Customer Reviews

The Bird Shaman (Holy Ground, Book 3)

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This is not only a magnificent conclusion to Moffett's Hefn trilogy but is a truly satisfying read in its own own right--that is, if you haven't read the first two books, you can still love this one. As always, Moffett's prose style is of the highest quality, and she combines it with psychological examinations of characters you'll come to care deeply about, although you may not always like or approve of them. Moffet continues her examination of what it might mean should an alien race attempt to force us to save ourselves, and our environment, from ourselves and combines it with a fascinating look at the strengths and weakness of Mormanism in relation to community. The shamanistic rock paintings found throughout the Southwest play a significant role in the novel and add considerably to its depth. This book is science fiction, no question of that, but, unlike so many works in that genre, "The Bird Shaman" is no piece of hackwork escapism. It's a true work of literature that will move you and make you think while giving you hours of enjoyable reading.

With Book Three of her Holy Ground trilogy, Judith Moffett draws together the universal and the personal in ways seldom seen in literature. The Earth is under the not-entirely-benign rule of aliens who have made it impossible for most humans to reproduce; the aliens want humanity to learn to live in balance with nature, but nature and human nature seem to be innately at odds.

Enter Pam Pruitt, a "Gaian," which is to say, a human who works with the aliens to educate humans and guide them toward a sustainable existence. Even though the Gaians are doing humanity a huge favor in trying to help reclaim the human ability to have children, they are hated as collaborators by a planet full of resentful people.

But Pam seeks to find a way past human prejudice; indeed, past human hard-wiring to survive and prosper by pillaging the world's natural resources. Despite a quarter century of almost zero births, the situation has grown critical: eco-balance has reached a tipping point, and so has the aliens' patience. Humanity is told that as a species they have one final year to shape up, or face near-extinction.

As Pam works furiously to maximize humanity's chances for survival, she finds that part of the key to the salvation of all lies with her own personal salvation: she begins to explore a new, previously unsuspected ability as a latter-day shaman, and to access wisdom, and healing, from what very well may be a higher plane of existence.

This book is rich with literature, archaeology, anthropology, and literate insight. Its message is that harmony and peace are not necessarily one and the same, and that inner struggle can be transformative. For the reader, this novel (which stands alone from the earlier books quite well) is an object lesson in the rewards of a story that doesn't predigest every single point the author wants to make. There's plenty were to enjoy right off, and plenty to mull over for a long time to come.

The Bird Shaman is not only a mesmerizing story about Mormons, Aliens, time travel, child abuse and ecological danger, it is also a psychological thriller about what lies beneath the layer of consciousness. Its treatment of dreams alone would make it a tour-de-force, but it doesn't stop there: it ranges into science, history, primitive rock art, and religion as well. The characters are so rounded that they come across as people you have known for years, from the former child prodigy who lost her gift, to her grumpy former lover helplessly searching for his dead best friend in his sexual partners, to the beautiful Mormon TV child-star fleeing from a predatory grandfather, and finally to the hairy and implacable aliens who have banned all further reproduction on earth. This is science fiction written by a poet, and it reads like a dream. It is The Time Machine of the twenty-first century, a meditation upon what it actually means to "plant" and tend a future in flesh and on earth. Buy it for everyone you know!

This is my favorite of the 3 books in the Hefn trilogy. I became quite attached to many of the characters, despite or because of their (sometimes annoying) personality quirks. Very well developed. It read like a page-turning mystery, never knew how things were going to turn out. Although the focus was on the characters and their interactions, the author worked in a lot of meaningful ideas about whether humans can live on Earth without destroying it, and how that might be done - with or without the intervention of aliens. And I finally got to find out what a Gafr looks like (and incidentally, how they reproduce)!

The third volume of this trilogy is the best read of the three, especially in terms of character development. Although it continues the story thread of the first two books' concern for the future existence of human life on earth, it can easily stand on its own. The plot is very good, too, and I found the integration of the rock art fairly clever although maybe with a little too much detail for some.

New Holy Ground gets broken. A wonderful finale to the trilogy and though I know we have to say good-bye to our heroines and heros, I am sad to think I won't get anymore of their tale. The new reader will come on board this new future without too much difficulty. If you like sci-fi, if you like well-developed characters, if you like twists and turns, if you like to travel like a shaman, if you think we would be wise to accept the earth as a living being, and if you like to turn pages, go ahead and buy this book! Great read.