People of the Nightland

by: W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Published by: Forge

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

I love this First North Americans series by the Gears, a husband-and-wife team of archeologists and writers. This fourteenth novel, People of the Nightland, is like all previous novels in that it is a stand-alone and readers need not have read any of the other works.

I'm fascinated how the Gears get these stories to work. Without using familiar Indian tribes (like the Sioux, the Ouachita, the Cherokee), the Gears create tribes and bands of Native Americans and give readers a realistic account of these characters as living humans. The details are authentic and leave nothing to stereotypical other Native American-based stories.

In this book, the Indians live in and on the ice glaciers. Two clans, People of the Nightland and People of the Sunpath, have split from their original belief that the glaciers were paradise. One band still clings to the old ways of Wolf Dreamer, who led his people to this untouched paradise over a thousand years ago through a hole in the ice. The land was rich with game. But now the mammoths and other game are in short supply, the glaciers are melting, and the people are becoming desperate. The other band is following Wolf Dreamer's evil twin, Raven, who has supposedly come to the tribal idiot with another vision of Paradise. But who is really controlling Ti-Bash, the Idiot? Is he the new Guide, the new Prophet, who will save his people when the glaciers melt? Who should the people believe?

People of the Nightland is an important story of global warming, trust, vision, and leadership. I had a hard time getting into this book and became confused by the characters. There's a Keresa, Karigi, and a Kakala. There's also Wolf Dreamer and War Chief Windwolf, However, once I could differentiate the characters, the reading experience was rich as a Gear novel always is.

You will learn about glaciers and Indian life in fascinating ways and will ponder our own fate as our remaining glaciers melt. Like all the other Gear books, People of the Nightland, will stay with me and keep me thinking for along time.

Armchair Interviews says: It's a little hard to get into, but if you stick with it, you will be rewarded for your effort.

Authors' Web site: http://www.gear-gear.com