From Publishers Weekly
Eleven years after winning an Academy Award for the film screenplay of his novel Dances with Wolves, Blake offers this dramatic sequel to his tale of army Lt. John Dunbar and his life with the Comanche Indians on the Great Plains. It is now 1874, 11 years after Dunbar deserted from the army to live among the Comanche. He has married Stands with a Fist, the captive white woman raised by Indians, and they have three children. Dunbar has forsworn the white man's ways and is accepted as Dances with Wolves, a full-fledged Comanche warrior. These are hard times for the Plains Indians, however, as the advance of the white man results in war, misery and a gloomy future. When a party of white rangers attacks his village and kidnaps his wife and youngest child, Dances with Wolves goes after them in a wild attempt at rescue. Alongside his tale of Dances with Wolves's personal turmoil, Blake more forcefully tells of the conflicts among the Indians regarding whether to fight the white man or to make peace. Raids, ambushes, atrocities and bitterness on both sides can have only one conclusion, despite an Indian peace delegation that goes to Washington, D.C., to meet the Great White Father. This novel focuses less on Dances with Wolves and much more on the confused plight of the Indians, who cannot understand the white man's greed, duplicity and brutality. Familiar characters from the original novel reappear here in more important roles, making this a more powerful historical novel with a much wider scope. Blake's ability to evoke sadness and joy, action and emotion is as strong as ever, and the ending hits hard. (Sept. 11)Forecast: Fans of the movie version of Dances with Wolves, starring Kevin Costner, will fall enthusiastically upon this sequel, though once they've bought it, they may be taken aback by the high ratio of history to heroics. A Western reading tour will attract extra attention.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
In the sequel to DANCES WITH WOLVES, the Comanche warrior by that name continues his struggle to preserve his adopted way of life against the white man's ever encroaching efforts to destroy the Native American culture. Bruce Boxleitner's gravelly voice suits the rough story of a rough life. With barely perceptible shifts in tone, and slightly more evident applications of regional accents, he differentiates among young and elderly Comanche, white Quakers, politicians, women, and children, presenting all of them with dignity as befits their characters. Boxleitner's narrative passages flow naturally, carrying the listener through the wide open spaces of the plains and the desert Southwest as if carried on the backs of Comanche ponies. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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