Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Apache Story that Needed to be Told, October 6, 2002
By A Customer
I didn't know what to expect when I picked up a copy of GHOST WARRIOR for I had never read any of Lucia Robson's novels. I have a love for Native American and western history, so I thought it was worth a try. I finished the book about a week later, and was simply amazed at what I had read. I thought the book was very well written and was a compelling story that grabbed my attention at the very beginning and has held it ever since. Ms. Robson's book made a significant impression on me. It inspired me to spend the next several months reading Apache Indian history. I didn't realize how good the book was until I really understood how much research the author had done to be able to tell this story with so much passion, detailed knowledge and competence. The book followed the history of the Apache Indian wars accurately, but it also gave me insight into what her Native American, and American characters must have been like beyond the historical facts. I had to keep reminding myself that her book was a novel, and by definition novels distort history. But I found her depiction of history was in many cases more accurate than some of the histories I have read, and it was exciting, sad, outrageous, fun, and gives a profile in American history that deserves wide attention. Ms. Robson tells a complex tale that centered around Lozen, an Apache warrior and Shaman of the Chiricahua Apache band. The complexity of the story increases as her novel follows Lozen's long life as a warrior. The Apaches struggled for survival against western expansion pre and post civil war, against the ever present Mexican army, other hostile indians, the invading gold rush and it's inherent lawlessness and the best troops the US Army could deliver. Lozen, the main character, was one of the only Apache warriors, male or female, to fight with all of the great Apache Chiefs over a 30 year period right up to their final battles. Their mission was survival of their race. GHOST WARRIOR is an ambitious work, and I not only recommend it to family and friends, I rave about it. I've noticed that Ms Robson's best selling work makes noticeable improvements with each new book. I'm looking forward to her next book; it can't come out soon enough! A reader in Arlington, VA
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Book to Enjoy Slowly, Like a Good Wine, July 4, 2002
I am always amused when the pros miss the point, as the Publishers Weekly reviewer clearly did. Lucia St. Clair Robson is a bit of a mystery, in that her books have an air of "historical romances" about them which is nothing more than a clever disguise for some of the best historical fiction being written these days. *Ghost Warrior* is up to her best standards, likely to become a classic just as *Ride the Wind* has. It is, first and foremost, a love story with a wonderful twist. Never, as you read this book, can you imagine a resolution that will put Rafe and Lozen together. And yet they are in love, perhaps from the moment they meet. Wisely, Robson doesn't turn that into a lengthy demonstration of the unfairness of life. Avoiding sentimental what-ifs, she keeps the dynamic of their growing relationship at the center of the action. While that relationship is the personal center of the novel, the historical center is the story of the destruction of the Apache people. Again, the PW fellow gets it wrong. Robson is not doing "good guys/bad guys" with the PC emphasis on demonizing whites. The Apaches of her novel are not folks you would want for neighbors. Like the Comanches of *Ride the Wind*, they are brutal, terrifying enemies. What Robson does do is tell the truth about the times. The truth is, the white men who carried on about Indian brutality were the same ones who made tobacco pouches from the intimate skin of murdered "squaws" and butchered babies of color. I can't say that her picture of Apache life is accurate and complete, though I'm convinced it is true to her impressive research. Her book is, after all, a historical reconstruction, and that means it is dependent upon the accuracy and completeness of the historical data. I can say that her Apaches are believeable, rounded, and sympathetic. The single most memorable thing Robson dramatizes is their sense of humor. As for Lozen, her heroics are a historical fact, and her "mystic powers" are carefully unplayed. Robson presents her as a brilliant, complex woman, not, like so many "woman warrior" books would, as a man in drag. A great book? Well, no, but who said it was? Accurate history? As much as any history can be. There are few periods of the American past more shameful than "the Indian wars," and if Robson's white people are less than admirable, we can console ourselves that this means they were not as noble, compassionate, and honorable as we, who would never have done that to the Indians.... If you like Larry McMurtry and Jame Michener, you will enjoy this book. It is better than anything Michener ever wrote, and better than any of the endless sequels to *Lonesome Dove.* It is, like *Ride the Wind*, daring in its balance, so it runs the danger of pleasing no one.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
F.Y.I., August 21, 2002
By A Customer
To be accurate, I'm the writer as well as a reader. In answer to the objection to using the name Dineh to describe the Apaches when the word itself is Navajo: The Navajo and Apache both speak the Athapascan language. They share vocabulary and many cultural traits such as the ceremony for girls at puberty. James L. Haley, in his book APACHES: A History and Culture Portrait, says they called themselves Tin-eh-ah, The People. They also referred to themselves Indeh and Indah, and Indah is the more often used term. Also, Apaches do talk to white people about Lozen. One talked to me about her at great length and with no prompting. The old ones, like James Kaywaykla, mention her in their memoirs, and of course she's written about in Apache Mothers and Daughters by Ruth McDonald Boyer and Narcissus Duffy Gayton, a descendent of Lozen's niece. Thanks for the comments about GHOST WARRIOR. I take note of any inaccuracies and will correct them in the next edition.
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