An Ambush of Shadows [Mass Market Paperback]

Paul O. Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1983

An Ambush of Shadows is the fifth book in the classic series of postapocalyptic novels about the people of Pelbar. Despite the tentative peace established in the eleven hundred years since the destruction of the United States, the Tantal tribe remains ready for battle. After their disastrous defeat by the Pelbar tribes at Northwall, the slaveholding Tantal have kept their distance. But since the Pelbar forces began moving northward to colonize the shores of the Bitter Sea, the Tantal forces have been on the attack.

 

Then one day, a roving tribe of Tantal warriors kidnaps a young girl during a raid on Pelbar explorers. The child is Raydi, daughter of Stel Westrun, Pelbar master craftsman, reinventor of the steamboat, and son of the leader of the Pelbar city-state Pelbarigan. Stel vows to reclaim his daughter and seek revenge, becoming the single-minded foe of all things Tantal.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In addition to the Pelbar series, Paul O. Williams's (1935-2009) works include The Man from Far Cloud, Outside Robins Sing: Selected Haiku, The Nick of Time: Essays on Haiku Aesthetics, and several other books. Williams is a professor emeritus of English at Principia College and lives in Hayward, California.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Edition edition (August 12, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345310519
• ISBN-13: 978-0345310514
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #408,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Engineer/Poet fights back, March 7, 2004

By 

Khavrinen (Vancouver, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Ambush of Shadows (Mass Market Paperback)

"An Ambush of Shadows" is book five (of seven) in "The Pelbar Cycle."

Stel Westrun, having aided in the release of the "Dome" people (see "The Dome in the Forest," which is book three), is attempting to recreate the steamboat, based on knowledge they have provided from before the "Time of Fire." As is all too common in the interface between science and politics, however, there are factions in the city of Pelbarigan who see not a process of trial and error, by which he is improving each subsequent model, but a series of embarassing failures; failures which reflect poorly on the city. His wife, Ahroe, is also embarassed, and her role as Pelbarigan's chief delegate to the Heart River Federation, which is attempting to reunite the scattered tribes of Urstadge (known a thousand years ago as "America"), only adds to the tension threatening to tear their marriage apart.

Because of this tension in the family, their daughter Raydi decides to stow away on the steamboat for its first long distance trial run -- a decision that will lead to her being kidnapped and brainwashed by the Tantal, and will lead to Stel almost single-handedly destroying their corrupt culture. Once again Stel shows how a man utterly devoted to peace can be a rock upon which the intentions of more violent groups can be shattered; not to mention the wisdom of the advice "Never piss off an engineer."

From the back cover:
"For years after their disastrous defeat by the Pelbar at Northwall, the slave-holding Tantal had kept their distance.

But once the Pelbar moved northward to colonize the shores of the Bitter Sea, Tantal forces were always on the attack.

Then one day they kidnapped the young daughter of Stel Westrun, Pelbar master craftsman, re-inventor of the steamboat--and, suddenly, the single-minded foe of all things Tantal..."