Hunting the ghost dancer (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In order to be accepted into a new tribe, Timov and Hamr, two survivors of a doomed people, must hunt the savage ghost dancer, a vicious Neanderthal that has been terrorizing the tribe. By the author of Radix and Wyvern. Reprint. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 371 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; 1st edition (1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060179090
• ISBN-13: 978-0060179090
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,251,618 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Typical for Attanasio: Full of Surprises, October 8, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Hunting the Ghost Dancer (Paperback)

Having read a lot of "early man" novels, like Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear, I was excited to see Attanasio was taking a turn, but I forgot to expect the unexpected! Attanasio turns the predictable into the surprising in this novel as in his others. The Ghost Dancer is not really the antagonist. In fact, he is perhaps the most sympathic of characters, despite his supernormal abilities! The more normal humans take the roles of good and evil, while the Ghost Dancer himself is the plot. He is the last of his kind, and he seeks the immortality due his species, but his quest brings him closer and closer to the humans he fears and hates. Only a human girl can help him reach his destination, and their trek together teaches her that there is a morality above the survival of the species. Her brother and her protector track the Ghost Dancer and the girl, always dreading the worst. Not until they reach the end of their resources do they learn that their quest to rescue the girl has changed into a battle to defend the Ghost Dancer against the legendary hunter who eliminated so many of the Dancer's people. Is this a novel about Neanderthal vs Cro-Magnon? Is it a novel about supernatural powers inhabiting and lending strength to cave men? Or is it a novel about learning to understand others in a world where all others are strange and threatening. The relevance to life in today's world is indirect but substantial. This novel challenges and entertains, entrances and horrifies, reassures and rewards. It shows us how a great novelist can keep us questioning and changing, until the plot resolution finally shows what he can really do to bend your mind!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I envy all those people who havent yet read this book!, December 25, 2005

By	Anand Murugappan "Anand" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunting the Ghost Dancer (Hardcover)

This was a book I picked up at my college library simply because there was no other book available. As is obvious I was least interested and was not even sure I wanted to finish reading the book. Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony - I simply fell in love with it and have been craving for more. I finished reading the book in no time even though it was exam time. This book is very atypical. You are to expect the unexpected. The story is set in prehistoric times - at the times of the last neanderthal man. The book takes you through the life of a confident (or arrogant) warrior who braves the odds to save his pride and loved ones by migrating to the north to join his long lost part of his tribe. The description of the wild landscape and magic conjured is beautiful.

If you like myths and love to be lost in nature long before the smallheads (read as modern man) destroyed it this is the book for you.

Thanks to Attanasio for such great work!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't quite put my finger on it..., October 31, 2003

By	Heather H. "Heather H." (New Jersey, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunting the Ghost Dancer (Hardcover)

This story is just so...haunting. Who is the hero? The bad guy?Things were so clear at the start but...who is to say what is right and wrong.
The author really does a good job of keeping you off balance with all of the twists and moral judgements.