Evil stalks the land. Only twelve-year-old Torak and his wolf-cub companion can defeat it. Their journey together takes them through deep forests, across giant glaciers, and into dangers they never imagined. In this page-turning, original, and spectacularly told adventure story, Torak and Wolf are joined by an incredible cast of characters as they battle to save their world, in this first book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness.

    thought that war would be the ultimate adventure--until he was in the middle of it.In 1862, thirteen-year-old Ransom J. Powell lies about his age and joins the Union Army as a drummer boy. At first, he is thrilled to be defending his country, but by the time he has been in his first skirmish he sees war for the brutal horror that it is. Then he and his regiment are captured and taken to Camp Sumter, a Confederate prison. With its disease and cruel guards, Camp Sumter is worse than any battlefield, and Ransom watches is friends die one by one. Will he be next?A sober but important contribution to the growing number of Civil War novels.--BooklistVibrant characters and realistic war and prison scenes combine to make [this] a compelling book.--School Library Journal

    But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?

    Are we prisoners of our history or can we break free? Can we become all that we need to be to meet the ultimate challenge of life and death in the King’s Tournament and in the dungeons of the Black Castle?