people of the mist by kathleen o'neal gear & w. michael gear
most of the books in the first north americans series have similar plot devices; there's a tyrant (or two) who wants to be king over all they see. he often abuses Power (sort of an universal life force similar to The Force) & throws it out of wack. there's one that stands against him, usually male & a Dreamer (someone in tune with Power), who then brings everything back into balance.
each book focuses on a different native american culture and are set anywhere from 13,000 B.C.E to 1300 A.D. there's details about what clothing was worn, what food was eaten, what the dwellings looked like & what some of their rituals were. the authors are archeologists, so you can be sure that most of the details are accurate, up to the time the book was written. (other information could've been found later that contradicts something. i don't know) the first chapter of every novel is set in modern times and deals with some form of clash between native american culture (involving archeology) and the modern world.
but this novel is different; it's a murder mystery.
red knot, the grand-daughter of the leader of her village, is set to be married to copper thunder to cement a political alliance. she's repulsed by him and in love with high fox, the son of the leader of another village. during the pre-marriage festivities, he asks her to run away with him. she agrees, but is found dead early the next morning. naturally high fox is the prime suspect. he goes into hiding and asks his friend sun conch for help. she recently, and publicly, declared her love for him, much to everyone's embarrassment. not only is he the son of the village leader & she the daughter of a potter. but he's undergone the ritual to become a man (the symbolic killing of the boy he was) and she's still a girl (according to their beliefs this means she hasn't had her period yet.) their ages are about 18 & 14 respectively. (the book mentions that she was sick a lot when she was younger, so i wonder if that had something to do with it or she's just a late bloomer)
but i digress....
sun conch decides to go get a man known as the panther, he's suspected by many of being a witch & she figures he has some clout, that if he investigated, everyone would listen to what he found out. she goes to the island where he's a hermit, the panther's not interested and in an attempt to get rid of her says he'll do it if she becomes his slave. to his surprise she agrees and he travels to talk to high fox. he narrowly stops an attack by red knot's village warriors to bring high fox back for justice. the panther gets black spike (father of high fox & leader of his village) and hunting hawk (leader of red knot's village & her grand-mother) to allow him to investigate. he goes to red knot's village to work from there.
during the course of the investigation the panther finds that copper thunder is trying to recruit the young men to join him to take over some of the up-river villages. red knot and high fox were having an affair while she was still a girl, which makes him look more guilty. the panther also finds out that red knot's mother was having a years-long affair with high fox's father and that she's the mother to them both. incest is a worse crime than murder to these people. (i thought they would make red knot & high fox half-siblings. making them full-siblings really ramps up the ick factor.) black spike confesses to killing red knot when she wouldn't believe the he was sleeping with her brother & throws himself into the bonfire that is being built to kill him. at the end the panther frees sun conch from her vow of service & she looses her love for high fox when he blames his troubles on others & vows to make them all pay. (several of these novels could have a sequel) the panther confronts red knot's mother about the affair. she was marred to black spike's brother but loved black spike. when she discovered that she was carrying high fox, she went north on a trading expedition with black spike and his wife. she killed the wife, had the baby & black spike brought him home as his wife's. she also killed her husband, thinking that she could marry him when she became leader of her tribe, but her mother hung on to life. the panther goes back to his island.
each book focuses on a different native american culture and are set anywhere from 13,000 B.C.E to 1300 A.D. there's details about what clothing was worn, what food was eaten, what the dwellings looked like & what some of their rituals were. the authors are archeologists, so you can be sure that most of the details are accurate, up to the time the book was written. (other information could've been found later that contradicts something. i don't know) the first chapter of every novel is set in modern times and deals with some form of clash between native american culture (involving archeology) and the modern world.
but this novel is different; it's a murder mystery.
red knot, the grand-daughter of the leader of her village, is set to be married to copper thunder to cement a political alliance. she's repulsed by him and in love with high fox, the son of the leader of another village. during the pre-marriage festivities, he asks her to run away with him. she agrees, but is found dead early the next morning. naturally high fox is the prime suspect. he goes into hiding and asks his friend sun conch for help. she recently, and publicly, declared her love for him, much to everyone's embarrassment. not only is he the son of the village leader & she the daughter of a potter. but he's undergone the ritual to become a man (the symbolic killing of the boy he was) and she's still a girl (according to their beliefs this means she hasn't had her period yet.) their ages are about 18 & 14 respectively. (the book mentions that she was sick a lot when she was younger, so i wonder if that had something to do with it or she's just a late bloomer)
but i digress....
sun conch decides to go get a man known as the panther, he's suspected by many of being a witch & she figures he has some clout, that if he investigated, everyone would listen to what he found out. she goes to the island where he's a hermit, the panther's not interested and in an attempt to get rid of her says he'll do it if she becomes his slave. to his surprise she agrees and he travels to talk to high fox. he narrowly stops an attack by red knot's village warriors to bring high fox back for justice. the panther gets black spike (father of high fox & leader of his village) and hunting hawk (leader of red knot's village & her grand-mother) to allow him to investigate. he goes to red knot's village to work from there.
during the course of the investigation the panther finds that copper thunder is trying to recruit the young men to join him to take over some of the up-river villages. red knot and high fox were having an affair while she was still a girl, which makes him look more guilty. the panther also finds out that red knot's mother was having a years-long affair with high fox's father and that she's the mother to them both. incest is a worse crime than murder to these people. (i thought they would make red knot & high fox half-siblings. making them full-siblings really ramps up the ick factor.) black spike confesses to killing red knot when she wouldn't believe the he was sleeping with her brother & throws himself into the bonfire that is being built to kill him. at the end the panther frees sun conch from her vow of service & she looses her love for high fox when he blames his troubles on others & vows to make them all pay. (several of these novels could have a sequel) the panther confronts red knot's mother about the affair. she was marred to black spike's brother but loved black spike. when she discovered that she was carrying high fox, she went north on a trading expedition with black spike and his wife. she killed the wife, had the baby & black spike brought him home as his wife's. she also killed her husband, thinking that she could marry him when she became leader of her tribe, but her mother hung on to life. the panther goes back to his island.