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Erin Hunter, bestselling author of the Warriors and Survivors series, continues to explore the world of bears and their environment in Seekers, the thrilling ecological adventure saga.
 
In Return to the Wild #2: The Melting Sea , Kallik has almost reached home. The bears who have become her family--Lusa, Yakone and Toklo—are devastated that they’ll have to split up, but polar bears Kallik and Yakone belong on the ice, while the black and brown bears belong in the forest.
 
At least Kallik will be reunited with her brother, Taqqiq. But when she and the others arrive at the Melting Sea, she is horrified to find the white bears almost starving due to an unnaturally early thaw. Worse, Taqqiq has rejoined a group of bullies who are terrorizing the other bears for food.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 5, 2012

88 people are currently reading
1880 people want to read

About the author

Erin Hunter

280 books10.8k followers
Erin Hunter is the pseudonym of five people: Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui T. Sutherland, Gillian Philip, and Inbali Iserles, as well as editor Victoria Holmes. Together, they write the Warriors series as well as the Seekers and Survivors series. Erin Hunter is working on a new series now called Bravelands.

Erin Hunter is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having a great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior, shaped by her interest in astronomy and standing stones.

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5 stars
784 (52%)
4 stars
404 (26%)
3 stars
230 (15%)
2 stars
61 (4%)
1 star
27 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
Profile Image for Tatum.
7 reviews
November 30, 2014
It was another awesome book by Erin Hunter. Kallik and Yakone got back home to the Melting Sea where they belong. They are really happy to be home, but Toklo and Lusa are very sad because they know that they would have to leave them and travel to their homes without them. They know that they will probably have to say their goodbyes soon. On their way to where Kallik needs to go to see her brother Taqqik they meet some really mean and selfish bears that have been knocking down other bears dens and stealing their food. Kallik notices that her brother is in that group of naughty bears. Soon Taqqik realizes that he shouldn't be with those bears and heads on with the four bears. The five bears decide that they need to fight off the group. So they gather up lots of bears and Toklo trains them. After that they fight off the group and they win. Then its time to say goodbye. Toklo and Lusa say goodbye to Kallik and Yakone and head on. But then Kallik realizes that she should head on with Toklo and Lusa till they reach their home and then come back to the Melting Sea even though she knows she will probably never run into her brother again when she comes back. I cant wait for the third book! Thanks Erin Hunter for another awesome book!
239 reviews
January 11, 2024
I think this is my favorite Seekers book. Despite some of the grief and trials the characters endure, this book has a fairly optimistic tone. I love the themes of friendship, family, and teamwork. I really like Yakone and a lot of the new characters as well. Shila is an interesting character and the cubs in this book are great. I love Lusa's character arc and her relationship with them. I feel sorry for Toklo and I love how protective he is of his friends. I really felt sorry for Kallik part way through.
Profile Image for IRIDESCENZA.
44 reviews
August 24, 2024
I am not so sure about this one. It started off strong, but fell off in the middle and then picked up at the end I give it a three point eight which rounds up to a four. However, I did enjoy multiple things:

- The sequence at the beginning with them playing tag
- Kallik's outburst and panic attacks were heartbreaking
- The fact that Lusa learned her fighting moves from Toklo and taught them to the cubs is so ahshfbdjbshfb ADORABLE
- Taqqiq and Shila definitely have history 👀
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1 review
May 26, 2025
I LOVED IT!!!

Great at keeping you hooked, I just love the pace everything moves at, it is actually interesting, while still giving you enough time to actually absorb the details. I wasn't sure how the storyline could keep going after so long and not get repetitive, but Erin Hunter did an amazing job. I would recommend this to anyone who is willing to read 12 books, and if you don't what to, I would say you should reconsider! Read it?
Profile Image for Lily.
124 reviews
July 9, 2020
I love the seekers book they're so good can't wait til I can read River Of Lost Bears
Profile Image for Kaylee.
312 reviews6 followers
August 8, 2025
Low three stars. Another incredibly mid Seekers book.

What is there to say about this series that I haven’t already said? The writing is the typical Erin style- the old one, not the weird new Warriors one. Therefore, it’s good and nostalgic, but not amazing.

The plot of this one is a rehash of every other book in the series: it’s just the bears walking. At least this book has more of a direction, since there is a clear destination. However, the dull base plot makes this just feel like every other Seekers book.

The characters aren’t helping, either.
Kallik is unbelievably boring in this one. We get to see more of her range of emotions when she gets angry after reuniting with Taquiqq. This should be a good thing, since it should theoretically expand her character, but there isn’t any difference between how she gets angry and how every other character in Seekers, Survivors, Bravelands, Bamboo Kingdom, AND Warriors gets angry. Kallik is like your base protagonist for a bland fantasy, but with no identifiable personality traits. When she’s angry, she could be interchanged with Lusa or Toklo in a second if they were in her situation. There’s nothing that sets her apart from the others anymore like there was in book 1. She, and the rest of the Seekers cast, are a prime example of one of the Erins’ two main issues. They all have a backstory that’s interesting and should set them up for development, but their personalities and growth are bland or even nonexistent. (The other issue Erin characters have is having an interesting personality, or even occasionally good development, but having no backstory that perceivably would make them like that.) Overall, Kallik was disappointing as usual.
Lusa had some semblance of an arc in this one, but as always it was underdeveloped. I do think if each book had all the characters learning something about themselves, the story would feel more grounded and all the leads’ personalities wouldn’t blend into each other so much. So I like the idea behind Lusa struggling with her relationship with Kallik, but the execution was very lacking.
Toklo had almost nothing in this one; I just want more from him.
Yakone is incredibly bland, just like last book. He just needs more focus in general: a POV, or at least some focus on his own development rather than his (boring) relationship with Kallik.
Taqquiq returning and retreading the exact same character arc was very disappointing, and I wish there had been something new and interesting to do with him. I feel like he has a lot of potential, but the Erins aren’t doing anything with it. Very disappointing.

There are some villains in this book: humans once again play a very large role in halting the journey. I do feel like without Ujurak offering the human perspective, they start to feel just like obstacles to drag the story out rather than nuanced villains (usually) accidentally ruining nature. The message with them continually stopping the bears from getting anywhere is good, but the execution is starting to get repetitive and less interesting.
Salik and his bears were a good enemy for what the book tried to do at the end, but since his gang has little to no motivation and no depth, they fall a bit flat. Not terrible; they served their purpose. I just wish we could get something more unique for villains in Seekers.

An annoyingly mid second book. I hope the next few will pick up the pace, but seeing as I don’t even remember what they’re about, I doubt it.

SERIES RATINGS:
Island of Shadows: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Melting Sea: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
River of Lost Bears: ⭐️⭐️
Forest of Wolves: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Burning Horizon: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Longest Day: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
3 reviews2 followers
November 2, 2015
A bear named Kallik, along with his friends Lusa, Yakone and Toklo are on a journey back to their birth place, The Melting Sea, to find her lost brother Taqqiq. Along the way, they met a bear named Shila, who guided them to the Melting Sea. Once they reached and found her brother, she has realized that her brother has joined a vicious group of bears terrifying other bears for control of food and land. Kallik talks to her brother and decides not to go back with him. Now Kallik must make a difficult decision to stay with her found brother and his pack or return back home with the rest of her pack who have become her true family .

Family is an important aspect in life where everyone together are happy and untied. It's very interesting because it shows the importance in which a person would do to find a lost, loved one. Find the courage that no one believed they had in them. At the end of the day, it feels overwhelming to know the lost is doing alright even if they don't return to unite with their family.
Profile Image for Ash Ebrahim.
393 reviews
February 2, 2013
I have no idea why am I still reading this series. Well maybe I know. How can I not know the fate of those amazing adorable cute bears!!!
The first book in the second series was a huge let down Nanulak idea was just terrible and too racist even for bears.
This one was good, it was Seekers standard even though the plot was way predictable and not to forget the amazing synopsis that tells what happens 70% of the book -_-
In my opinion the only good thing about Seekers now is the characters you just can't hate them. I really hope Erin Hunter ends this series in it's 12th book. If there is a third series I don't know what she will do.. I don't even want to think of it. Can't wait to read the third book River of Lost Bears.
23 reviews
September 28, 2015
This was the first Seekers Book I read and totally loved it. In fact, I can't wait to read the next one. The bears were worried about how life would be after they all had split up, which taught them about family. Little slow at the beginning because it was basically just walking.
Reading this book made me want to finish the Warriors Series, read more of the
Seekers, and start reading Survivors. If you know anyone who likes bears or the Erin Hunter books, you should recommend this to them.
Profile Image for Alyssa.
100 reviews
September 22, 2016
This is kinda like the Warriors series, but with less romance in it. Well, Yakone thinks that he's a ladies bear, and he's not. But he's full on in love with Kallik! She is on a journey to find Taqqiq, her brother, and Yakone doesn't like him, but since he's in love with his sister, he's civil to him. And she doesn't know it! Why would he be in love with her? SHE TRIED TO KILL HER BROTHER!! And that makes good sense. He's bad, just like all the others! #AngerIssues #SiblingRivalry #Speechless #ThisIsWhatYouCameFor
Profile Image for Juneau Wang.
18 reviews1 follower
April 14, 2016
When I was younger, I remember loving the "Seekers" series. Although they are not as captivating today, the stories are very well done. The Melting Sea expands your imagination, and I had a super large movie-picture in my head every second. I also am a fan of books where the point of view alternates between characters, as you can piece all of their individual stories and thoughts with and against each other. Overall, this book is not as good as the others, but still enjoyable.
Profile Image for Tracie.
52 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2012


This book started out really slow for me, which is actually odd for this series. It didn't really pick up until the middle of the book. I'm beginning to think that the magic that was in the first arc is missing from this one. I'd like to see that integrated back in. I'm looking forward to the survivors series with the dogs that comes out this month.
12 reviews1 follower
December 10, 2013

Kallik wanted to get to the frozen sea so she can find her brother, but she is surprised when she finds out that her brother, Taqqiq has joined an evil group of bears and has done very bad things. The evil bears group challenges them to a battle. Taqqiq realises what he has done wrong and helps Kallik and her friends defeat the enemies




Love, Hatred, Acceptance, Guilt, shame
273 reviews1 follower
July 20, 2012
Love the bears! Nice to let Kallik get back home.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
88 reviews1 follower
October 2, 2012
I do like the characters of this series, and I like that I learned a lot about different kinds of bears. But I do not think I will continue reading this series.
Profile Image for King Hoole.
20 reviews1 follower
April 6, 2013
As all the other seekers book, this one was AMAZING. A little slow at first but really good at the end. Totally recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews

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