23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasant surprise!, August 31, 2001
This book had been sitting on my "to read" shelf for a while, along with all the other books in the series. I was a bit reluctant to pick them up, fearing I'd be disappointed after having read and loved Jean M. Auel's EARTH'S CHILDREN series. I finally decided to buckle down and pick up the first book. Now I'm eager to read the rest of them.
The first thing that struck me about this book was the vividness of the characters. From the beginning, I was sympathizing with the main character. The authors draw the reader in to the plight of the People and their suffering. Underneath, there is a hidden strength within them that rings true to me. Not long after, we get to the antagonists and we immediately dislike them. Instead of being driven by evil (I read a lot of fantasy :), their actions are driven by motivations that the reader see as obviously being selfish. The characters, though, see them as being what are best for the People.
The dialogue was well written, but seemed a little too modern for the time period the story took place. There was a lot of banter and sexual connotation that seemed misplaced. We don't really know how (or even if) people spoke during that time perioud, but the way the authors wrote it, it just felt wrong. This only detracted a little bit from the reading experience, but not at all from the story.
This is another of the authors' strong points: their storytelling ability. The plot was very intriguing and the pacing was excellent. At no point did I feel as if the story was dragging along while the authors took the time to develop their characters. These two aspects of their storytelling were seamlessly blended to produce a cohesive and enjoyable whole.
One final small complaint is the fact that I kept getting two or three of the supporting characters mixed up. I don't know if it was me reading the initial character introductions too quickly or the authors not establishing them well enough, but a couple of times, I had to stop and think of which character they were talking about to keep them straight.
Despite this, I still enjoyed this book. The characters were fun to read and I came to care about them. The pacing kept me interested, but not grippingly so (I was able to put the book down most of the time when it was late at night). If you're even considering reading this book, I recommend you do so without hesitation.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent beginning!, November 9, 1999
I had a hard time getting into the style of writing and understanding the story line at first, having just finished the Jean Auel series, but in short time I was so enveloped in the book that I could not tear myself away. I have seldom read a book so quickly and with such intent. It was a fabulous story of mystical power, dreams, war, abuse and the power of one dreamer to lead his people to their new beginning. The strength of the charachters boggled me and intrigued me. Must read!
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Okay, February 10, 2006
Aside from the fact that this book was like every other Native American or early American book - in fact, it seemed to steal many of the plot points and characters from other series - it was alright. The characters were a little too "proud Native," and not quite.......real. The writing was only so-so, and a few of the exchanges in dialogue were confusing. The only thing completely negative I have to say about it is...... haven't the authors heard of frostbite??? A character can walk in chilled water, at the top of Alaska, with near-freezing temperatures for two day and a night and not suffer anything worse than shivers? Characters can walk for months in the middle of winter with barely any food, the only shelter is a dug-out snow cave, and no water on hand (the reader is left to assume they eat snow), and survive? Hmmmm. This book lacks the information and logic of Jean Auel's, and instead of educating themselves, the authors seem to want to gloss everything over.
All-in-all, it's a decent read on a boring day, but I'll stick to The Earth Children Series.
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