Wolf Road

I’ve always been a big fan of Alice’s work; her books, TV appearances and research. She has this effortless way of communicating history to anyone and in such a way that you feel like it’s alive, not just a dry tale of bygone eras. This book was a perfect example of that!

It’s written so vividly that you feel like you could almost be there with the Talos. You follow Tuuli on her adventures and get totally sucked into her way of life and living. This is a time of wooly mammoths, ice ages and living in the Palaeolithic.

It took a little while for me to sink into it and get its measure but it slowly and surely drew me in. It has a steady pace and gentle rhythm which becomes utterly charming and enthralling.

I definitely think though for the intended audience and as it’s meant for younger readers, it comes with caveats. There’s animal murders a plenty as would be historically accurate in this era, with guts, intestines and chomping on the raw livers of still warm animals. Just a warning! As a child I think I would have balked but I can appreciate the historical accuracy of this and really commend Alice Roberts for introducing this era of history in such a true to tale fashion. It isn’t necessarily happy (in fact, it’s rather sad) so as long as those picking this up are aware of such things, it’s a good to go.

Hats off to her first foray into fiction writing and I can’t wait for more!

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice look into our ancient history, with a glimpse into how the ancient people used to live. But it's also a good moral tale about how we should care for others and, basically, not just jump to killing anyone or anything we perceive as different.

It's compared a lot to Michelle Paver's books, which I adore. I wouldn't say it's quite on the same level (The amount of research in her books absolutely leaps from the page), and although this books author has clearly done a great deal of research, to me, it didn't shine quite to the same extent.

The story wasn't perhaps as deep as i wanted or expected, but i still really enjoyed it, and if there are any follow up books, i'd definitely be tempted to read it, because overall, it really was a very enjoyable read and i do recommend it.

Interesting dip into the lives of ice age dwellers & the Neanderthals. A good introduction into the area for children who may not have every read fiction based texts supporting their learning of the Stone Age, Ice Age etc. In this day & age it enhances children’s learning to understand how shelter & food had to be gathered & prepared, it wasn’t instantly available, purchased from a store or downloaded!

The cover drew me to this book and with the author being renowned palaeontologist and tv presenter Alice Roberts, I knew the content would be accurate. It is an excellent children's adventure story which I enjoyed.

I also let my ten-year-old grandson read it and he loved it. He started it in the evening and then went to bed with two hours left to read. Instead of going to sleep he sat up and finished it. You can't be cross with a kid who wants to read after all, can you? He said he just couldn't put it down and had to know how it ended. It reminded him of his favourite series by Michelle Paver, The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, which he adores. His favourite character was Lupa, the wolf.

This is a well-written and entertaining story that will appeal to children of eight and upwards, who love a good adventure.

I absolutely adored this book and could not wait to get back to reading it each day. I think at the start I was a bit confused with all the names, but it was good how it has a list of who is who at the start and of course a wonderful map! I loved getting to know more about life at the end of the last Ice Age with Tuuli and her family and tribe as they made the journey from their winter camp to the summer camp. Knowing it was all underpinned with so much research and archaeological evidence made it so valued as a story - not only was I following Tuuli and her adventures but also learning more about their way of life, food, animals, daily activities etc. I honestly thought the ending was going to go a different way though with Andar and Tuuli and so that came as a bit of a shock - but a good one in a way and I just know there is the next stage in Tuuli's journey to come!