People of the Lakes (The First North Americans series, Book 6) Review

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(More customer reviews)I would have loved this novel no matter what since it is so well-written, brilliantly-conceived and the stone age characters--including a shamanistic dwarf, a fearless warrior, a river trader, a runaway princess and a half-crazed contrary--are all persons of depth, but what made it one of my all-time favorites was the fact it was set in my own state, in my own region, practically in my own hometown! It probably helped that I read this at a time when I was far from home and ready to grasp any reminder of my old surroundings, even if it was as part of a tale of those places long, long ago.
For those of you who don't happen to live among southern Ohio's verdant river valleys, regions dotted with a multitude of pre-Columbian settlements, there is still a lot to recommend this long, intricate novel about the Adena peoples in decline and the Hopewell culture in its ascendancy. Many educational details of both societies are included here. (Including such tidbits as the "high-headed" Adena's regarding dwarves as semi-divine individuals of such gloriously surpassing beautiful that women paid richly for the honor of sleeping with them in hopes of birthing a dwarfen child.)
This is the story of a group of Adena, Hopewell and a few outside individuals from other prehistoric North American nations, who join together on a daring quest to destroy a cursed object--a ceremonial mask--by pitching it into the roaring natural landmark we 2000 years later call Niagara Falls. There is a legend about this evil mask, you see, created as it was long ago by an evil shaman whose powers he transferred within it, that strikes terror in those who discover it back among them after an absence of so long the item had come to be regarded as a myth. (Lest this sounds too much like a fantasy rather than anthropological novel, know that whether the mask is truly so afflicted is never completely explored, the important fact is the people in this book believe it is.)
In Peoples of the Lakes, the quest at the story's soul takes the reader through much of the Hopewell and Adena homelands, enriching that setting with several chapters on the everyday lives of those civilizations. The plot then sweeps into the Mississippian cultures and introduces a brutal tribe called the Khota, who worship (were)wolves, shed blood to please their savage gods, and guard the convergence of what we now call the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The Khota raid river traffic and war on anyone within their reach, much like Vikings did in Europe later in the first millennium. Because our questing party trespasses on their territory, the Khota swear to end their lives at any cost. Next the party, with Khota warriors behind them, cross Lake Michigan at the height of a severe thunderstorm, and survive to pass thru the lands of a peaceful nation of lake people whose moral values are both laudable and definitely--in a sexual sense--"different" from our own today. All the while the group of main characters makes its way north, they face pursuit by violent enemies and must overcome natural and human obstacles along the way. When after a thousand pages this story reaches its climax, we finally learn a dark truth that has been kept secret from us: in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, one of the people we've come to know so well all through the journey must not only destroy the malevolent spirits who dwell within the mask, but make the ultimate sacrifice as well...
This massive novel about the values and beliefs of ancient Americans in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mississippi Valley presents a multi-faceted story that will offer something to catch the interest of almost anyone.

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Clan fighting over a powerful totemic mask has brought the Mound Builder people of the Great Lakes region to the edge of destruction. It is up to Star Shell, daughter of a Hopewell chief, to rid her people of this curse. Along with her companions: Otter, a trader; Pearl, a runaway; and Green Spider, either prophet or madman, she braves the stormy waters of the lakes to reach the majestic waterfall known as Roaring Water. She is determined to banish the mask forever to a watery grave.But vengeful clan members are close on her heels, and they have a similar fate planned for her.

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