The Sight (Clement-Davies novel)

Last updated

The Sight
The Sight (Clement-Davies novel).jpg
First edition
AuthorDavid Clement-Davies
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Sight
GenreFantasy
PublisherMacmillan Children's Books, London
Publication date
7 Jun 2002
Published in English
2002
Media typePaperback
Pages554
Preceded by Fire Bringer  
Followed by Fell  

The Sight is a young adult fantasy novel written by British author David Clement-Davies. [1] It is the first novel in The Sight series, with its sequel Fell taking place after. It follows a pack of wolves cursed by a lone wolf, Morgra, whose powers foretell the destiny of one of the mother wolf's pups: Larka, a white wolf gifted with a mysterious power known as The Sight. The story follows Larka's life as she is burdened with pain and terror that comes with the prophecy, as well as seeing the viewpoints of Larka's parents, Huttser and Palla, and her adoptive brother Kar.

Contents

Written in 2002, Clement-Davies's was inspired to write The Sight after experiencing Romania in winter of 1990, and was inspired by superstition and folklore, such as Dracula.

The Sight is the first within its own series that follows the wolf pack, but is also implied to be set in the same setting as Fire Bringer, Clement-Davies debut novel.

Plot Introduction

A wolf pack seeks shelter beneath the shadow of an abandoned castle. The she-wolf, Palla, is ready to give birth but fears for their survival against the harsh winter of Transylvania. However, a more dangerous threat comes from a lone wolf named Morgra, who possesses a mysterious and terrifying power known as the Sight. Accompanying her is a raven named Kraar, who feeds on the dead. Morgra's powers foretells the destiny of one of Palla's pups; to possess a power greater than Morgras and potentially have the ability to control the world and the one's to come. Despite Morgra's eerie prophecy, the pack remains undaunted and are willing to do whatever it takes to protect each other. Even if it means battling against all of nature, the dead and the one creature wolves fear the most — Man.

Characters

Morgra and the Pup

A vixen was rooting around the den one day. Morgra was the only one who saw it, and so grabbed a pup to save it from the vixen. However, in her panic, she bit down too hard and snapped its neck. When Morgra went to bury it, the pack found her and accused her of stealing and killing it. She was exiled from the pack. Later, it was revealed that Brassa was the only one in the pack who witnessed the event but did not stand up for her as she believed Morgra could still pose a risk. Rumour was that Morgra felt bitter that she couldn't have pups of her own, so she stole a pup from her own pack. After tasting a fellow wolf's blood, it was said that a wolf couldn't get enough and so kept killing its own.

The Searchers

The Searchers are the ghosts of wolves that have died. They can be summoned by the Summoning Howl, which can only be used by one with the power of the Sight. If the Searchers touch a living wolf, then that wolf can have its mind read and controlled by the one that used the Summoning Howl. The Searchers are neither good nor evil, but they have to do what the Summoner commands. These wolves are found in the "Red Meadow" which can only be reached when a wolf who possesses the Sight makes a kill, sleeps, and then calls Fenris's name (a Varg god). Once that has been done they can walk the pathways of death, but there is a chance that they might not be able to return.

The Balkar

The Balkar (also called "Night Hunters") are a group of Draggas, or alpha male wolves, who do Morgra's bidding. They are vicious and will do anything their leader asks of them (though not always without some uncertainty about it) even if it will lead them to their own death. Before, they were led by Tratto, a great Dragga who let all wolves live in peace and freedom, who then was murdered by Morgra, who fed him lies in his old age.

Eventually, his blessing, known as Tratto’s Blessing which permitted wolves to enter other wolves' territory, was changed into Larka's Blessing for all she did Harja.

Sight

The Sight is a power that very few wolves have, and it is difficult to control. It is believed by some that the true power of the Sight is to heal one's mind and body. Only a very small amount is known about the Sight, and most wolves consider it to be a myth. Wolves who have the gift of the Sight have potential to have these powers:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolf</span> Type of canine

The wolf, also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gray wolves, as popularly understood, only comprise naturally-occurring wild subspecies. The wolf is the largest extant member of the family Canidae, and is further distinguished from other Canis species by its less pointed ears and muzzle, as well as a shorter torso and a longer tail. The wolf is nonetheless related closely enough to smaller Canis species, such as the coyote and the golden jackal, to produce fertile hybrids with them. The wolf's fur is usually mottled white, brown, gray, and black, although subspecies in the arctic region may be nearly all white.

<i>White Fang</i> 1906 novel by Jack London

White Fang is a novel by American author Jack London (1876–1916) — and the name of the book's eponymous character, a wild wolfdog. First serialized in Outing magazine between May and October 1906, it was published in book form in October 1906. The story details White Fang's journey to domestication in Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. It is a companion novel to London's best-known work, The Call of the Wild (1903), which is about a kidnapped, domesticated dog embracing his wild ancestry to survive and thrive in the wild.

<i>Balto II: Wolf Quest</i> 2002 film by Phil Weinstein

Balto II: Wolf Quest is a 2002 American animated adventure film produced and directed by Phil Weinstein. It is the sequel to Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment's 1995 Northern animated film Balto.

David Clement-Davies is a British author and sculptor. He is known for animal fantasy fiction The Sight, Fire Bringer and Fell.

Shaun Ellis is a British animal researcher who lived among wolves, and adopted a pack of abandoned North American timber wolf pups. He is the founder of Wolf Pack Management and is involved in a number of research projects in Poland and at Yellowstone National Park in the United States.

<i>The Legend of Lobo</i> 1962 American film

The Legend of Lobo is a 1962 American animal-adventure film that follows the life and adventures of Lobo, a wolf born and raised in southwestern North America. Based upon "Lobo the King of Currumpaw" by Ernest Thompson Seton from the author's 1898 book titled Wild Animals I Have Known, neither the time period nor the precise location are specified in the film, in part because the story is told as much from a wolf's point of view as from a human's. There is no dialogue in the film, with the only interpretation presented through the use of story-song composed and sung by the Sons of the Pioneers and the Sherman Brothers, and narration by Rex Allen. Based on the non-fiction account by Seton, Lobo is an 1890s wolf from an account by Seton who was a naturalist, and was a bounty hunter in the real-life story. Filming took place in Sedona, Arizona.


The Wolves of Ashta were a pack of 6 man-eating Indian wolves which between the last quarter of 1985 to January 1986, killed 17 children in Ashta, Madhya Pradesh, a town in the Sehore district. The pack consisted of two adult males, one adult female, one subadult female and two pups. Initially thought to be a lone animal, the fear caused by the wolves had serious repercussions on the life of the villagers within their hunting range. Farmers became too frightened to leave their huts, leaving crops out of cultivation, and several parents prohibited their children from attending school, for fear that the man-eaters would catch them on the way. So great was their fear, that some village elders doubted the man-eaters were truly wolves at all, but Shaitans. With the exception of the pups, which were adopted by Pardhi tribesmen, all wolves were killed by hunters and forest officials.

Mercedes "Mercy" Athena Thompson is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mercy Thompson series, written by Patricia Briggs. The main series, which consists of several stories including Moon Called, the short story "Hollow", and the most recent, thirteen novel Soul Taken, is narrated primarily from Mercy's point of view. The character also has a comic series by Dynamite which includes the prequel Homecoming, a comic adaptation of Moon Called, and an original story, Hopcross Jilly.

<i>Alpha and Omega</i> (film) 2010 American film by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck

Alpha and Omega is a 2010 American animated adventure film directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck. Starring the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover and Christina Ricci, the film was written by Christopher Denk and Steve Moore, based on a story by Moore and Gluck. This film sets around two young Rocky Mountain wolves named Kate and Humphrey who fall in love with each other, but are on the opposite ends of their pack. However, when Kate and Humphrey learn that they got relocated to Idaho for repopulation, they must work together to get back to Jasper National Park before a war slowly begins to emerge between both packs.

Child of the Wolves is a children's novel, published in 1996, about a Siberian husky puppy that joins a wolf pack. It was written by Elizabeth Hall, wife of Island of the Blue Dolphins author, Scott O'Dell.

<i>Fell</i> (novel)

Fell is a novel, written by David Clement-Davies as a follow-up to The Sight. The book was published in 2007 by Amulet Books. It follows the story of Fell, a wolf who left his pack after the events of The Sight.

<i>Runt</i> (novel) 2002 novel by Marion Dane Bauer

Runt is a 2002 children's novel written by Marion Dane Bauer. It tells of a story about a wolf pup who is a runt.

<i>Wolf: The Journey Home</i> Young adult fiction novel

Wolf: The Journey Home, originally titled Hungry for Home: A Wolf Odyssey, is a 1997 American young adult novel written by 'Asta Bowen. Originally published by Simon & Schuster with line drawings by Jane Hart Meyer, it was retitled and reprinted without illustrations in 2006 by Bloomsbury Publishing. Based on true accounts of the Pleasant Valley, Montana, wolf pack, the novel traces the life of a female alpha wolf named Marta after the forced relocation of her pack in 1989 to an unfamiliar territory. Terrified, Marta abandons her pack and begins a journey in search of her home; she eventually arrives in Ninemile Valley, where she finds a new mate with whom she starts a new pack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OR-7</span> First wolf in western Oregon since 1947 and in California since 1924

OR-7, also known as Journey, was a male gray wolf that was electronically tracked as he migrated from the Wallowa Mountains in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oregon to the southern Cascade Range. After the wolf dispersed from his natal pack in 2011, he wandered generally southwest for more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) through Oregon and northern California. He was the first confirmed wild wolf in western Oregon since 1947 and the first in California since 1924.

<i>Julies Wolf Pack</i>

Julie's Wolf Pack is a 1997 novel written by Jean Craighead George. It is the second sequel to the Newbery Medal winner Julie of the Wolves after Julie, and the last in the Julie of the Wolves trilogy. It is the only book in the series whose story is told from the viewpoint of the wolves themselves, rather than from Julie's point of view.

<i>Alpha and Omega</i> (film series) 2010 American film

Alpha and Omega is a series of animated films produced by Crest Animation Productions and distributed by Lionsgate Films. The first film was released in 2010 and featured the voices of Justin Long and Hayden Panettiere, though subsequent films were direct-to-video and therefore featured a smaller cast, primarily Ben Diskin and Kate Higgins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Repopulation of wolves in California</span> Natural resettlement of wolves into California, US

In late December 2011, OR-7, a male gray wolf from Oregon, became the first confirmed wild wolf in California since 1924, when wolves were considered extirpated from the state. The first resident wolf pack was confirmed in 2015, after two adults migrated from Oregon and had five pups. Additional wolves have been tracked during their natural expansion into state, as the Cascade Range, which wolves have repopulated in Oregon, extends south into northern California. In 2021, the state had at least two wolf packs with pups for the first time in over a hundred years. It is likely that other uncollared wolves are dispersing through portions of their historic habitat in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">926F (Spitfire)</span> Wolf from Yellowstone National Park (2011-2018)

926F (Spitfire) (April 2011 – November 2018) was a wild wolf popular with visitors of Yellowstone National Park. She was killed about a mile outside the park boundary by a hunter when she crossed from the park into Montana, where the hunting of wolves was legal.

References

  1. Clement-Davies, David, 1961- (2007) [2002]. The Sight. Penguin Group (USA). ISBN   978-0-14-240874-2. OCLC   875695130.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)