March 06, 2014

People of the Raven by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear

I'm starting to feel like I'm reading the same book.  Young, seemingly incapable boy who must Dream a new spiritual path for his people.  Old (but not too old) powerful woman dreamer who dances on the sides of both good and evil.  Strong leaders who fall in love and help lead their clans away from the bad guys.  The good news is this means you don't have to read any of the other books, you'll be just fine reading this on your own.

The Raven People  and the North Wind People have always had an uneasy alliance.  With tempers like their fiery hair, the North Wind People are accustomed to being leaders.  And the Raven people are beginning to resent it.  When several events fall into place to cause a cataclysmic war, it seems that few people are willing to look past revenge and actually work towards a better future for their peoples.  Add in a witch that is stirring up trouble and there is no telling what side will win.

First off, the witch.  What the heck is with his storyline?  And maybe I just missed it but I never really figured out who he was, which bothers me.  He wasn't important enough to be such a mystery.  But anyways, on to the other characters.  As I mentioned before they were a rehash of other characters from other books.  It's formulaic actually.  Evening Star was the young female leader who must sacrifice her own happiness in order to achieve peace for the people.  Dzoo was the strong female Dreamer.  And then there were all the men who were either good, or they weren't.  None of them were standout characters.

The plot was perhaps a little different.  You had the story altered by a possible explanation of the Kennewick Man which explains all the red hair in this book.  But really, hair color didn't give anyone special powers, so it was just an explanation, not a plot driver.  There was plenty of violence, sex, rape, and all the other normal unsavory things that this series has as well.  It's definitely not a book for the squeamish.  They have a certain obsession with ripping guts out anyway.  I can't say that anything was overly exciting in this book.  It was mostly scheming and a few light battles, but the majority was dialogue. 

I could take or leave this book.  I don't really feel like it was an integral part to the series at all.

People of the Raven
Copyright 2004
562 pages

No comments:

Post a Comment