Customer Reviews

The Shaman's Game (Shaman Mysteries)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having recently read Hillerman's Hunting Badger, and Thunder Horse, by Peter Bowen, I realized that archeology is figuring in more mysteries than those of Elizabeth Peters in her popular Amelia Peabody series. I have read all the novels in this series, and have enjoyed them, but this is the best so far, with more emphasis on Charlie Moon and aunt Daisy Perika, who survives peacefully between two worlds. I found this to be an excellent and enjoyable read. I also enjoyed the antics of the two little girls. I recommend it highly.

I had already read Tony Hillerman, many of his books and found them fascinating and informative. My daughter looked for other authors of like books and this was a gift from her. From the very first few paragraphs, this book opened up a new world into Native mysteries. Love Hillerman, but these books of James D. Doss (I am on my second) are his equal in many ways, with a tad more comic touches at times. The Shaman is Charlie Moon's sometimes crochety old aunt, the kind you have to respect but sometimes wince over. Charlie is laconic but loveable. The Sun Dance was particularly interesting as it is Native 'culture', well described and spread over several tribes. Modern and yet traditional at the same time. I have no doubt this author researched thoroughly. It has an air of magic, of the ancient and yet modern America creeps through. I could feel the heat, the dryness, and the suspence is sustained throughout the book. This book convinced me I should 'learn' more about Charlie Moon, Daisy Perika and Scott Parris (the matukach policeman). I have purchased all so far and am waiting for Grandmother Spider to come out in paperback. Mr Doss, more please in this vein.

I am really enjoying the Charlie Moon series of mysteries. Of course they are compared to Hillerman, but Hillerman takes himself very seriously and in contrast the Charlie Moon stories are often quite funny as well as well-imagined. The Shaman's Game is an earlier effort, and the reviewer R.L. (Philadelphia, PA) is correct in saying that Charlie Moon and his girl friends are just annoying - a shuffling shambling naive 7 foot tall aboriginal Jimmy Stewart who just doesn't understand girls. Yuck. However, the rest of the story is pretty good, an unusual plot, loads of interesting characters, fairly good writing. I've noticed that in his earlier books in this series the author uses foreshadowing far too much, in addition to the embarassing love relationships between Moon and every female who approaches him. Just ignore that, you'll find plenty to enjoy in this book.

I love this series of books. The characters are reader friendly and without noticing they soon become friends...sort of! HA! A real character connection in this series that's a plus in my book.

The book is not interesting me at all. the author is compared to Tony Hillerman but I don't see it.

The Charlie moon mysteries never get old. I can keep reading them over and over again and not be bored.

I skipped the Charlie Moon bumbling around fragments, these never go anywhere and serve no purpose. This mystery/suspense novel leads you into the heart of the characters with the exception of Scott Parris, who gets a short shift in THE SHAMAN'S GAME, but he is there at the climax.
The battle of wills between Charlie and Aunt Daisy is cunning and unforeseeable right up to the conclusion on the last page. Each character in this thought provoking series grows and expands.
Doss's figurative style provokes images so vivid the reader is right there under the blazing sun taking each step with the dancers.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

Get this book and then get the rest of the series. It's a great gift for yourself. Great characters who keep developing throughout the series to become like your friends.

While I loved the first two of Doss' "Shaman" series, this one was a big disappointment. The author seemed more infatuated with his hero, Charlie Moon, whom he presents as a sort of Native American Jimmy Stewart, than interested in constructing an efficient plot. There are an endless number of jokes about "the big Ute's" voracious appetite for fried foods, his impressive masculine physique, and his total bafflement over the behavior of the opposite sex. In fact, Doss' depiction of women was one of the most irritating things about this book: They all (with the exception of Daisy, the shaman) seem to belong more in a comic book than in a novel for grown-ups. Every last one of them has "tiny, delicate hands," "a small foot," "crimson nails," and has no thought in her head other than how to land Charlie Moon (why they would want to is the only mystery in the book). I had been very impressed with Doss' handling of the mystical in his previous novels, but this one is so choked with cliches that I quit two thirds of the way through. And the shaman of the title, a vibrant character, gets little attention in this one. So if you want a well-paced mystery with touches of poetry in the writing and well-developed characters, go to Tony Hillerman.