The Northwind people have been strong, have provided good leadership, and have kept their own people and ways united throughout generations. The Northwind People demand tributes for providing valuable information twice a year to the prolific others, and for generations the Raven People have given the tribute. Times are changing though...
Cimmis has a tenuous hold upon the Council of his people. The Great Matron Astcat, Cimmis' wife, is the final voice on most matters for the Northwind People. However, Astcat's soul has developed a disturbing tendency to wander. Sometimes days will pass as Cimmis tenderly cares for her, talks to her of events and asks her to return to help guide him and their people...without answer. The Northwind people are beginning to suspect that something is wrong and that perhaps it is time for a new Great Matron at the Council. Cimmis and his power-hungry Starwatcher, Ecan, have advised and carried out horrible acts in order to keep the Northwind people in a dominate position over the Raven People.
This unrest is more well-defined amongst the Raven People, of course. They see all too well how the murders and demands issued from these sources affect their lives. As the climate and terrain has changed over the years, it has become harder and harder to provide for their people as well as having enough for the demanded tribute. Northwind people walk in splendor having the best and most highly decorated clothes for even ordinary every-day wear, while the Raven people are wearing worn out capes and patched footwear to the most important ceremony of the year. Those that do not give the tribute are already dead by the order of the Northwind Council. The four Old Women who rule the council with Great Matron Astcat seem convinced that the Raven people are simply holding out on them when they question the heavy tributes. They are so wrapped up in their own concerns and their own perceptions that they cannot see how far they are pushing the Raven people...until it is too late.
The lure of power and wealth is more than enough to set plots twisting within plots as those already in positions of power jockey for an even better advantage over their rivals and their subordinates. Bigotry is fairly common on both sides as the Northwind's act as though the Raven people are barely human and the Raven people are convinced that the Northwind's have no other motivations besides greed and cruelty. The Northwind's have even begun killing off whole families of their own people who have had the audacity to disagree with Cimmis and the Council, and Ecan is said to beat his own blind son who is the only family he has left after that terrible fire.
Evening Star was the daughter of a Matron and destined to lead her people someday, perhaps even serve on the Northwind Council. That bright prospect changed the day her mother spoke out against the Council, Cimmis and Ecan. Evening Star herself was changed forever on the day as she was forced to watch her mother and husband killed before her eyes, forced to listen to the horrible death of her two-year old daughter and then enslaved and humiliated by the disturbed Ecan and his brother. She escapes this enslavement and runs to her nearest living relative, Dzoo, who is the very heart of the Raven people now. Dzoo Dreams for the Raven people, heals their wounds both spiritual and physical, and shares the knowledge given her by her Spirit Guide. So, she is not in her village when Evening Star arrives, and Evening Star is forced instead to ask the leader, Rain Bear, for his protection against Ecan and Cimmis. In exchange, she will share all that she overheard while enslaved by Ecan and his brother, which may well save Rain Bear's people.
Meanwhile, Cimmis' has already taken steps to eliminate both Rain Bear, who is a popular leader amongst the Raven people, and Dzoo, who holds some mysterious allure for Cimmis' greatest asset....the dark and powerful witch who goes by the name of Coyote. Dzoo knows of Coyote's twisted desires though and one who Dreams so true cannot be easily fooled, easily subdued or cast aside without her own knowledge. The mysterious and powerful Coyote stalks her constantly, and both of them know that it is only a dance they share before the final conflict between them, while their People pull each other apart around them.
My Thoughts:
This is the 12th in a series by the husband/wife archaeologists and writing team, Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear. Each novel appears to be an independent story with no necessary link for the readers from one novel to the next. I had read a couple of books in this series before tracking down the first, People of the Wolf, and had intended to read them as much in order as I could from that point on. However, the same day that checked book one out of my local library, I discovered this book was also in the system.
I was very interested in jumping to this book for two main reasons. One, Raven is one of the prominent figures in Native American tradition that I have always had a keen interest in and I was very curious how the authors would feature Raven in this work. Secondly, from reading the brief on this book I learned that a big inspiration for this work was the controversial archaeological discovery in the mid 90's, Kennewick Man, a Caucasoid male mummy dating back more than 9,000 years that was discovered on the banks of the Coumbia River in the Pacific Northwest. I had been so impressed with the Gears' work thus far, that I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into an well-written fictional account of a potentially Asatru culture mingling with a Native American one.
Sadly, I have to say that I was rather disappointed on both of these points. Tradition says that those who walk a life-path with Raven have great potential for either magic or mischief depending on how they choose to walk their life-path, are often given a sense of great spiritual responsibility and strong empathy. Up til now, all of the works I have read by the Gears have really emphasized the "dark" aspects of Raven; the trickster, maliciousness over kindness, death over life, sorrow rather than joy and selfishness over generosity. Raven never stands out as a Leader like Wolf does in so many of these works, perhaps because these writers seem more focused on the duality represented by Wolf and Raven as the Hero Twins. When looking at Wolf and Raven as totems however, neither is greater or lesser than the other and neither is necessarily more virtuous than the other.
In retrospect, I suppose that the Gears do a truly decent job of illustrating the potential, both light and dark, of those who follow Raven, especially considering they are, presumably, writing about concepts from a culture that they were not born into nor raised within. Other than mentioning a few differences, such as the red hair so common amongst the Northwind People, very little of the cultural differences are discussed. Which, considering how little we really know about the people in North America at the time of this story, seems understandable if not disappointing.
However, all these points aside, I do have to say that I found this work to be the least enjoyable thus far. There is too much going on, too many people plotting for their own gain, and too many open ended theories left laying about to really provide an entertaining story and a cohesive plot. Perhaps the Gears felt that the best way to convey the endless mystery of Raven was to leave us guessing on many points?
While I enjoyed several of the characters and was interested in the outcome, I never really felt gripped by this work as I have by other tales that they have told. It is a well told tale, an interesting setting and plot with many little side stories and convoluted relationships between mostly engaging characters. Perhaps all of the unanswered questions generated in this work only served to ruffle my own overly-curious feathers, and thus shorten my patience as a reader though.
I find myself pondering the meaning of the story we were given in relation to the happenings found in the Prologue and Epilogue. As is typical of this series, the Prologue takes place in our era with an archaeological find, in this case, Kennewick Man. The Gears conjecture, in a rather roundabout manner, that perhaps we find such individuals remains because that is when they are meant to finally be released from their bodies, after being given the time to understand themselves, their choices and actions and find a sense of balance and peace that will allow them to pass successfully to the next Wheel in their evolution.
In the final pages, Rides-The-Wind sits and talks with Cimmis as he dies, obviously trying to help Cimmis find a balance within himself, to help him find his balance before he faces his Judgment. Rides-the-Wind is reluctant to send even Cimmis to his afterlife with so much anger and hate brimming within him. "It is emptiness that makes a vessel useful. What would a bowl or cup be without its hollow interior?", the old Soul Keeper lectures.
"Well, then my wife has turned me into something very useful - I have become a yawning black abyss." Cimmis replies bitterly.
"Very soon now you must decide whether that abyss will be eternally filled with anger and resentment, or love and peace. Which will it be?"Rides-the-Wind returns gently.
Then after Cimmis' death, "It isn't time for his soul to be set free. It must stay here, with his bones." Rides-the-Wind says to Cimmis' distraught daughter.
"Why, Elder?", she asks.
"Everyone deserves the chance to stand before Gutginsa and explain his actions. Even Cimmis. though it may be a long time before Cimmis understands what he did and Gutginsa allows him to go free."
It would have to be a truly unbound love and generosity that would motivate someone in Rides-the-Wind's social position to do something so culturally terrifying as denying someone access to their afterlife until they were truly ready to face Judgment. As in each book I have read thus far by the Gears, they illustrate that not a lot has changed in human nature over the centuries and that culture is often not as large a barrier as we seem to believe. Virtues and Immoralities are illuminated here, but we, the readers, are left to ponder their strengths, weaknesses, meanings, and intertwined relations for ourselves. I think that this is one of those works that I'll like better as I think more on it and re-read. So, it's value in the long run may counterbalance the short term flaws that it exhibited to me as a reader.
I would still recommend it as an interesting read, although I can't say that I would unconditionally recommend it as a purchase. It definitely gives us more questions than answers, but that isn't always a bad thing. The power, knowledge, magic and wisdom that Raven offers us is really only to be feared if it is misused, and like Wolf totem, Raven often says that we will truly learn only after we face and best the worst of what we carry inside of us. That aspect of this totem is most clearly illustrated in this work. How ready are you to answer for your choices?
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