Front cover of the first book
Wolves of the Beyond is a children's book series by Kathryn Lasky. It's a spinoff of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series.
In the harsh wilderness, a mother wolf fears for the life of her newborn. Her son has a twisted paw but her pack has strict rules against weak wolves. A deformed pup must be abandoned and left to die. Despite the odds, the pup, Faolan, survives being abandoned. He returns to his pack and becomes the lowest member of his pack, a gnaw wolf.
Books
- Lone Wolf
- Shadow Wolf
- Watch Wolf
- Frost Wolf
- Spirit Wolf
- Star Wolf
Wolves of the Beyond provides examples of:
- After the End: Implied. Whatever the case, humans are no longer around and only exist in the artefacts they left behind and stories among the animals. They are only referred to as ‘the others’ or ‘the two-legs’ and have been gone long enough that nature appears to be back to full strength.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: The puffins in Star Wolf.
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: As per usual in the world of Ga’Hoole, although it seems to vary from species to species. Owls and wolves appear to be very intelligent; puffins and caribou seem to operate more on base instincts then knowledge and sea mammals seem to have a unique set of their own abilities.
- The Clan: Wolves form clans, which are divided into packs. The MacDuncan Clan is the original wolf clan, with all other clans descending from it. It was originally known as the "Clan of Clans".
- Conlang: Wolves use their own lingo. For example, a "malcadh" is a pup who is born disabled or ill. "By-lang" is when a mother wolf goes into hiding to give birth to a malcadh pup.
- The Famine: The plot of Frost Wolf revolves around a famine striking the Beyond.
- Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty: In Shadow Wolf, Faolan gets accused of murdering a pup he cared for, which only gets worse when false evidence is found. It gets to the point where his entire pack is about to brutally slaughter him as punishment...until they're told that the real murderer is Heep, the very same wolf that framed Faolan.
- Happily Adopted: Faolan was found and raised by Thunderheart, his sisters were fostered by Caila, and both relationships seem to be very happy. Eventually, Faolan and Edme themselves seem to become the adoptive parents of two orphaned pups named Myrrglosch and Maudie.
- Interspecies Adoption: Faolan is a wolf who is adopted by a grizzly bear named Thunderheart.
- Misophonia Gag: In "Shadow Wolf", Faolan and the other Gnaw Wolves are participating in a competition to see who would get promoted to the Watch. Faolan ended up being driven crazy by the sound made by Heep's chipped tooth, to the point where he loses concentration and fails the hunting challenge.
- Mistaken for Murderer: In Shadow Wolf, Faolan is framed for murdering a pup.
- Parental Abandonment: Faolan's mother Morag was forced to abandon him as a result of his deformed paw.
- Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: Much of the wolf behavior is pretty unrealistic.
- Together in Death: A platonic example when Shibaan McDuncan (the obea who took Faolan) dies, she is greeted by the souls of most of the pups she abandoned and is closely followed by her final charge. The implication is that the pups’ souls are excited to see Shibaan and that she will be their mother in the afterlife.
