- Adventure
- The Last Wild collection
- Ages 9–12
The Wild Before
Part of the collectionThe Last Wild→A stand-alone Last Wild prequel with a Watership Down heart — a young hare quests to save the legendary Mooncalf and the whole world.
- Books1 / 1
- Arcs1
- Span2021
- StatusComplete
The series
At a glance.
A stand-alone prequel to Piers Torday's Last Wild trilogy, set generations earlier and told through the animals themselves. On a stormy, snowy night a pure silver calf — the legendary Mooncalf, foretold since the dawn of time — is born by moonlight on an ordinary farm. A young, unremarkable hare named Little Hare knows the old dream: if the Mooncalf dies, a great terribleness will follow, rising seas, a plague, skies raining fire, the end of all things. When the calf falls sick, Little Hare sets out on a desperate quest for the fabled flower of hope, discovering he may be the only one who can save the world. Rich with beautifully described nature, witty wordplay and gut-clenching drama, and carrying clear echoes of Watership Down, it touches on climate change, friendship and, above all, hope.
A stand-alone Last Wild prequel with a Watership Down heart — a young hare quests to save the legendary Mooncalf and the whole world.
Primary themes
Overall tone
- Adventurous
- Bittersweet
- Warm
- Inspirational
A stand-alone prequel — can be read before or after the trilogy, or entirely on its own.
One arc
The shape of the series.
- IStandalone collection arcModerate sensitivity
The Wild Before
A young hare quests to save the legendary Mooncalf, and with it the whole world, in a stand-alone Last Wild prequel.
A self-contained prequel to the Last Wild trilogy. When the legendary silver Mooncalf is born by moonlight and then falls sick, an unremarkable young hare called Little Hare sets out to find the fabled flower of hope, knowing that if the Mooncalf dies a great terribleness — rising seas, plague, skies raining fire — will follow. Told through the animals themselves, rich with described nature and witty wordplay, and echoing Watership Down, it is a heartfelt climate-change fable that lands, like the rest of the sequence, on hope.
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 9–12
- Read aloud · 8–12
- Independent · 9–12
Reluctant-reader friendliness
Workable
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Not especially
Sensitivity envelope
Moderate overall, and consistent.
Content notes
- Animal harm
- Death of character
- Grief
- Scary imagery
In the same universe
Sister series.
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
About the author