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Sam Keaton: Legends of Laramie #3
Sun Dance
Samuel Keaton has been the target of bad intentions since he became the Marshal, but danger seems to be coming from the very officials who hired him to guide them through Sioux territory, and Samuel must risk a growing bond with a young Sioux woman in order to save his life. Original.
303 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Sigmund Brouwer
252 books406 followersSigmund loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 15, 2023
Ah Evening Star's confession and sacrifice at the end breaks my heart but it really only makes sense. They couldn't be together after all that. I feel like she will be a force.of change, helping her people from the inside in later years.
It bugs me that the blacks, and Germans don't have names..or at least Sam never finds them out. They also never speak. Weren't there many many black cowboys and buffalo soldiers? Maybe especially after the civil war? This is the first time they've been mentioned.
Interesting this author mentions the winkte. It was respectful (that little jibe- I wouldn't want to dance with him...like they're going to ask you to dance with them, or kiss you or make a move on you- but that's a realistic reaction and statement from a straight cis man of then and now, probably even a little mild) - but Sam clearly feels the winkte is not happy, that they are weak in a way, cowards to an extent, yet also very brave and very self-sacrificing, taking on a huge burden (living as a woman, never marrying, never having kids). It's a bit of foreshadowing for evening star sacrificing and burdening herself with becoming a wife to a man she doesn't love to save the one she does. Fulfilling a role in her tribe that isn't what she wants, but the circumstances of life have taken her there.
I wonder though if at least some winkte weren't more like a trans person today who feels more comfortable in the woman's role, even happy to be there. LGBT people have always existed and lots of societies around the world have had third gender or outside gender people who had lives like this, helping to raise children, doing chores that the opposite gender would usually do or combining things. I know winkte and 2 spirit and so on are different from our modern understanding of LGBT identity, but I look for myself in stories (real and imagined) of these kinds of people. I'm one of at least 4 gay/bi people in my family and I don't think we are alone. It's difficult to find us in history and genealogy sometimes.
The ending was satisfying. Again I'm impressed by this author's religious self-awareness to understand that there is a difference between personal faith and the moralistic holier than thou attitude and bigotry that we see in conservative Christianity now and on the past. It's difficult to do well. I believe Sam. He is a real guy with real feelings, real emotions. As are Jake and doc (why has Jake never married?) He is capable of putting himself in other people's shoes. He's capable of weakness, depression, doubt, addiction. And it's not magically fixed by God (for the most part)
One more left! Can't wait
It bugs me that the blacks, and Germans don't have names..or at least Sam never finds them out. They also never speak. Weren't there many many black cowboys and buffalo soldiers? Maybe especially after the civil war? This is the first time they've been mentioned.
Interesting this author mentions the winkte. It was respectful (that little jibe- I wouldn't want to dance with him...like they're going to ask you to dance with them, or kiss you or make a move on you- but that's a realistic reaction and statement from a straight cis man of then and now, probably even a little mild) - but Sam clearly feels the winkte is not happy, that they are weak in a way, cowards to an extent, yet also very brave and very self-sacrificing, taking on a huge burden (living as a woman, never marrying, never having kids). It's a bit of foreshadowing for evening star sacrificing and burdening herself with becoming a wife to a man she doesn't love to save the one she does. Fulfilling a role in her tribe that isn't what she wants, but the circumstances of life have taken her there.
I wonder though if at least some winkte weren't more like a trans person today who feels more comfortable in the woman's role, even happy to be there. LGBT people have always existed and lots of societies around the world have had third gender or outside gender people who had lives like this, helping to raise children, doing chores that the opposite gender would usually do or combining things. I know winkte and 2 spirit and so on are different from our modern understanding of LGBT identity, but I look for myself in stories (real and imagined) of these kinds of people. I'm one of at least 4 gay/bi people in my family and I don't think we are alone. It's difficult to find us in history and genealogy sometimes.
The ending was satisfying. Again I'm impressed by this author's religious self-awareness to understand that there is a difference between personal faith and the moralistic holier than thou attitude and bigotry that we see in conservative Christianity now and on the past. It's difficult to do well. I believe Sam. He is a real guy with real feelings, real emotions. As are Jake and doc (why has Jake never married?) He is capable of putting himself in other people's shoes. He's capable of weakness, depression, doubt, addiction. And it's not magically fixed by God (for the most part)
One more left! Can't wait
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2022
This is book #3 in the Sam Keaton western series. I expected it, based upon a couple of reviews I had read, to be pretty gruesome and depressing, but I still read it as a means to finishing the series.
It was not nearly as bad as I expected --sad, but a necessary piece in the unfolding story, which turns out just fine in the next book.
It was not nearly as bad as I expected --sad, but a necessary piece in the unfolding story, which turns out just fine in the next book.
April 15, 2016
I preferred other books in Legends of Laramie over Sun Dance, but not because it was poorly written or badly presented. No I didn't enjoy the harshness of life Mr. Brouwer presented and it made me as sick as Sam Keaton himself as the events unfolded. To elicit such a reaction from me certainly is to the author's credit.
March 13, 2016
I absolutely love this series of books. Mr. Brouwer is a great writer. In this one his description of Sam Keaton's agonies with losing Rebecca and drowning his sorrows in whiskey sounds just as if he is living it. He also keeps us guessing who the bad guy is until the very end.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews