People of the Wolf (Hardcover)

I don't know about you, but I think if an author is going to write about Native Americans, they should make their characters human first, and Native Americans second, rather than the characters being so 'authentically Native' that the reader begins to forget that we even belong to the same species. Somehow, I just don't believe that the American Indians behaved in the idiotic and cliched manner in which they are portrayed in this book.

Bottom line: This novel was poorly written and contained sexual and racial stereotyping. Don't read it.

At first I was a little irritated by the modern sounding speech the characters use. I read reviews here before checking out the book so perhaps I was more inclined to notice than I may have been had I not read criticisms to that effect. However, you soon get past that and become involved with the conflicts and struggles the People face in their extraordinary drive to survive. The story really makes you think about those first North Americans that braved the ice to find a new way of life. How resourceful they must have been!

Some may be put off by the mysticism in this series. Each book so far has centered on a Dreamer who must Dream a new way for the people. As someone who believes in God, I found this an interesting notion to mull over. Obviously, the Dreams come from somewhere. Who's to say this isn't how ancient man made some of the bigger leaps in civilization?
The authors make sure to include characters that are inquisitive and experimental. In this first book, for instance, there is a man, an expert flint knapper (sp?) who successfully attempts to improve the dart points. In the second book, there is a man who collects plants and seeds and mulls over how they can be used as food for the People. So far, all the books pretty much follow a formula plot line; i.e., the People are on the cusp of disaster due to starvation, overcrowding, etc., a young Dreamer must learn to find the One before he/she can teach the People a new way but he/she will have to face another Dreamer who may or may not have genuine Power and who is only concerned with Power for the prestige and personal power it will bring him. Don't let this formula keep you from reading this highly engaging series. Although the plots are similar, the characters and their personal struggles are not cookie cutter replicas accept in the sense that each Dreamer resists the call to lead for the usual reasons offered in this kind of novel. In each of the first three books I've read, the main characters and the supporting characters have have been fleshed out as complex individuals with their own drives and ambitions. Of the three I've read so far, People of the Wolf was not my favorite but it does establish a lot of what happens in the next books so I urge you to read it and keep reading. I've just finished People of the Earth and so far it is my favorite largely due to the unique character of Still Water (a.k.a. Bad Belly). My biggest complaint is that some of the characters have insights about human nature that would have been too modern a few hundred years ago, let alone several thousand. Yes, we have discovered that the ancient civilizations of North America had complex languages and laws but it does not automatically follow that they would talk about rape, incest, love, etc. as if they were panelists on Oprah.

All that aside, I would recommend this series as engaging, entertaining, and somewhat thought-provoking, if not particularly deep.