Intro

If you have been following the site for a while, then you will know that I previously read the first book in the Wingfeather Saga, and made a review of it that you can read here. I thoroughly enjoyed that book and how it had strong family values.

The same can be said of the second book of the series, North! Or be Eaten. This book, also by Andrew Peterson picks up where the first book left off and we continue following the Wingfeather family as they try to run from Gnag the nameless and his horde of Fangs. This book shows Janner really stepping up to his role as Throne Warden despite his brother’s best attempts to do whatever he wants.

Summary – Contains Spoilers

Gnag the nameless will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Jewels of Anniera. After their small village is ransacked, the Wingfeather clan plans on going North to the Ice Praries where, hopefully, they will be able to live peacefully and not have to worry about the Fangs who are chasing them.

This book follows their treacherous journey as they discover that they must stick together if they want to survive the trip. We see lots of running and fighting as they try to evade the trolls and the Fangs that pursuing them. Unfortunately, things don’t go to plan, and they find themselves separated. Janner finds himself captured and taken to the fork factory and Kalmar finds himself captured and sent away by the black carriage.

Janner, who knows that it is his responsibility to save his brother knows that he must do everything possible to get out of the fork factory so that he can find his brother and then they can travel onward until they catch up with their family who have already gone ahead of them.

Unfortunately, by the time he makes it to where his brother was, his brother has already been taken by the Black Carriage. Janner knows that there is no way that he will be able to go against a fortified fang stronghold, so he reluctantly realizes that there is nothing left for him to do but try to find the rest of his family.

He makes the journey across the border and makes his way through the snow and ice until he finally finds the rest of his family again. Here the family is brought face to face with more treason, and they no longer know who they can trust. Everything that they thought they knew of who to trust has been shown wrong, so the only ones they can trust are themselves.

As a family they realize that they can’t be where they thought they would be safe, so their only option is to continue on their journey trying to find somewhere they can rest from their pursuers. Luckily for Kalmar, his uncle has also been captured. Together they make their way out of captivity and make it back to the rest of the family.

At the end, they all get on a ship where they plan to sail to freedom. Here we learn of the bad things that Podo has done in his past. Despite his past behavior, he is given mercy that he can make one last voyage to help protect his family.

Review

As with the first book, I highly recommend this book and think it would be appropriate for young kids. There are a variety of different monsters, so this book wouldn’t be good for someone who doesn’t do well with monsters.

Other than that, this book continues to show the value of having a strong family and is clean in that it doesn’t have foul language or anything excessively gruesome. If you like fun adventure books, then I think you would enjoy this book as well.