tobi that she didn't notice Toklo. Toklo was tired of Tobi moaning and slowing them down when they were trying to find food. At last, Oka decided that it was time for them to travel up a mountain to a river filled with salmon. But on the way there, Tobi died. Oka's heart broke, and it took a while for them to keep going. And when they did reach the river, Oka got furious with another bear, Shoteka, who tried to kill Toklo. She stopped him and then abandoned Toklo, saying that she didn't want to see another one of her cubs die. Now that Toklo was on his own, he needed to find his own food and his own place to live. He eventually met another cub, Ujurak, who was also alone and had the power to change in to any other animal. The two of them embark together on a perilous journey to a safe and wonderous place. He met Lusa at the end of the first book.

• Ujurak - Ujurak is a small male grizzly bear cub who has the mysterious ability to change into any animal, although he cannot control when and what he changes into well. For example, one time Ujurak unexpectingly turned into a salmon along a body of water where bears were. Luckily he had met Toklo, another grizzly bear, whom made sure he wasn't caught and eaten. However, whether he turns into a useful animal or not, each time he morphs, he can see the world from that animal's point of view. He lost his mother rather early in his life and lived alone while on a journey to the place where spirits dance in the sky in order to find out about his destiny. Toklo accompanies him in his quest. Eventually the two meet Lusa and Kallik, whom joins them.