People of the Raven (First North Americans) [Hardcover]

W. Michael Gear (Author), Kathleen O'Neal Gear (Author)

Book Description

Series: First North Americans | Publication Date: August 26, 2004

Award-winning archaeologists Michael and Kathleen Gear spin a vivid and captivating tale around one of the most controversial archaeological discoveries in the world, the Kennewick Man---a Caucasoid male mummy dating back more than 9,000 years---found in the Pacific Northwest on the banks of the Columbia River!

A white man in North America more than 9,000 years ago? What was he doing there?

With the terrifying grandeur of melting glaciers as a backdrop, People of the Raven shows animals and humans struggling for survival amidst massive environmental change. Mammoths, mastodons, and giant lions have become extinct, and Rain Bear, the chief of Sandy Point Village, knows his struggling Raven People may be next.

One day a strange and beautiful red-haired woman, Evening Star, stumbles into his council lodge and begs him for sanctuary. Rain Bear soon learns that she is an escaped slave from the North Wind People, the Raven People's mortal enemies. If he offers to protect her, the North Wind People will attack, but if he sends her back, Rain Bear knows Evening Star will be tortured and perhaps killed.

But when Evening Star warns Rain Bear that the North Wind warriors are already on their way to Sandy Point Village, Rain Bear must decide at once if he should take his people and run or gather them into a battle that could result in the Raven People's complete demise.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Gears’ 12th entry (after 2003’s People of the Owl) in their richly imagined series of novels about the peoples who populated North America in the distant past follows a familiar pattern. Using their archeological backgrounds and talent for research, they have incorporated recent evidence that "there were Caucasoids—traditionally described as light-skinned people—in North America between 9,000 and 11,000 years ago" into this tale of rival cultures in the Pacific Northwest at a time of momentous change. The dominant North Wind People and the various villages of the Raven People are increasingly intermixed, but also increasingly at odds. The leaders—warriors, matrons, healers, holy men and elders—of both groups face tremendous pressures and decisions as dwindling resources and increased competition drive them toward war. There’s nothing primitive about the powerful mix of intrigue and ambition, statesmanship and strategizing, betrayal and self-sacrifice that the principals demonstrate. One can quibble with the Gears’ tendency to use capitalization in odd ways and to describe two major female characters in physical terms geared to modern tastes. Overall, however, they succeed in blending a great deal of information about how these hunter-gatherers lived (food, lodging, weapons, etc.) together with the universal search for love, power and wisdom. It’s a combination that will surely satisfy readers addicted to the series.
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Review

"I idly picked up the People of the Raven and began reading. Five hours later I was still at it, totally engrossed. I haven't read a novel this good in a long, long time. People of the Raven draws you into a magnificent, sweeping world---America, circa 7300 B.C.---that is so real you can almost breath in the air of it. It tells a big hearted story of war and peace, love and violence, with a cast of richly drawn characters. This is a novel that will stay with you for years---I guarantee it."---Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Relic

"People of the Owl...cements the Gears' place in Jean Auel's genre of prehistoric fiction."
---Romantic Times (4 stars)

"Extraordinary...The Gears colorfully integrate authentic archaeological and anthropological details with a captivating story replete with romance, intrigue, mayhem, and a nail-biting climax."---Library Journal on People of the Owl

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076530855X
• ISBN-13: 978-0765308559
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Can't hit a home run every time, July 20, 2006

By 

acey (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: People of the Raven (First North Americans) (Hardcover)

I've read almost all the North American books, and inevitably some are going to be better than others, according to the individual reader's tastes. And in book after book, inevitably one gets really familiar with the authors' style and motifs.

This was just so so. The typical Gear themes are there: hot women, stoic wise Leaders, crazy Dreamers whom nobody believes (even though they are Dreamers!) lots of tribal politics and lots of torn guts and acts of war (including rape). Same stuff, different tribe/geographical location/era. I was hoping there would be more discussion of the red-haired phenomenon but the red hair seems to serve mostly as adjectival fodder to describe the Playboy Bunny women.

What keeps me reading these books, even as the plots grow increasingly indistinguishable, is the anthropological factoids and descriptions woven into each one. And the storytelling formula, while no longer novel or fresh, is certain tried-and-true. The Gears are never less than competent--it's just that sometimes their stories really shone (i.e. People of the Owl, People of the Mist). But honestly, the descriptions of "acrid tang of torn intestines" or "she was THE MOST beautiful woman he had ever seen" are getting a little overdone.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big Disappointment, October 18, 2005

By 

JGK "Book Addict" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: People of the Raven (First North Americans) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read most of the previous "People of..." series and loved every one of them...until this one.

There are so many things wrong with this book it's hard to know where to start. But I'll try. Frist, the characters - there was none of the careful character development of past books. In the past I felt as if I knew each of the characters intimately. In this book we're told one is great, one is evil, etc. but the careful development of showing us isn't there.

The dialog is also lacking...to say the least. It's as if this book was written by an entirely different person then the first 11 of the series.

If you want a good read of historical fiction set in North America then start with any of the previous books and skip this one. My personal, all time favorit from these authors is People of the Lake. The series starts with People of the Wolf. You don't have to read them in order though it is best if you do.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth waiting for., September 18, 2005

By 

Kathleen J. Riley (Baltimore, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: People of the Raven (First North Americans) (Mass Market Paperback)

I waited several months for this latest book. It was well worth waiting for! This book was as excellent as the ones before it. The history in the books is outstanding. The characters and story line make the book so believable. Anyone who has not read this book or the previous ones I urge you to start. This series of books is the "BEST" I have ever read on the North American Indians. Some of the stories have brought me to tears so vivid are the details in the book. The Gears have made the characters so real that you can almost feel what they went through thousands of years ago. If I had to register the Gears on excellent writing from (1) to (10) I would give them a (13! After finishing the People of the Ravens I am now (and I mean it) anxiously waiting for the People of the Moon!
Kathy Riley
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