Slow burning complex story

I bought this book because I really enjoyed the author's Ivory Carver trilogy. However, this one didn't catch my interest in quite the same way. Perhaps because it is told from the viewpoint of men rather than women, or because it is not as dramatic or emotional. I found the storyline a bit confusing, the thread of the story not entirely clear and there were so many characters that I coupsnt tell who was who or from which village. There just seemed to be a lot of battles and fighting, and I couldn't quite figure out what they were fighting about each time.

The central characters, Chakliux, Yaa, Aqamdax and Kos, are clearly drawn, but I still never felt as close to them as the charactets in the Ivory Carver books. There seemed less depth of character.

Chakliux, born of rape, with a club foot, is seen by some as a blessing, others as a curse. Kos, his mother, is twisted by the rape into seeking revenge and begins to use her knowledge of plant medicine to kill, poison and twist one village against the other. This seems to work at cross purposes, killing many innocent people and their dogs in her attempts to convince her village to blame those of the other village (because her rapist came from the other village). Aqamdax and Chakliux meet halfway through and kind of fall in love, but are destined to be apart and separated from one another for the entire story.

Aside from this, the story becomes very complex and long winded, going back and forth repeating similar battles, mysterious killings and people chasing their tails superstitiously trying to blame each other for the deaths. In the end there's hardly anyone left as they have nearly all killed each other.

The narrator is undoubtedly a lot better than the narrator of the Ivory Carver trilogy. He reads with feeling and great expression, making some effort to differentiate different characters by their voices. Overall, the story is so complex, with so many different characters and villages, that I kept getting them mixed up! It didn't help that the two main villages were called "Cousin River" and "Near River" - I never did manage to figure out which characters came from which village!

The best part of the story for me was the sense of being there in the time and place, the authentic details, the day to day tools, customs, foods and way of life. It gave a really interesting insight into life in 600 BC Alaska.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!