The wolves of Brandenburg (Berlin – Book 4)

12th February 2020 /

Title: Berlin. The Wolves of Brandenburg

Original Title: Berlin. I lupi del Brandeburgo

Authors: Fabio Geda, Marco Magnone

Publishing House: Montadore (IT), Corint Junior (RO)

Number of Pages: 223

Cover Type: Hardcover

After The Fires Of Tegel, The Daybreak In Alexanderplatz, and The Fight Of Gropius, the journey continues in Berlin with the fourth volume called The Wolves Of Brandenburg. This is also the last volume of the series that was translated in Romanian until now. Hopefully we will also see the other ones too, and they do not count on our extensive Italian knowledge. 😀

What this volume brings new to us, compared to the other volumes, is hope. Hope for a cure, hope that everything will be over, that life will come back to normal. But hope might bring with it also great disillusion. So what to choose between integrity and your own life?

The children and teenagers that are isolated in Berlin, after they faced the battle against the group from Tegel, now must face some other danger. The sister of Bernd went missing and they have to go through the entire forest to search for her, a forest infested with wolves that hunt them at every step. But are the wolves the biggest threat they have to face? Experience and intuition proved that even more dangerous than animals are humans themselves.

The key characters in this volume are Jakob, Christa, Timo, Bernd, Nina and Buchner Two. I always find the name of this last guy funny and sad at the same time. Funny because for some time I didn’t even knew his real name, and sad because the reason why he is called like this no longer exists. He is number two in a place where number one no longer exists. A constant reminder of the cruel reality that hunts him at every corner.

As I was saying, the teenagers decide to leave in the search of Bernd’s sister, Nina. This is the moment when they have to prove they are a team, to collaborate, to make decisions wisely, maybe even more than before. The future is not bright for them. They have to leave their home, a place as comfortable as it is distressing, and start an adventure into the wild, where they no longer have the advantage of knowing the area and being prepared. They can face any danger and they don’t even know it. They must go beyond the city limits, towards the icy Brandenburg infested with wolves. During their quest, forest predators seem to be attacking them. The howls came from the right, from the left, from everywhere and every time they changed direction in an attempt to avoid the animals, they exploded even stronger where a second before there was only the darkness and the breath of the woods.

The characters in this book start to be more and more mature, and their traits start to be more and more visible. They are transforming slowly into some future adults. And as much as a joy might this be for a normal human being, for them every day is one step closer to death. They feel it, smell it, feel it’s breath in their neck. It is a miracle that they are still sane in this world where they don’t know if they will live to see tomorrow.

During their trip in Brandenburg, they meet a new character called Andreas. He seems a nice guy, but in the end is he friend or foe? They don’t know. The only thing they know is that they should find Nina and leave as far as possible. But things never go the way they are planned. And they soon start to realise how much they still have to learn about life and it’s struggles. Too bad they are too young for this.

I see this volume as a turning point, the place where a possible outcome starts to become visible, like a whisper in the dark that starts to be heard louder and louder until it becomes a screaming that wakes up the people from their sleep, encouraging them to fight. It is also a point where friendship is really tested, where the children, or better said future adults, have to decide whether to overcome small difficulties and fight for a common purpose, or to divide based on feelings that might have nothing to do with the situation they are in.

What I like about this series is that I had the possibility to see the characters grow, to see how they turn from children into responsible adults. They are allies and they are enemies. They are friends but also foes. They have to face a reality they do not deserve, live a life they do not need and be the adults their parents had to be. And in this long battle, they only have to be united by one common goal. Survival.

I also found interesting the motto of this book:

The force of the pack is the wolf. The force of the wolf is the pack.

This motto sends again to the idea of unity. The pack is nothing without the force of every individual wolf. Every member of the pack must contribute for the greater good, and every one contributes to the common goal. And also, one wolf is vulnerable if not with his pack. The same thing is available for Jakob and his friends. As long as they stay together and collaborate as a pack, they can face any difficulties and overcome the dangers that await them. It only depends on how they will set their priorities.

© picnicontheshelf, February 12, 2020

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