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North America's Forgotten Past #1
People of the Wolf
The ancestors of today's Native American peoples are brought to life in an unforgettable saga of hardship and determination, conflict, and passion. First in the saga of the first North Americans.
435 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 15, 1990
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About the author
W. Michael Gear
183 books731 followersW. Michael Gear was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on the twentieth of May, 1955. A fourth generation Colorado native, his family had been involved in hard-rock mining, cattle ranching, and journalism. After his father's death in 1959, Michael's mother received her Master's degree in journalism and began teaching. In 1962 she married Joseph J. Cook, who taught tool and die making, and the family lived in Lakewood, Colorado, until 1968. At that time they moved to Fort Collins so that Joe could pursue his Ph.D.. During those years the family lived in the foothills above Horsetooth Reservoir.
It was there that Mike developed a love of history, anthropology, and motorcycles. They would color his future and fill his imagination for the rest of his life. During summers he volunteered labor on local ranches or at the farm east of Greeley and landed his first real job: picking up trash at the lake and cleaning outhouses. It has been said that his exposure to trash led him into archaeology. We will not speculate about what cleaning the outhouses might have led him to. On his first dig as a professional archaeologist in 1976 he discovered that two thousand year old human trash isn't nearly as obnoxious as the new stuff.
Michael graduated from Fort Collins High School in 1972 and pursued both his Bachelor's (1976) and Master's (1979) degrees at Colorado State University. Upon completion of his Master's - his specialty was in physical anthropology - he went to work for Western Wyoming College in Rock Springs as a field archaeologist.
It was in the winter of 1978 that he wrote his first novel. Irritated by historical inaccuracies in Western fiction, he swore he could do better. He was "taking retirement in installments," archaeology being a seasonal career, in the cabin his great uncle Aubrey had built. One cold January night he read a Western novel about a trail drive in which steers (castrated males) had calves. The historical inaccuracies of the story bothered him all night. The next morning, still incensed, he chunked wood into the stove and hunkered over the typewriter. There, on the mining claim, at nine thousand feet outside of Empire, Colorado he hammered out his first five hundred and fifty page novel. Yes, that first manuscript still exists, but if there is justice in the universe, no one will ever see it. It reads wretchedly - but the historical facts are correct!
Beginning in 1981, Michael, along with two partners, put together his own archaeological consulting company. Pronghorn Anthropological Associates began doing cultural resource management studies in 1982, and, although Michael sold his interest in 1984, to this day the company remains in business in Casper, Wyoming. During the years, Michael has worked throughout the western United States doing archaeological surveys, testing, and mitigation for pipelines, oil wells, power lines, timber sales, and highway construction. He learned the value of strong black coffee, developed a palate for chocolate donuts, and ferreted out every quality Mexican restaurant in eight states. He spent nine months of the year traveling from project to project with his trowel and dig kit, a clapped-out '72 Wonder Blazer, and his boon companion, Tedi, a noble tri-color Sheltie.
That fateful day in November, 1981, was delightfully clear, cold, and still in Laramie, Wyoming. Archaeologists from all over the state had arrived at the University of Wyoming for the annual meetings of the Wyoming Association of Professional Archaeologists. It was there, in the meeting room, way too early after a much too long night, that Mike first laid eyes on the most beautiful woman in the world: Kathleen O'Neal Gear. The BLM State Archaeologist, Ray Leicht, introduced him to the pretty anthropologist and historian, and best of all, Ray invited Mike to lunch with Kathleen. It was the perfect beginning for a long and wondrous relationship.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/wmicha...
It was there that Mike developed a love of history, anthropology, and motorcycles. They would color his future and fill his imagination for the rest of his life. During summers he volunteered labor on local ranches or at the farm east of Greeley and landed his first real job: picking up trash at the lake and cleaning outhouses. It has been said that his exposure to trash led him into archaeology. We will not speculate about what cleaning the outhouses might have led him to. On his first dig as a professional archaeologist in 1976 he discovered that two thousand year old human trash isn't nearly as obnoxious as the new stuff.
Michael graduated from Fort Collins High School in 1972 and pursued both his Bachelor's (1976) and Master's (1979) degrees at Colorado State University. Upon completion of his Master's - his specialty was in physical anthropology - he went to work for Western Wyoming College in Rock Springs as a field archaeologist.
It was in the winter of 1978 that he wrote his first novel. Irritated by historical inaccuracies in Western fiction, he swore he could do better. He was "taking retirement in installments," archaeology being a seasonal career, in the cabin his great uncle Aubrey had built. One cold January night he read a Western novel about a trail drive in which steers (castrated males) had calves. The historical inaccuracies of the story bothered him all night. The next morning, still incensed, he chunked wood into the stove and hunkered over the typewriter. There, on the mining claim, at nine thousand feet outside of Empire, Colorado he hammered out his first five hundred and fifty page novel. Yes, that first manuscript still exists, but if there is justice in the universe, no one will ever see it. It reads wretchedly - but the historical facts are correct!
Beginning in 1981, Michael, along with two partners, put together his own archaeological consulting company. Pronghorn Anthropological Associates began doing cultural resource management studies in 1982, and, although Michael sold his interest in 1984, to this day the company remains in business in Casper, Wyoming. During the years, Michael has worked throughout the western United States doing archaeological surveys, testing, and mitigation for pipelines, oil wells, power lines, timber sales, and highway construction. He learned the value of strong black coffee, developed a palate for chocolate donuts, and ferreted out every quality Mexican restaurant in eight states. He spent nine months of the year traveling from project to project with his trowel and dig kit, a clapped-out '72 Wonder Blazer, and his boon companion, Tedi, a noble tri-color Sheltie.
That fateful day in November, 1981, was delightfully clear, cold, and still in Laramie, Wyoming. Archaeologists from all over the state had arrived at the University of Wyoming for the annual meetings of the Wyoming Association of Professional Archaeologists. It was there, in the meeting room, way too early after a much too long night, that Mike first laid eyes on the most beautiful woman in the world: Kathleen O'Neal Gear. The BLM State Archaeologist, Ray Leicht, introduced him to the pretty anthropologist and historian, and best of all, Ray invited Mike to lunch with Kathleen. It was the perfect beginning for a long and wondrous relationship.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/wmicha...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 362 reviews
July 23, 2013
I was really excited to read this book, since the peopling of the Americas is one of my favorite subjects. Not only did I get a Master's degree in Archaeology, I live in the American Midwest, where much of the earliest remnants are found.
But I was horribly disappointed. I could not even bring myself to finish the book. And I don't understand how so many people have given it 5 stars!
First of all, just in the quarter of the book that I managed to get through, there are multiple rapes. It's not totally unreasonable for rape to have happened then, but if it was occurring on the scale that these authors have included, basically every woman would have been raped back then. Plus, it's pretty gross that something as horrific as rape is used as a plot point so often, and treated so casually by so many people in the book - including the victims!
Second, the authors make only superficial efforts to assign motivation to any of the characters. The protagonist is a little too selfless and heroic, especially when compared to his (apparently sociopathic for no obvious reason) twin brother or to the medicine man who married the girl he is in love with. And the desire of the other tribe to wipe out the People seems completely arbitrary.
Third, the authors have clearly thought about the tools of the People more than basic story requirements like plot and character-building. Even for a fellow archaeologist like me, their descriptions of tools are too technical and detailed. When I'm reading a story, I want to be able to get lost in the prose, not read a scientific explanation of how an object was made. Besides, the most interesting thing about archaeology is that we get to learn about people that we can never talk to; looking at the objects they left behind is just a means to do that.
Which brings me to my last complaint: the People as they are written think and behave very anachronistically. The characters in the book are too individualistic. In that time period, people had to get along with each other for the most part in order to survive; if they didn't, they couldn't just move to another city or find another job like we can today. They had to work with their fellow tribe members and therefore often had to think in ways that would be very unfamiliar to us today. This is not to say that they were never selfish or always got along, but the survival of the individual depended a lot more on survival of the group, therefore sublimating the desires and impulses of the individual to secondary status.
Also, I read a bunch of other reviews before I even started the book. Several readers who also didn't like it said that the supernatural elements were too confusing and treated as too realistic. I disagree. This was one of the few aspects of the book that I found believable. It's easy for modern people, who live in a post-Enlightenment world, to think that the confusion of the supernatural and reality is over the top, but for centuries, people understood the world partially through supernatural explanations.
Finally, the basic storytelling and writing elements of this book are simply seriously lacking.
But I was horribly disappointed. I could not even bring myself to finish the book. And I don't understand how so many people have given it 5 stars!
First of all, just in the quarter of the book that I managed to get through, there are multiple rapes. It's not totally unreasonable for rape to have happened then, but if it was occurring on the scale that these authors have included, basically every woman would have been raped back then. Plus, it's pretty gross that something as horrific as rape is used as a plot point so often, and treated so casually by so many people in the book - including the victims!
Second, the authors make only superficial efforts to assign motivation to any of the characters. The protagonist is a little too selfless and heroic, especially when compared to his (apparently sociopathic for no obvious reason) twin brother or to the medicine man who married the girl he is in love with. And the desire of the other tribe to wipe out the People seems completely arbitrary.
Third, the authors have clearly thought about the tools of the People more than basic story requirements like plot and character-building. Even for a fellow archaeologist like me, their descriptions of tools are too technical and detailed. When I'm reading a story, I want to be able to get lost in the prose, not read a scientific explanation of how an object was made. Besides, the most interesting thing about archaeology is that we get to learn about people that we can never talk to; looking at the objects they left behind is just a means to do that.
Which brings me to my last complaint: the People as they are written think and behave very anachronistically. The characters in the book are too individualistic. In that time period, people had to get along with each other for the most part in order to survive; if they didn't, they couldn't just move to another city or find another job like we can today. They had to work with their fellow tribe members and therefore often had to think in ways that would be very unfamiliar to us today. This is not to say that they were never selfish or always got along, but the survival of the individual depended a lot more on survival of the group, therefore sublimating the desires and impulses of the individual to secondary status.
Also, I read a bunch of other reviews before I even started the book. Several readers who also didn't like it said that the supernatural elements were too confusing and treated as too realistic. I disagree. This was one of the few aspects of the book that I found believable. It's easy for modern people, who live in a post-Enlightenment world, to think that the confusion of the supernatural and reality is over the top, but for centuries, people understood the world partially through supernatural explanations.
Finally, the basic storytelling and writing elements of this book are simply seriously lacking.
November 13, 2020
The oldest human fossils found in North America --at least as of some years ago, when I wrote up my notes on prehistoric humans-- were excavated in Del Mar, California, and date from 50,000 years B.P. (Before Present). But the general consensus of scholars is that the Paleo-Indians came from present- day Siberia, reaching Alaska by way of a dry land bridge across what is today the Bering Strait (sea levels were lower in the Ice Age, with much more water tied up in the polar ice caps), and would have arrived significantly earlier, since their descendants' journey southward would probably have taken generations. This series-opening novel imaginatively reconstructs that initial land-bridge crossing, and the world of the people who made it.
W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear are a husband-and-wife writing team, who were and are serious, professionally-trained archaeologists specializing in the study of the Americas, and actively taking part in actual digs, before they ever took up novel writing. Their field work inspired and informs their fiction, and like Jean Auel (whose Earth's Children series debuted ten years before this one, and probably influenced it) they've also done extensive additional research in the literature of Ice Age North American archaeology and American Indian culture and religion. (They do a significantly smoother job than Auel does of integrating their knowledge into the flow of the novel without lecture-like info-dumps, however.) Of course, only the material objects left by the people from that time are known; everything else about their culture, beliefs, society, customs, etc. rests on guesswork and projections of what is known about later American Indian and Siberian tribes back into the dim past. That's far from a very exact science, so the picture the authors draw is mostly their own creation --though, IMO, it's a plausible creation for the most part.
A three-page Introduction set in the authors' present depicts archaeologists unearthing a human skeleton from the Pleistocene in Alaska, with an archaeologist commenting, "I wonder who she was..." (This is apparently a device they use in all the books of the series.) That segues into the novel proper, back into the Stone Age, where we meet the People, a small tribe which has been pushed steadily eastward by their traditional enemies, the Mammoth Clan (who aren't culturally or racially all that different). Now, they've reached a point where further retreat eastward seems balked by an impassable glacial wall. The crisis is exacerbated by a leadership vacuum at this point; how the situation will be resolved is the meat of the story. At its heart are a handful of well-drawn characters: Runs in Light, who will become Wolf Dreamer (like later Indians, the People can change their names after significant life events); Raven Hunter, who's a dynamic character, but not in a good way; a trio of strong women, young Dancing Fox and the elders Heron and Broken Branch; and Ice Fire, the Mammoth Clan leader and principal shaman.
This is basically a skillfully told, involving story. I read the book aloud to my wife, and it held our interest consistently. It can be a grim tale, in places; we have depictions of tribal warfare, and the Gears recreate very vividly how dangerous and hard life was for these people. There's some food for thought as well as prehistoric adventure here, with a serious look at the harm cultural prejudice and hatred can do, and at the moral slippery slope appeals to hatred and violence for a "good" purpose can put you on, when it's greased by subconscious hunger for power. My main criticism is that, while shamanism is prevalent among the Siberian tribes and no doubt was back then as well, and the first immigrants to Alaska would have brought it with them (and with the admission that I've never made a deep study of it), the depiction of it here doesn't jibe much with what I've read in parts of books by writers like Linton and Eliade; it struck me, despite the authors' research, to owe a lot to modern New Age mysticism. Since shamanistic practices bulk large here, to me that was a flaw. But that didn't keep the book from being one that Barb and I both enjoyed overall.
We liked Wolf Dreamer, Dancing Fox, Ice Fire and our other fictional friends here well enough to have pursued their adventures further. (Dancing Fox displays enough action-heroine chops at one point to arguably entitle the book to a place on that shelf; but I didn't put it there because, though she acquits herself as one seriously kick-butt lady, the incident is never directly described and we're only told about it later second-hand, in a sentence or two. Hardcore action-heroine fans would probably view that as a bit of a literary gyp! :-) ) But we learned that the later books don't follow these characters at all, but jump around to other sets of characters widely separated by time and geography; so we never pursued the series.
W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear are a husband-and-wife writing team, who were and are serious, professionally-trained archaeologists specializing in the study of the Americas, and actively taking part in actual digs, before they ever took up novel writing. Their field work inspired and informs their fiction, and like Jean Auel (whose Earth's Children series debuted ten years before this one, and probably influenced it) they've also done extensive additional research in the literature of Ice Age North American archaeology and American Indian culture and religion. (They do a significantly smoother job than Auel does of integrating their knowledge into the flow of the novel without lecture-like info-dumps, however.) Of course, only the material objects left by the people from that time are known; everything else about their culture, beliefs, society, customs, etc. rests on guesswork and projections of what is known about later American Indian and Siberian tribes back into the dim past. That's far from a very exact science, so the picture the authors draw is mostly their own creation --though, IMO, it's a plausible creation for the most part.
A three-page Introduction set in the authors' present depicts archaeologists unearthing a human skeleton from the Pleistocene in Alaska, with an archaeologist commenting, "I wonder who she was..." (This is apparently a device they use in all the books of the series.) That segues into the novel proper, back into the Stone Age, where we meet the People, a small tribe which has been pushed steadily eastward by their traditional enemies, the Mammoth Clan (who aren't culturally or racially all that different). Now, they've reached a point where further retreat eastward seems balked by an impassable glacial wall. The crisis is exacerbated by a leadership vacuum at this point; how the situation will be resolved is the meat of the story. At its heart are a handful of well-drawn characters: Runs in Light, who will become Wolf Dreamer (like later Indians, the People can change their names after significant life events); Raven Hunter, who's a dynamic character, but not in a good way; a trio of strong women, young Dancing Fox and the elders Heron and Broken Branch; and Ice Fire, the Mammoth Clan leader and principal shaman.
This is basically a skillfully told, involving story. I read the book aloud to my wife, and it held our interest consistently. It can be a grim tale, in places; we have depictions of tribal warfare, and the Gears recreate very vividly how dangerous and hard life was for these people. There's some food for thought as well as prehistoric adventure here, with a serious look at the harm cultural prejudice and hatred can do, and at the moral slippery slope appeals to hatred and violence for a "good" purpose can put you on, when it's greased by subconscious hunger for power. My main criticism is that, while shamanism is prevalent among the Siberian tribes and no doubt was back then as well, and the first immigrants to Alaska would have brought it with them (and with the admission that I've never made a deep study of it), the depiction of it here doesn't jibe much with what I've read in parts of books by writers like Linton and Eliade; it struck me, despite the authors' research, to owe a lot to modern New Age mysticism. Since shamanistic practices bulk large here, to me that was a flaw. But that didn't keep the book from being one that Barb and I both enjoyed overall.
We liked Wolf Dreamer, Dancing Fox, Ice Fire and our other fictional friends here well enough to have pursued their adventures further. (Dancing Fox displays enough action-heroine chops at one point to arguably entitle the book to a place on that shelf; but I didn't put it there because, though she acquits herself as one seriously kick-butt lady, the incident is never directly described and we're only told about it later second-hand, in a sentence or two. Hardcore action-heroine fans would probably view that as a bit of a literary gyp! :-) ) But we learned that the later books don't follow these characters at all, but jump around to other sets of characters widely separated by time and geography; so we never pursued the series.
November 13, 2020
I read this first book in the series NORTH AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN PAST about 30 years ago and absolutely loved it, enough to keep me reading several more books in this series. An intriguing fictional look at the prehistoric people who crossed the Bering Strait and settled in what is now known as Alaska. It works as a stand-alone, but leads nicely into the continued nomadic expeditions of future first North Americans.
June 3, 2011
I liked the premise of this novel, a tale of the Clovis people of the Pleistocene, the stone age hunters who crossed the Siberian Bering land bridge to become the ancestors of the native tribes of America. The husband and wife writing team are archeologists, and certainly must have the technical knowledge to ground the tale. The problem is the puerile quality of the writing, so bad from the beginning I could barely push myself to persist to at least page fifty. The mystical/spiritual aspect isn't just heavy-handed and takes the supernatural too seriously for my tastes, but given animals are often capitalized, that the gods the People worship are called things like "Wind Woman" and "Grandfather White Bear" and the human characters named things like Singing Wolf and Dancing Fox, it was hard to keep straight which was meant at times--person, animal, or divinity. The dialogue is wooden and the characters one-dimensional. I rarely see historical fiction exploring our prehistorical era. Other than Gear's series, Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear is about the only one I've seen (and it's much, much more engaging, and despite Auel not being a professional archeologist, her world seemed better filled out and thought out.) I'm afraid People of the Wolf just isn't worth the time or money.
March 12, 2009
I picked up this book because I thought it would be similar to Jean Auel's "Earth Children" series. (Sadly, I love those Ayla books. I read them in high school and have so many fond memories of dog-earing the dirty parts. My parents thought I was reading historical fiction - ha!)
This book was similar since it had a prehistoric setting, but there were a million characters and no dirty parts. Overall I liked it, but I had trouble keeping track of all the people. There were two tribes and the names were all very similar - "One Who Cries", "Dancing Fox," "Ice Fire." Plus, there was "Grandfather White Bear" (polar bears) and "Wind Woman" (the wind.) It made my eye twitch.
I still liked it once I figured out who everyone was and I'll probably check out the next one in the series. (Just not anytime soon - reading this was hard work!)
This book was similar since it had a prehistoric setting, but there were a million characters and no dirty parts. Overall I liked it, but I had trouble keeping track of all the people. There were two tribes and the names were all very similar - "One Who Cries", "Dancing Fox," "Ice Fire." Plus, there was "Grandfather White Bear" (polar bears) and "Wind Woman" (the wind.) It made my eye twitch.
I still liked it once I figured out who everyone was and I'll probably check out the next one in the series. (Just not anytime soon - reading this was hard work!)
August 15, 2009
This whole series was enjoyable,trapping me in the pages as I went through book after book. As a native American, it brings me back to my heritage and makes me proud of the people i came from, regardless of these being fiction. I loved the color that was painted with the words i read, as the whole story was written out, through the generations of these people.
April 15, 2018
Another enjoyable, very readable People of the... novel. This is the very first entry in the series, but it's actually the fourth or fifth one I've read. You can skip around with these since they're all standalones, except for a few clearly designated trilogies.
I like novels set in deep history, and this one is about the Clovis people's journey from northeast Asia to the Americas across the Bering land bridge. People of the Wolf shares two stories about the halves of a whole: twin brothers, one who is pure and one who is corrupted, and also the story of two tribes that used to be One, split centuries ago over distrust and differing philosophies. The brothers Runs in Light and Raven Hunter are the result of an act of violence done upon a woman of the People by a man of the Others. Both show themselves to be powerful leaders, and the People must decide whose path to follow: that of Raven Hunter, who incites the People to war against the Others for driving them out of the hunting lands of their ancestors, or that of Runs in Light, now called Wolf Dreamer, who sees only death and destruction unless the People follow him south across the ice. Will the People and the Others be separated forever when the rising Salt Sea finally divides them, or will they find a way to make peace and become One again?
I've said it before: this is not high literature packed with tons of words you will need a dictionary for, but the stories are engaging. The authors are also archaeologists so there are historically accurate factoids sprinkled throughout, and this series focuses a lot on tribal dynamics, competition for resources, native American mysticism... and a good measure of soap opera. Recurring themes throughout all the Gears' novels are good vs. evil and overcoming hardship. The characters in these books are tough, and reading about how they rise above these experiences is satisfying.
These are fun, enjoyable books that don't have to be read in order, which is a good thing because this series is huge - somewhere around 30 books now. I've gone years without reading a People of the... book, but I come back to them eventually. I'm going to try reading at least a couple of them a year, so maybe I'll get to them all before I die! It's not great literature, but it's good for what it is: light fiction about ancient Native Americans.
I like novels set in deep history, and this one is about the Clovis people's journey from northeast Asia to the Americas across the Bering land bridge. People of the Wolf shares two stories about the halves of a whole: twin brothers, one who is pure and one who is corrupted, and also the story of two tribes that used to be One, split centuries ago over distrust and differing philosophies. The brothers Runs in Light and Raven Hunter are the result of an act of violence done upon a woman of the People by a man of the Others. Both show themselves to be powerful leaders, and the People must decide whose path to follow: that of Raven Hunter, who incites the People to war against the Others for driving them out of the hunting lands of their ancestors, or that of Runs in Light, now called Wolf Dreamer, who sees only death and destruction unless the People follow him south across the ice. Will the People and the Others be separated forever when the rising Salt Sea finally divides them, or will they find a way to make peace and become One again?
I've said it before: this is not high literature packed with tons of words you will need a dictionary for, but the stories are engaging. The authors are also archaeologists so there are historically accurate factoids sprinkled throughout, and this series focuses a lot on tribal dynamics, competition for resources, native American mysticism... and a good measure of soap opera. Recurring themes throughout all the Gears' novels are good vs. evil and overcoming hardship. The characters in these books are tough, and reading about how they rise above these experiences is satisfying.
These are fun, enjoyable books that don't have to be read in order, which is a good thing because this series is huge - somewhere around 30 books now. I've gone years without reading a People of the... book, but I come back to them eventually. I'm going to try reading at least a couple of them a year, so maybe I'll get to them all before I die! It's not great literature, but it's good for what it is: light fiction about ancient Native Americans.
June 4, 2020
I would give this book 3&1/2 stars. I generally like the Gear's books. I have read several of them. I like their writing style. They write short chapters and have vivid characters. This book had both. What put me off was the wandering plot. There were so many characters to keep track of and I sometimes forgot which were enemies and which were friends. I did enjoy the early Native American lore and the mysticism which is a large part of the plot. I thought the book could have been a bit shorter. It did have a good ending. I would recommend it to those who like early Native American history and great characterization.
July 23, 2017
Years ago, I read a few of Christian Jacq’s ancient Egypt novels. I was hopeful that I’d be onto something good because the author was an Egyptologist – at last, historical fiction by historians! Why do I mention this now? Well, the Gears (a husband and wife team) are also both archaeologists. And both Jacq’s books and the Gears’ books are definite misses for me.
I think there’s a lesson to be learned here, and I say this as an archaeologist who has toyed with the idea of writing historical fiction myself – just knowing the history intimately does not make a great historical fiction novel. An excellent knowledge of language, character development, plotting, and storycraft is required as well. I found the Gears’ novel suffered from similar problems to Jacq’s: clunky, stilted dialogue, wooden and stereotyped characters, melodramatic plot, and prose that alternates between simplistic and purple. I wish it were not so, but there it is.
4 out of 10
March 5, 2014
I read these books a long time ago. I really enjoyed them and how they progressed through time.
August 27, 2013
Definately not an easy book to get into, for numerous reasons (such as writing style, the slightly confusing names, etc), but once I got going, I found that I could not put it down. I had to find out what what happened next. Though one thing that I was really impressed with was the detailed exploration of the whole concept of shamanism and what it entails for a shaman (in this case, a Dreamer). Not everyone may understand the whole concept of Dreaming, The One, The Dance and all that, but they way it was all put together fit perfectly with everything else I know about spirituality. So kudos to the authors for that!
At first I was not sure I wanted to continue with the series, but now i find myself inclined to get the next book.
At first I was not sure I wanted to continue with the series, but now i find myself inclined to get the next book.
September 1, 2011
This is the first is a very long and still ongoing series of books. Even though each book stands alone as its own complete story there are nuances and references that, while not tying them all together, add another layer of depth to the world that the authors create and they all lead back to this book.
The characters are engaging and believable, with strengths and weaknesses as well as flaws. The story is the classic grand scale brother against brother battle that engulf their entire world. It's a familiar story without being predictable and tedious.
The characters are engaging and believable, with strengths and weaknesses as well as flaws. The story is the classic grand scale brother against brother battle that engulf their entire world. It's a familiar story without being predictable and tedious.
October 22, 2017
See my full thoughts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw8kv...
Put yourself in the following scenario: For years you and your family have been at war. Not a modern war with an army marching through your land and bombs dropping from overhead, this is raiding warfare. You spend every moment knowing a band of warriors could charge into your camp, driving a spear into your gut, burning down your primitive homes, and carrying off anything of value. They see you as less than human, if you're unlucky enough to be captured then you'll either be cut into pieces while you're still alive and have your body laid out as a warning (if you're a man) or you'll be repeatedly raped and brought back to some foreign land as a stranger's slave/wife (if you're a woman). You can't fight, your only choice is to run and pray they don't find you. But after generations of running you've reached the end of your rope. The only hunting grounds left are too poor to feed anyone, a giant wall of ice in front of you marks the end of the world, you haven't eaten in several days, and half of your tribe has frozen to death in the winter. This is the situation that the People of the Wolf found themselves in at the start of this book.
This book is the story of the first humans to migrate to North America over 12,000 years ago. While you might think that the majority of the plot revolves around their journey to the new world, but it actually focuses much more on the conflict between the People (no really, they just call themselves "the People") and the mysterious Others that have pushed them so far. The plot isn't very focused and sometimes meanders, which is the main reason that this is 4 stars and not 5. It picks up at the end, and it took a few twists I didn't expect, I just can't call it good. However the characters still managed to keep my interest. There are several important ones but I'd just like to mention the two best: Dancing Fox and Raven Hunter.
Dancing Fox is a woman who was forced to become the wife of an abusive shaman before the story began. Near the beginning she winds up exiled and is forced to learn to survive on her own. Everyone expected her to die but instead she became a skilled hunter and eventually a leader among her tribe. Watching her grow and gain prestige is immensely satisfying. The way her arc ends annoyed me but that's more of a personal preference, others might be okay with it.
Raven Hunter is a young man born into a world of constant suffering. His people are on the edge of extinction and he's powerless to stop it... at first. He's an angry young man, and if there's one thing angry young men are good at, it's war. While most of the main characters have a pacifist approach to life, Raven Hunter hypes the People into fighting back against the Others. But that's all he can do, and eventually it becomes all he knows. Every decision he makes is understandable, and his transformation is one of the most natural and organic I've ever read. I didn't even notice that he had changed until after it happened but it made total sense.
In the end the thing that made this book work so well was not the adventure or the epic scale of events but rather the ways that these primitive people change and work to make their world better. Definitely a must for anyone interested in adventure stories with unique settings.
Put yourself in the following scenario: For years you and your family have been at war. Not a modern war with an army marching through your land and bombs dropping from overhead, this is raiding warfare. You spend every moment knowing a band of warriors could charge into your camp, driving a spear into your gut, burning down your primitive homes, and carrying off anything of value. They see you as less than human, if you're unlucky enough to be captured then you'll either be cut into pieces while you're still alive and have your body laid out as a warning (if you're a man) or you'll be repeatedly raped and brought back to some foreign land as a stranger's slave/wife (if you're a woman). You can't fight, your only choice is to run and pray they don't find you. But after generations of running you've reached the end of your rope. The only hunting grounds left are too poor to feed anyone, a giant wall of ice in front of you marks the end of the world, you haven't eaten in several days, and half of your tribe has frozen to death in the winter. This is the situation that the People of the Wolf found themselves in at the start of this book.
This book is the story of the first humans to migrate to North America over 12,000 years ago. While you might think that the majority of the plot revolves around their journey to the new world, but it actually focuses much more on the conflict between the People (no really, they just call themselves "the People") and the mysterious Others that have pushed them so far. The plot isn't very focused and sometimes meanders, which is the main reason that this is 4 stars and not 5. It picks up at the end, and it took a few twists I didn't expect, I just can't call it good. However the characters still managed to keep my interest. There are several important ones but I'd just like to mention the two best: Dancing Fox and Raven Hunter.
Dancing Fox is a woman who was forced to become the wife of an abusive shaman before the story began. Near the beginning she winds up exiled and is forced to learn to survive on her own. Everyone expected her to die but instead she became a skilled hunter and eventually a leader among her tribe. Watching her grow and gain prestige is immensely satisfying. The way her arc ends annoyed me but that's more of a personal preference, others might be okay with it.
Raven Hunter is a young man born into a world of constant suffering. His people are on the edge of extinction and he's powerless to stop it... at first. He's an angry young man, and if there's one thing angry young men are good at, it's war. While most of the main characters have a pacifist approach to life, Raven Hunter hypes the People into fighting back against the Others. But that's all he can do, and eventually it becomes all he knows. Every decision he makes is understandable, and his transformation is one of the most natural and organic I've ever read. I didn't even notice that he had changed until after it happened but it made total sense.
In the end the thing that made this book work so well was not the adventure or the epic scale of events but rather the ways that these primitive people change and work to make their world better. Definitely a must for anyone interested in adventure stories with unique settings.
November 14, 2011
This was not my type of book. I got lost in all the weird names.
Some of the natural objects named in the book were "Mother Wind" (of course this would be the wind), "Long Dark" (winter), "Father Sun" (sun), "Grandfather Brown Bear" or "Grandfather White Bear" (bears) "Long Light" (summer) Cloud Mother" and "Blue Sky Man", "Monster Children's War" (northern lights).
Some of the character names were even worse. Here are some of them: "Throw Bones, Broken Branch, Red Star, Wolf Dreamer and Runs in Light (the same person), Dancing Fox, Ice Fire, Raven Hunter, Crow Caller, Laughing Sunshine, One Who Cries, Green Water, Salmon Tail, Jumping Hare, Singing Wolf, Flies Like A Seagull, Red Flint, Horse Cry, Sheep's Tail, Strikes Lightning, Three Falls, Eagle Cries, Blueberry, Moon Water, Broken Shaft," and on, and on, and on.
These are just some of the names I found by skimming the first half of the book. I don't know how many I would have found if I skimmed the entire book. There were way too many characters to keep track of, especially with all the different names.
While reading this book I came across a sentence that started out, "Lumps in the snow . . ." At first I thought this was a new character called "Lumps In the Snow", but after I finished the sentence and read on I realized this was REALLY! lumps in the snow.
I also had a hard time to immediately decide whether the a new character was male or female. I had to read along until I came across a gender identifer such as she, he, him, her, etc. Then try to fix the gender to the name to identify the character the next time she/he showed up by name only, so I could relate to it with my meager and "named tired" mind.
The basic idea of the book was a good one. How the early Americans could have migrated across the land bridge between Russia and Alaska and the trials and hardships they could have faced.
Oh well, on to the next.
Keith
Some of the natural objects named in the book were "Mother Wind" (of course this would be the wind), "Long Dark" (winter), "Father Sun" (sun), "Grandfather Brown Bear" or "Grandfather White Bear" (bears) "Long Light" (summer) Cloud Mother" and "Blue Sky Man", "Monster Children's War" (northern lights).
Some of the character names were even worse. Here are some of them: "Throw Bones, Broken Branch, Red Star, Wolf Dreamer and Runs in Light (the same person), Dancing Fox, Ice Fire, Raven Hunter, Crow Caller, Laughing Sunshine, One Who Cries, Green Water, Salmon Tail, Jumping Hare, Singing Wolf, Flies Like A Seagull, Red Flint, Horse Cry, Sheep's Tail, Strikes Lightning, Three Falls, Eagle Cries, Blueberry, Moon Water, Broken Shaft," and on, and on, and on.
These are just some of the names I found by skimming the first half of the book. I don't know how many I would have found if I skimmed the entire book. There were way too many characters to keep track of, especially with all the different names.
While reading this book I came across a sentence that started out, "Lumps in the snow . . ." At first I thought this was a new character called "Lumps In the Snow", but after I finished the sentence and read on I realized this was REALLY! lumps in the snow.
I also had a hard time to immediately decide whether the a new character was male or female. I had to read along until I came across a gender identifer such as she, he, him, her, etc. Then try to fix the gender to the name to identify the character the next time she/he showed up by name only, so I could relate to it with my meager and "named tired" mind.
The basic idea of the book was a good one. How the early Americans could have migrated across the land bridge between Russia and Alaska and the trials and hardships they could have faced.
Oh well, on to the next.
Keith
December 8, 2008
All of these North American series books were recommended to me by my Grandpa Dudley, who recently passed away. He would read these books, then send them on to me to read. Through reading and discussing them, my Grandpa and I grew closer these last few years of his life. Maybe that's why I enjoyed them so much. Or maybe it was because they were all such great, unique stories filled with details about each Native American tribe but with brilliant, twisting plots, action and mysticism. I learned a lot about these cultures and some of these books I couldn't put down, but I can't remember exactly which ones. So you'll have to read each synopsis to see what interests you.
June 7, 2010
I have had this series on my shelves for along time, and just recently picked up the first one. I had a hard time putting it down. the authors bring you to intense relationship with their characters, that make you root for this or that one, and breaks your heart when one dies. Any author that can bring me to emotion when a character is lost is worth reading! I am looking forward to reading the rest of this series.
September 5, 2021
3.5/5
I've seen this book compared to The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (one of my absolute favorites) which is why I bought nearly the entire series when I came across it in a used bookstore a while back. Both the Auel books and this series are pre-history in terms of time period and both have characters that go on a long journey. So I suppose they are similar. However, the writing is quite different between these books and the characters are too.
This is the first installment in a very long group of standalones featuring the first people to come across what is now the Bering Strait back at the end of the Ice Age. The characters aren't super developed but their relationships are quite dynamic and I really enjoyed the "politics" between tribes. It started sort of slowly and I wondered if I would enjoy it, but it built to a dramatic end. There is a lot of talking about "dreaming" and shamanism, and pretty much every aspect of this was a little over my head. Also, there are a few scenes involving animal hunting that I chose to skip pretty much over because they were just really detail-heavy. But overall a good read and I think I will meander my way through the series slowly.
Audiobook Notes: I was excited to be able to alternate between reading with my eyes in my paperback and listening when I was driving to and from work. Otherwise it would have taken me much longer to get through the book. The narrator does a great job with his performance; he gave distinct voices to certain characters and I enjoyed this. The hardest part about listening, I think, is that ALL of the character names confused the heck out of me because they aren't anything like the names I am familar with. (Ex: Runs In Light, Wolf Dreamer, Raven Hunter, Strikes Lightning, One Who Cries, Green River). I had a really tough time remembering which name went with which character, but once I sort of figured it out, the story was much easier for me to follow.
As it stands at the time of this review, there are only audiobooks for a few of the titles in the lengthy series, but I'm really hoping they will publish all of them.
Title: People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear
Series: North America's Forgotten Past #1
Narrator: Mark Boyett
Length: 19 hours, 19 minutes, Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
I've seen this book compared to The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (one of my absolute favorites) which is why I bought nearly the entire series when I came across it in a used bookstore a while back. Both the Auel books and this series are pre-history in terms of time period and both have characters that go on a long journey. So I suppose they are similar. However, the writing is quite different between these books and the characters are too.
This is the first installment in a very long group of standalones featuring the first people to come across what is now the Bering Strait back at the end of the Ice Age. The characters aren't super developed but their relationships are quite dynamic and I really enjoyed the "politics" between tribes. It started sort of slowly and I wondered if I would enjoy it, but it built to a dramatic end. There is a lot of talking about "dreaming" and shamanism, and pretty much every aspect of this was a little over my head. Also, there are a few scenes involving animal hunting that I chose to skip pretty much over because they were just really detail-heavy. But overall a good read and I think I will meander my way through the series slowly.
Audiobook Notes: I was excited to be able to alternate between reading with my eyes in my paperback and listening when I was driving to and from work. Otherwise it would have taken me much longer to get through the book. The narrator does a great job with his performance; he gave distinct voices to certain characters and I enjoyed this. The hardest part about listening, I think, is that ALL of the character names confused the heck out of me because they aren't anything like the names I am familar with. (Ex: Runs In Light, Wolf Dreamer, Raven Hunter, Strikes Lightning, One Who Cries, Green River). I had a really tough time remembering which name went with which character, but once I sort of figured it out, the story was much easier for me to follow.
As it stands at the time of this review, there are only audiobooks for a few of the titles in the lengthy series, but I'm really hoping they will publish all of them.
Title: People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear
Series: North America's Forgotten Past #1
Narrator: Mark Boyett
Length: 19 hours, 19 minutes, Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
October 26, 2011
This book is the beginning of a series of truly awesome reading. When I checked it out in the library it was for a college assignment. However, when I saw how long it was I did not think I could finish it. But soon I became so engrossed with the characters I had a hard time putting it down. The author describes the people and surroundings so well it wisks you away to that time period. I could see the people in my mind and feel their feelings. I could see the landscape of the area, feel the cold, smell the fires and food these people were cooking. To be able to lose myself in words on paper was so unusual for me. I found myself going back to the library for more. When I found out it was a series I made sure I checked them out in order. Waiting weeks at times for some and that was very hard to do. If you enjoy reading about the Native American people these books are a must read. The author is an archeologist who does extensive research to make his book complete. Personnally, I think this book and all the ones that follow are super rereads.
November 29, 2007
This entire series is EXCELLENT. It's educational, gripping, romantic, exciting, mystical, it's many genres all rolled into one. I won't list all the books on goodreads cuz there are just too many, but I will tell you the ones I remember the most and were probably what I would consider, the "best".
People of the Earth
People of the Sea
People of the Lightning
People of the Lakes** Very very good!
People of the River
There are a few news ones also! Yay! So, if you are interested in how the various Native American cultures lived and loved, you will definitely get sucked into this series! Oh, one thing, they are stand-alone books, so you don't have to read them in order or anything :)
People of the Earth
People of the Sea
People of the Lightning
People of the Lakes** Very very good!
People of the River
There are a few news ones also! Yay! So, if you are interested in how the various Native American cultures lived and loved, you will definitely get sucked into this series! Oh, one thing, they are stand-alone books, so you don't have to read them in order or anything :)
August 3, 2024
"Cuando un hombre y una mujer están juntos, cada uno toma una parte del otro. Los problemas de él se convierten en los de ella, y viceversa. El apareamiento acarrea niños, y los niños exigen toda la atención. La exigen y la merecen. Hace falta mucho esfuerzo para que un niño pase de ser un animal a convertirse en un ser humano. Los niños no tienen sentido del tiempo, necesitan mucho cuidado."
September 4, 2017
I read the first two or three of these, probably hoping they'd fill the gap waiting for the next Earth's Children book to come out (this was a looong time ago, obvs). Sadly, I found them lacking. The writing is pedestrian at best and the characters were little more than caricatures.
November 12, 2018
The audiobook reader for this is amazing! He managed to create unique and believable voices for a cast of 8+ major characters.
Had some trouble suspending my disbelief on just how effective the dreamers' magic was. And I was caught off-guard a couple times by anachronistic language "she steepled her fingers" (wait what, steeples don't exist yet). Otherwise, another great historical look by author-archaeologists, at a time and a people long gone but very much like us.
Had some trouble suspending my disbelief on just how effective the dreamers' magic was. And I was caught off-guard a couple times by anachronistic language "she steepled her fingers" (wait what, steeples don't exist yet). Otherwise, another great historical look by author-archaeologists, at a time and a people long gone but very much like us.
October 31, 2022
People of the Wolf (North America's Forgotten Past, #1)
Gear, W. Michael
Gear, Kathleen O'neal
Audible : Something I noticed when listening to People of the wolf, on Audible. How much the first book gave foreshadowing to the series. Multiple times the dreamers, Heron, or even Wolf Dreamer talked about events that will become People of the River, People of the Silence, even People of the Lightning. I listened to the descriptions and could see the future in their words, and the past, as I have read the stories, and know how they go. It's amazing when you are listening to how much import something is that you did not think of before. Maybe it shows the power of the spoken word, and the marvel of the story teller.
It's all a spiral.
Review: People of the wolf the wonderful story of a boy finding the way into a new world, the dynamics of twins of light fighting darkness. Twin brothers born from rape, are living in a dying world. The people are pushed to the edge of survival. Faced with the edge of the world (a wall of ice) and the others (a section of their own people separated by conflict so far in the past it is not remembered) the brothers are forced to confront each other, the world, and the spirits. One brother finds the path to light, a literal path to saving the people, by leading the people through a hole in the ice, and peace with the others. The Other brother embraces darkness drawing the tribes into raids and mutilations. Which path will the people follow? Which brother will save the people? Who has the true vision? This is the first book in an epic series, bringing light and dark in conflict over and over throughout the ages..... This is my favorite book of the series. I feel a close connection to Wolf Dreamer and can only dream of his ability.
Character list:
People of the wolf (crossing the ice bridge)
Dreamer: Runs in the light (birth name), Wolf dreamer(given after killing the wolf)
Ravenhunter: (birth name) twin, name was given after birth when he grasped a raven feather. Raven hunter is a false dreamer. He is good at making people question and not following the correct path.
Dreamer: Heron: Old woman who guided Wolf Dreamer, true dreamer left the tribe 20 years before because of Broken Branch who stole herhunter.
IceFire: father of the twins, dreamer White Tusk clan, was used by power to bring the twins into the world, in the end he learns that his sacrifices will be for all the people, and he will trade a son for a son.
DancingFox: Love interest, seen as a leader of the people in the future and give birth to a dreamer that will be the center of the web.
Crow Caller: Tribal shaman (false dreamer)
Power object: wolf skin
Gear, W. Michael
Gear, Kathleen O'neal
Audible : Something I noticed when listening to People of the wolf, on Audible. How much the first book gave foreshadowing to the series. Multiple times the dreamers, Heron, or even Wolf Dreamer talked about events that will become People of the River, People of the Silence, even People of the Lightning. I listened to the descriptions and could see the future in their words, and the past, as I have read the stories, and know how they go. It's amazing when you are listening to how much import something is that you did not think of before. Maybe it shows the power of the spoken word, and the marvel of the story teller.
It's all a spiral.
Review: People of the wolf the wonderful story of a boy finding the way into a new world, the dynamics of twins of light fighting darkness. Twin brothers born from rape, are living in a dying world. The people are pushed to the edge of survival. Faced with the edge of the world (a wall of ice) and the others (a section of their own people separated by conflict so far in the past it is not remembered) the brothers are forced to confront each other, the world, and the spirits. One brother finds the path to light, a literal path to saving the people, by leading the people through a hole in the ice, and peace with the others. The Other brother embraces darkness drawing the tribes into raids and mutilations. Which path will the people follow? Which brother will save the people? Who has the true vision? This is the first book in an epic series, bringing light and dark in conflict over and over throughout the ages..... This is my favorite book of the series. I feel a close connection to Wolf Dreamer and can only dream of his ability.
Character list:
People of the wolf (crossing the ice bridge)
Dreamer: Runs in the light (birth name), Wolf dreamer(given after killing the wolf)
Ravenhunter: (birth name) twin, name was given after birth when he grasped a raven feather. Raven hunter is a false dreamer. He is good at making people question and not following the correct path.
Dreamer: Heron: Old woman who guided Wolf Dreamer, true dreamer left the tribe 20 years before because of Broken Branch who stole herhunter.
IceFire: father of the twins, dreamer White Tusk clan, was used by power to bring the twins into the world, in the end he learns that his sacrifices will be for all the people, and he will trade a son for a son.
DancingFox: Love interest, seen as a leader of the people in the future and give birth to a dreamer that will be the center of the web.
Crow Caller: Tribal shaman (false dreamer)
Power object: wolf skin
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2020
I picked up this book because I generally enjoy historical fiction, but this novel was a complete disappointment. For one thing it was hard to read. The prose was subpar at best and often times a chore to get through. The dialogue was just awful. It sounded nothing like what real dialogue should sound like. There also wasn’t a shred of realism associated with this novel. There was basically nothing that I liked about the novel, and I couldn’t even make it to the finish line, even though I strive to finish every book I start no matter how bad. This novel was really weak. I would strongly advise skipping it.
Carl Alves – author of Two For Eternity
Carl Alves – author of Two For Eternity
February 1, 2010
I have not been able to put this series down since I first found it a few months ago. It is written by a husband and wife who are both Archaeologists. They have written a series of books called The First North Americans, as well as each writing their own individual books. Though the stories are mainly fictional, they are supplemented by real archaeological and historical findings and facts. Very intense at moments and really sad at others, overall, an excellent read.
October 14, 2013
Not to be missed. Especially by fans of Clan of the Cave Bear. Unbelievably good writing and the book(series) is based on a real tribe and their beliefs and lifestyles. These two authors aer archeologists and actually studied the tribal remains etc. before writing each of these books. Years of study and learning have gone into each of these amazing books.
May 1, 2008
I devoured ALL of these books.
At times the flow of descriptive data about the local flora and fauna can be daunting but I found it to be enriching and informative for the most part.
The Relationships, Character strugles and the dynamics of survival are spectacular.
At times the flow of descriptive data about the local flora and fauna can be daunting but I found it to be enriching and informative for the most part.
The Relationships, Character strugles and the dynamics of survival are spectacular.
April 9, 2015
I really enjoyed this book and the complex storyline and multidimensional characters. It was both well-researched and respectful of Native American culture. I look forward to reading further titles in this saga.
January 30, 2025
3 Stars
Just not my kind of book, was longer than I like. Not enough action, characters talking among themselves when they did go on hunts took forever. I won't continue with the series.
Just not my kind of book, was longer than I like. Not enough action, characters talking among themselves when they did go on hunts took forever. I won't continue with the series.
September 23, 2010
LOVED IT
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