The Dawn Country
A People of the Longhouse Series, No 2
W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Forg / Tom Doherty
March 2011/ ISBN 978-0-7653-2017-9
Fantasy/prehistoric America
Amazon

Reviewed by P.L. Blair

Gears produce another winner with Dawn Country

I've been a fan of W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear since the mid-'90s when I discovered People of the Lake. Their blend of fact, fiction, mysticism and magic – and their depth of knowledge of the pre-Columbian people of America – are irresistible to me. When I pick up a novel by the Gears, I have high expectations. The Dawn Country delivers. Another first-rate tale by the Gears, it follows a disparate group of children who have been sold to a witch – and an equally disparate band of would-be rescuers, enemies who have, temporarily, set aside their differences to achieve a common goal.

The Dawn Country is part of the Gears' People of the Longhouse series. Much as I admire the Gears, I have to admit I haven't read all of their books – and have not yet read the other Longhouse books. It's to the Gears' credit that my lack of background didn't matter. The Gears provide enough detail so the reader discovers everything necessary to enjoy Dawn Country.

That said, of course, I now plan to add the earlier books to my personal library. I want to learn more about heroic Wrass and Odion, War Chief Korakoo and the man she's divorced – Gonda. And I am also eager for the books I'm sure will come in this series. What is Odion's destiny? What will happen to the deceiver Atotarho? And what of the man in the black cape? But I don't want to give too much away.

The Dawn Country, as the Gears note in a nonfiction introduction to their novel, takes place at a critical time in the history of the Iroquois people, a time in the 1400s AD when they crowded together in their longhouses – at least one that could have housed up to 2,000 people … a time of bitter warfare and indications of cannibalism

This is the history with which the Gears work, the foundations on which they build their tale of children sold into slavery. That history is woven into the story – but never intrusively. In the best style of story-telling, the reader is shown the rich cultural detail that underpins the tale, but that detail never interferes with the story itself.

The story moves at relentless pace, a steady building of tension that, at times, becomes almost unbearable. The Gears are masters of this style; masters, too, of blending hard reality with compelling mystic belief. This is a land, a time, when ghosts and spirits move among the trees in snow-cast forests; these are a people whose possessions are filled with sentience … who can feel spirits moving within their weapons. And because the people in the Gears' world accept these things so matter-of-factly, they become matters of fact to the reader. Of course there are ghosts and spirits in the forest. And they are nothing compared to Gannajero, the witch … She's a creature from whom nightmares are born.

The Dawn Country is a tale of deception and betrayal – of terrible family secrets – but also of astounding heroism and hope.