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Dances With Wolves #1-2
Dances with Wolves: The American Frontier Epic including The Holy Road
The book that inspired the epic movie, Dances With Wolves, and its sequel, The Holy Road, together in one volume for the first time.
1863. The last occupant of Fort Sedgewick, Lieutenant John Dunbar watches over the American frontier. A thousand miles back east, his comrades are locked in battle with the Confederates, but out here he is alone.
His desolate posting will bring him into contact with the lords of the southern plains – the Comanche. He has no knowledge of their customs but Dunbar is intrigued by these people and begins a transformation from which he emerges a different man. A man called Dances With Wolves.
The story continues, 11 years later in The Holy Road. Times are hard for the Comanche. The white man is closing in from all directions, claiming land, driving the tribes on to reservations. Should the Comanche fight or make peace? Misunderstanding and duplicity lead to raids and atrocities on both sides that can have only one conclusion. The man that was John Dunbar must go to war again.
1863. The last occupant of Fort Sedgewick, Lieutenant John Dunbar watches over the American frontier. A thousand miles back east, his comrades are locked in battle with the Confederates, but out here he is alone.
His desolate posting will bring him into contact with the lords of the southern plains – the Comanche. He has no knowledge of their customs but Dunbar is intrigued by these people and begins a transformation from which he emerges a different man. A man called Dances With Wolves.
The story continues, 11 years later in The Holy Road. Times are hard for the Comanche. The white man is closing in from all directions, claiming land, driving the tribes on to reservations. Should the Comanche fight or make peace? Misunderstanding and duplicity lead to raids and atrocities on both sides that can have only one conclusion. The man that was John Dunbar must go to war again.
734 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 23, 2020
54 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Michael Blake
83 books142 followersThe author of several novels, including the New York Times #1 Bestseller Dances With Wolves and winner of the 1991 Academy Award.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 22, 2024
Tenemos 2 novelas en un solo tomo de la colección Frontera Valdemar. La primera, "Baila con lobos", es bien conocida por ser adaptada -con ciertos cambios, al retratar la vida y cultura de los sioux en lugar de los comanches- en 1990 por Kevin Costner en la dirección e interpretación de su protagonista, el teniente Yankee John Dunbar, y al guion su propio autor, Michael Blake, que ganó un Óscar merecidísimo, ya que el ritmo narrativo decae bastante en la segunda parte de la novela, mientras que no ocurre así en su adaptación cinematográfica.
En cambio, la segunda titulada "El camino sagrado", es totalmente desconocida ya que es una secuela de la anterior, escrita de nuevo por Blake en 2001, y que retrata la vida de los comanches liderados por Diez Osos, y la integración total en su poblado de Baila con lobos, que tiene menos protagonismo que en su precuela, ya que ha de compartirlo con Risueño, Pájaro Guía, Diez Osos, Cabello al viento y un nuevo hombre medicina, Profeta Búho, además de que también se narrará muy acertadamente las preocupaciones y vicisitudes de algunas mujeres comanches (En pie con el puño en alto, A la caza de algo, Una trenza colgando). No así el personaje de Ternero de piedra, que de ser vital en la segunda parte de Baila con Lobos, desaparece totalmente en su secuela sin explicación alguna.
Por si fuera poco, esta secuela también retrata la vida de los líderes y algunos guerreros de otras tribus, hermanadas con los comanches, como eran cheyennes, kiowas y arapahoes, para combatir juntos a las gordas invasoras de los soldados bocapeludas y resto invasores blancos. De ahí que sea una novela más extensa, y tristemente cuenta episodios reales entremezclados con ficción, como es la derrota de los indios a manos de cazadores de búfalos en el asentamiento de Adobe Walls o la visita a Washington de los altos destinatarios y líderes de distintas tribus indias en un último intento de conseguir la paz entre pueblos.
En conclusión, ambas son novelas que nos enseñarán el modo de vida de los nativos americanos de las praderas, amantes de los caballos. De ahí se eligiera en la película a los sioux, otra tribu de las praderas que se centraba en la cultura del caballo, aparte de que estaban mejor considerados por los americanos que los comanches, que se rebelaron y guerrearon hasta el final contra los casacas azules -recordemos a Gerónimo-.
Pero mientras que la primera tiene un final más esperanzador, en la segunda vislumbramos poco a poco el triste final de la forma de vida y costumbres de los primeros indígenas norteamericanos, que si no querían ser exterminados simplemente tuvieron que acatar el ultimátum del hombre blanco: abandonar sus tierras para malvivir en reservas. Si se tiene buen ánimo recomiendo ambas novelas. Si no se está de buen talante, preferible solo quedarse en la primera de “Baila con Lobos”. Valoración final: 4 de 5⭐.
En cambio, la segunda titulada "El camino sagrado", es totalmente desconocida ya que es una secuela de la anterior, escrita de nuevo por Blake en 2001, y que retrata la vida de los comanches liderados por Diez Osos, y la integración total en su poblado de Baila con lobos, que tiene menos protagonismo que en su precuela, ya que ha de compartirlo con Risueño, Pájaro Guía, Diez Osos, Cabello al viento y un nuevo hombre medicina, Profeta Búho, además de que también se narrará muy acertadamente las preocupaciones y vicisitudes de algunas mujeres comanches (En pie con el puño en alto, A la caza de algo, Una trenza colgando). No así el personaje de Ternero de piedra, que de ser vital en la segunda parte de Baila con Lobos, desaparece totalmente en su secuela sin explicación alguna.
Por si fuera poco, esta secuela también retrata la vida de los líderes y algunos guerreros de otras tribus, hermanadas con los comanches, como eran cheyennes, kiowas y arapahoes, para combatir juntos a las gordas invasoras de los soldados bocapeludas y resto invasores blancos. De ahí que sea una novela más extensa, y tristemente cuenta episodios reales entremezclados con ficción, como es la derrota de los indios a manos de cazadores de búfalos en el asentamiento de Adobe Walls o la visita a Washington de los altos destinatarios y líderes de distintas tribus indias en un último intento de conseguir la paz entre pueblos.
En conclusión, ambas son novelas que nos enseñarán el modo de vida de los nativos americanos de las praderas, amantes de los caballos. De ahí se eligiera en la película a los sioux, otra tribu de las praderas que se centraba en la cultura del caballo, aparte de que estaban mejor considerados por los americanos que los comanches, que se rebelaron y guerrearon hasta el final contra los casacas azules -recordemos a Gerónimo-.
Pero mientras que la primera tiene un final más esperanzador, en la segunda vislumbramos poco a poco el triste final de la forma de vida y costumbres de los primeros indígenas norteamericanos, que si no querían ser exterminados simplemente tuvieron que acatar el ultimátum del hombre blanco: abandonar sus tierras para malvivir en reservas. Si se tiene buen ánimo recomiendo ambas novelas. Si no se está de buen talante, preferible solo quedarse en la primera de “Baila con Lobos”. Valoración final: 4 de 5⭐.
February 23, 2022
Over thirty years later, Dances with Wolves remains an exceptionally powerful story about a man who learns to live authentically. Blake's prose isn't spectacular -- it's mostly just serviceable, not getting in the way of the plot but not exactly providing much poetic flourish, either -- but his story is so remarkably absorbing and emotionally resonant.
Kevin Costner's movie is almost scene-for-scene faithful to the source material, though that isn't entirely surprising given that Blake himself wrote the screenplay adaptation. But given how sparse Blake's description/narration is, the novel doesn't really offer much in the way of deeper insight into the characters or events of the story. Instead, the book reads like a very solid novelization, despite predating the film by two years.
The Holy Road, by contrast, is less of a conventional sequel to Dances with Wolves -- it isn't The Further Adventures of Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, told as a classical hero's journey -- but really more of a series of vignettes about the Red River War (which was briefly alluded to in the Costner film's epilogue), in which characters from the previous story (Kicking Bird, Ten Bears, Wind In His Hair, Smiles A Lot, Stands With A Fist, Dances With Wolves) are all endowed with more or less equal narrative weight as they navigate the complexities of the military campaign designed to permanently end their way of life.
As such, Dunbar -- a.k.a. Dances With Wolves, the unambiguous protagonist of the first story -- is almost reduced to a subordinate character in this sequel, even though he's featured in his own high-stakes subplot. But this is not a plot-driven story. It's lyrical in a way that Dances is not, and it's most certainly elegiac. If the first book is about a man learning to live authentically, the second is about a culture that is forcibly exterminated, their authentic way of life denied to them forevermore.
As uplifting as Dances with Wolves is, The Holy Road is deeply depressing and bereft of hope, which is understandable, given the historical atrocities it dramatizes and asks us to confront, absent the romantic grandeur presented by other Westerns -- Dances with Wolves included. Supposedly, Blake was developing a third novel in this series at the time of his death in 2015, but I honestly can't imagine what was left to say after this. These two novels are worth reading back-to-back; they present two sides of the same coin in a way most successful stories and their formulaic sequels seldom do.
Kevin Costner's movie is almost scene-for-scene faithful to the source material, though that isn't entirely surprising given that Blake himself wrote the screenplay adaptation. But given how sparse Blake's description/narration is, the novel doesn't really offer much in the way of deeper insight into the characters or events of the story. Instead, the book reads like a very solid novelization, despite predating the film by two years.
The Holy Road, by contrast, is less of a conventional sequel to Dances with Wolves -- it isn't The Further Adventures of Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, told as a classical hero's journey -- but really more of a series of vignettes about the Red River War (which was briefly alluded to in the Costner film's epilogue), in which characters from the previous story (Kicking Bird, Ten Bears, Wind In His Hair, Smiles A Lot, Stands With A Fist, Dances With Wolves) are all endowed with more or less equal narrative weight as they navigate the complexities of the military campaign designed to permanently end their way of life.
As such, Dunbar -- a.k.a. Dances With Wolves, the unambiguous protagonist of the first story -- is almost reduced to a subordinate character in this sequel, even though he's featured in his own high-stakes subplot. But this is not a plot-driven story. It's lyrical in a way that Dances is not, and it's most certainly elegiac. If the first book is about a man learning to live authentically, the second is about a culture that is forcibly exterminated, their authentic way of life denied to them forevermore.
As uplifting as Dances with Wolves is, The Holy Road is deeply depressing and bereft of hope, which is understandable, given the historical atrocities it dramatizes and asks us to confront, absent the romantic grandeur presented by other Westerns -- Dances with Wolves included. Supposedly, Blake was developing a third novel in this series at the time of his death in 2015, but I honestly can't imagine what was left to say after this. These two novels are worth reading back-to-back; they present two sides of the same coin in a way most successful stories and their formulaic sequels seldom do.
March 17, 2023
Stunning, better than the movie for sure! I had vivid pictures of the plains and the lives they must have led.
September 12, 2022
Un librazo, bien escrito y entretenido a rabiar
January 4, 2022
I chose this book after viewing the film Dances With Wolves many times, thinking that it would not compare with the brilliance of the action packed quality of the epic filming. But I was enthralled with the narrative which brought the characters in the film to life, and The Holy Road was a fitting finale to the epic
I chose this book after viewing the film Dances With Wolves many times, thinking that it would not compare with the brilliance of the action packed quality of the epic filming. But I was enthralled with the narrative which brought the characters in the film to life, and The Holy Road was a fitting finale to the epic
I chose this book after viewing the film Dances With Wolves many times, thinking that it would not compare with the brilliance of the action packed quality of the epic filming. But I was enthralled with the narrative which brought the characters in the film to life, and The Holy Road was a fitting finale to the epic
August 7, 2022
Qué rabia me dio cuando mataron a Cisco y a Dos calcetines, de verdad, horrible.
"Los buenos tiempos de aquel verano serían los últimos de los que podrían disfrutar. Su tiempo se había acabado y dentro de poco habría desaparecido para siempre".
"Los buenos tiempos de aquel verano serían los últimos de los que podrían disfrutar. Su tiempo se había acabado y dentro de poco habría desaparecido para siempre".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2021
Sad
This is includes the sequel to Dances with Wolves and is as sad as you know it is bound to be. Epic tale
This is includes the sequel to Dances with Wolves and is as sad as you know it is bound to be. Epic tale
July 28, 2023
One of the most captivating reads i have had the pleasure of completing. You truly feel the joy and wonder of the first book juxtaposed with the despair yet strange pride of the second.
April 16, 2024
L’histoire est très mignonne, le voyage est agréable même si on sait que ça va mal finir. Mais contre toute attente le tome 1, Danse avec les loups, n'entame pas le thème de la destruction de la civilisation des indiens, il faut attendre le tome 2 pour ça, La route sacrée, dans lequel on baigne dans l'incertitude et l'anxiété. Dans cette deuxième partie on ne peut s'empêcher de se demander Et si les choses s'étaient passées différemment ?
Généralement ce livre n'a pas l'humour de Lonesome Dove sauf à certains moments dans le tome 1. A part le personnage principal les autres personnages marquants pour moi sont, au début, le cheval Cisco, un vrai saltimbanque indépendant dont j'ai adoré suivre les aventures, c'est un personnage qu'on suit individuellement au même titre que les autres. A la fin Ten Bears, vers qui les Blancs ont fait un pas, alors il fait un pas vers eux aussi, et une cohabitation aurait pu être possible, dans d'autres circonstances. A la fin du livre une note indique que l'auteur était en train d'écrire un tome 3 quand il est décédé et c'est bien dommage.
Le style est simple et super, beaucoup de bonnes citations, je n'en mets que quelques unes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
« She heard someone start to sing in a lodge close by. She paused to listen and was astounded at what she heard.
The Comanches have a bridge
That passes to another world
The bridge is called Stands With A Fist. »
« "I am wondering", Ten Bears began at last. "This white man's holy road... how can Comanches take a road they have never traveled? How can they take a road where everything is new and strange and still be Comanches ? How can they be happy ?"
Kicking Bird listened as he sucked at the pipe and sent a long stream of smoke curling toward the hole in Ten Bears' lodge.
"I don't know, Grandfather. But I want to see this Lawrie Tatum again and talk with him. Your question is good. It says a lot. But it makes a question come into my mind, a question that might be just as good. I think of the buffalo growing more scarce each summer. I think of white solders coming into the country. I think of these rangers tearing at our camp like starving wolves - killing our women and children, burning down our lodges. When I think of these things, I wonder what will happen if they continue. You ask how we can walk this holy road, and I wonder... how can we not ?" »
« I have never fought a monster. I have wondered all night if such a thing can be done. It must take the strongest men with the bravest hearts, men who are not afraid to die, to fight a monster... men like ourselves. »
Généralement ce livre n'a pas l'humour de Lonesome Dove sauf à certains moments dans le tome 1. A part le personnage principal les autres personnages marquants pour moi sont, au début, le cheval Cisco, un vrai saltimbanque indépendant dont j'ai adoré suivre les aventures, c'est un personnage qu'on suit individuellement au même titre que les autres. A la fin Ten Bears, vers qui les Blancs ont fait un pas, alors il fait un pas vers eux aussi, et une cohabitation aurait pu être possible, dans d'autres circonstances. A la fin du livre une note indique que l'auteur était en train d'écrire un tome 3 quand il est décédé et c'est bien dommage.
Le style est simple et super, beaucoup de bonnes citations, je n'en mets que quelques unes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
« She heard someone start to sing in a lodge close by. She paused to listen and was astounded at what she heard.
The Comanches have a bridge
That passes to another world
The bridge is called Stands With A Fist. »
« "I am wondering", Ten Bears began at last. "This white man's holy road... how can Comanches take a road they have never traveled? How can they take a road where everything is new and strange and still be Comanches ? How can they be happy ?"
Kicking Bird listened as he sucked at the pipe and sent a long stream of smoke curling toward the hole in Ten Bears' lodge.
"I don't know, Grandfather. But I want to see this Lawrie Tatum again and talk with him. Your question is good. It says a lot. But it makes a question come into my mind, a question that might be just as good. I think of the buffalo growing more scarce each summer. I think of white solders coming into the country. I think of these rangers tearing at our camp like starving wolves - killing our women and children, burning down our lodges. When I think of these things, I wonder what will happen if they continue. You ask how we can walk this holy road, and I wonder... how can we not ?" »
« I have never fought a monster. I have wondered all night if such a thing can be done. It must take the strongest men with the bravest hearts, men who are not afraid to die, to fight a monster... men like ourselves. »
October 6, 2024
Dances With Wolves 4/5 | The Holy Road 2/5
It was interesting to see that the movie Dances with Wolves, which I adored as a teenager, kept quite close to the book. Only the end in the novel seemed rushed, changing pace dramatically. I also missed real Indian words or speech. If you want to show the Indian way of life, its culture, the least you could have done is some research into the language.
The Holy Road is a different story. Dances with Wolves has only a small part to play. His plot seems to be a contrived way to have him disappear from the main events of the book. Everything that happened to him to the very end couldn't interest me. It felt Blake had to put him in the novel to attract potential readers, but he is an insignificant side-character.
There are quite some plot lines and it is difficult to find a focus. It seems that Kicking Bird is the one claiming most space and has a pivotal role concerning all the plot lines. The other plot lines are insubstantial.
The real story of the Comanche is indeed a sad one, but Blake doesn't seem to capture it into a meaningful fictional story. The writing is slow paced, lacks focus, and misses on cultural details. Yes, the camp is described, but I didn't feel I learned anything particular on Comanche life. Especially when you want to show the decline and loss of Indian culture, why not show that culture in its rich details?
It was interesting to see that the movie Dances with Wolves, which I adored as a teenager, kept quite close to the book. Only the end in the novel seemed rushed, changing pace dramatically. I also missed real Indian words or speech. If you want to show the Indian way of life, its culture, the least you could have done is some research into the language.
The Holy Road is a different story. Dances with Wolves has only a small part to play. His plot seems to be a contrived way to have him disappear from the main events of the book. Everything that happened to him to the very end couldn't interest me. It felt Blake had to put him in the novel to attract potential readers, but he is an insignificant side-character.
There are quite some plot lines and it is difficult to find a focus. It seems that Kicking Bird is the one claiming most space and has a pivotal role concerning all the plot lines. The other plot lines are insubstantial.
The real story of the Comanche is indeed a sad one, but Blake doesn't seem to capture it into a meaningful fictional story. The writing is slow paced, lacks focus, and misses on cultural details. Yes, the camp is described, but I didn't feel I learned anything particular on Comanche life. Especially when you want to show the decline and loss of Indian culture, why not show that culture in its rich details?
March 21, 2023
Son dos novelas. La primera en la que se basaron para hacer la famosa película. La segunda parte narra los acontecimientos 10 años más tarde.
No se puede hablar de este libro sin hablar de la película. El guionista de la misma, es el propio escritor, así que es muy fiel al libro, pero en mi opinión la película es muy superior.... En la novela, todos los acontecimientos pasan de manera bastante apresurada...la película es mucho más poética y pausada, claro que también está acompañada de una obra maestra de banda sonora de John Barry.
La segunda parte, "El camino sagrado", me ha gustado bastante menos..Nos cuenta como las tribus indias acaban en la reserva, las reticencias para entrar en ellas por una parte de los indios...el personaje principal de la primera novela, "Baila con lobos" acaba bastante desdibujado en esta segunda parte, donde se convierte en un personaje secundario...un final bastante insulso... prescindible.
No se puede hablar de este libro sin hablar de la película. El guionista de la misma, es el propio escritor, así que es muy fiel al libro, pero en mi opinión la película es muy superior.... En la novela, todos los acontecimientos pasan de manera bastante apresurada...la película es mucho más poética y pausada, claro que también está acompañada de una obra maestra de banda sonora de John Barry.
La segunda parte, "El camino sagrado", me ha gustado bastante menos..Nos cuenta como las tribus indias acaban en la reserva, las reticencias para entrar en ellas por una parte de los indios...el personaje principal de la primera novela, "Baila con lobos" acaba bastante desdibujado en esta segunda parte, donde se convierte en un personaje secundario...un final bastante insulso... prescindible.
June 1, 2023
A captivating read
Saw the film so thought I’d read the book not disappointed. The follow up is as good and you can feel the betrayal of the Indian people. We never learn.
Saw the film so thought I’d read the book not disappointed. The follow up is as good and you can feel the betrayal of the Indian people. We never learn.
October 23, 2023
Un western bucólico, por contradictorio que eso parezca. Una representación humanista de los nativos norteamericanos. Al estar escrita con ritmo de film, toma recursos del mismo.
January 30, 2024
Un western con hechuras de bestseller, pero entretenido.
July 8, 2024
Bonita historia, pobre calidad literaria.
January 13, 2024
Novela, de tipo ¿western? Son dos novelas, en la primera se basó Kevin Costner para su famosa película Bailando con lobos, de 1990. Las dos novelas, una continuación de otra, reivindican la forma de vida de los nativos norteamericanos, y su conmoción ante la llegada de los hombres blancos.
Las dos novelas me han gustado, más la segunda pues tiene más colorido. El final es triste, no podía ser de otra manera tal como se desarrolló la Historia (no quiero decir que la Historia no pudiera haber sido de otra manera, sino que siendo como fue, la novela no podía tener otro final). La muerte de Pájaro Guía queda en la incertidumbre, así como la de su enemigo Profeta Búho. ¿Se envenenaron uno a otro? ¿O fue McKenzie? Como punto negativo, no dice qué fue de En Pie y sus hijos, que han sido personajes principales. Me ha gustado mucho, aunque el final es triste. Risueño y A la Caza de Algo siguen vivos y pueden continuar la historia.
Las dos novelas me han gustado, más la segunda pues tiene más colorido. El final es triste, no podía ser de otra manera tal como se desarrolló la Historia (no quiero decir que la Historia no pudiera haber sido de otra manera, sino que siendo como fue, la novela no podía tener otro final). La muerte de Pájaro Guía queda en la incertidumbre, así como la de su enemigo Profeta Búho. ¿Se envenenaron uno a otro? ¿O fue McKenzie? Como punto negativo, no dice qué fue de En Pie y sus hijos, que han sido personajes principales. Me ha gustado mucho, aunque el final es triste. Risueño y A la Caza de Algo siguen vivos y pueden continuar la historia.
October 12, 2023
Michael Blake (1945-2015) wrote about the indigenous peoples of North America & their subjugation by the Settlers & the political & military establishments.
The characterisation is excellent. I really cared about the main characters.
The plot is good & the structure well thought through.
The landscape was as much a character in the plot.
Deprivation of freedom
Thieving hypocritical politicians.
Totally unsympathetic military leadership.
These are some of the themes that Michael Blake explores in ‘Dances with Wolves’ & its sequel, The Holy Road.’
The themes are familiar in our everyday world today but Michael Blake skilfully weaves it into a compelling narrative. I loved the first novel, Dances with wolves but the second part with less enjoyable. In total I found it a very compelling story.
Are epics always tragic
The characterisation is excellent. I really cared about the main characters.
The plot is good & the structure well thought through.
The landscape was as much a character in the plot.
Deprivation of freedom
Thieving hypocritical politicians.
Totally unsympathetic military leadership.
These are some of the themes that Michael Blake explores in ‘Dances with Wolves’ & its sequel, The Holy Road.’
The themes are familiar in our everyday world today but Michael Blake skilfully weaves it into a compelling narrative. I loved the first novel, Dances with wolves but the second part with less enjoyable. In total I found it a very compelling story.
Are epics always tragic
July 23, 2023
I found both books a little boring, but I enjoyed the journey of the history of Native Americans and their journey in becoming American citizens living on government issued reservations.
I didn’t really concentrate on either of the books but didn’t feel I missed out on anything. It’s written simply enough to be able to do this.
I didn’t really concentrate on either of the books but didn’t feel I missed out on anything. It’s written simply enough to be able to do this.
August 26, 2023
Good western yarn, enjoyed the second book more
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews