Voice of the Eagle - Hardcover

Shuler, Linda Lay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688095194 ISBN 13: 9780688095192

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1992

Synopsis

Traveling through a hostile territory with their newborn son, Kwani and her mate must fight to defend themselves and their treasure against vicious enemies and hostile spirits. 150,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo.

About this title

Reviews

Thirteenth-century North America, where bands of Indians roam the land, again provides the backdrop in this sequel to the bestselling She Who Remembers . Kwani, a woman with compelling spiritual powers, has been driven from her Anasazi tribe and joins her mate Tolonqua's people, the Towa, in the Pueblo city of Cicuye. Over the next 20 years, Kwani survives enemy attacks, participates in rituals seeking guidance and good fortune from the deities, nurtures her spirited son Acoya and daughter Antelope, and struggles to fulfill her anointed role as She Who Remembers, the woman chosen to teach young girls the secrets of Earthmother. The author steeps her narrative in meticulously researched detail, which seems to have taken priority over the plot. Endless listings of minutiae, combined with an awkward dialect that reads like an inferior translation from a foreign language, diminish the reader's willingness to be transported to another time. In the end, Shuler's living history never comes fully to life. Literary Guild main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An assiduously researched sequel to Shuler's She Who Remembers (1991), again spotlighting Kwani, an Anasazi woman of the 13th century in what is now New Mexico. Here, Kwani, ``mated'' to a Towa warrior and builder, will live out her life in the rapidly expanding ridge-top city of Cicuye. Driven from her own tribe and pregnant by an Anasazi, Kwani mates with Tolonqua, who takes her and newborn son Acoya back to his people. On the way, he slays the White Buffalo, a Spirit Being, presaging power. Then there's a difficult trek to the Towa village of Cicuye, and once there, the cropping up of enemies. But Tolonqua is chosen to build a new city on the ridge, and Kwani sees the death of her old enemy, who was mother to her son's best friend- -Chomac. Kwani will bear a daughter, Antelope, whose strength and vision equip her to take her mother's place as She Who Remembers- -the woman with the power to be trained to pass on the secrets of women to the next generation. Years pass (Pawnees and Apaches threaten but can't overcome Cicuye) and the city grows; Tolonqua dies nobly on a hunt; Acoya is chosen both to finish the city and lead the people; and Chomac, now mated to Antelope, goes with her on a journey to trade and find his father, the playful wanderer Kokopelli (also from She Who Remembers). And Kwani goes home--her old Anasazi home--to die. In spite of some altercations on the plains or in the pueblos, the Towas are a fairly pacific bunch, and conflicts are sorted out between corn grindings, gossip, lovemaking, etc. Again, Shuler manages an arcane feel to the dialogue, and the reader feels sure that every artifact and process is documented. Not as much fun as Auel's wonder-woman prehistory adventures, but a rose-tinted, respectful ``re-creation'' of The Way Things Were over New Mexico way. (Literary Guild Dual Selection for Summer) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Deserted by her itinerant husband while giving birth to their first child on a treacherous journey, Kwani returns to the Cicuye village as the mate of Tolonqua, an esteemed hunting chief. Kwani is "She Who Remembers," venerated for her mystical visions and powers, charged with a mission to hand down Indian folklore to young women who will immortalize the ancient customs and beliefs. In this sequel to She Who Remembers ( LJ 2/15/88), Shuler once again crafts a finespun epic saga of Indian tribal rituals in the American Southwest during the late 13th century. Although a bit lengthy, this well-researched novel (complete with bibliography) balances the gusto of buffalo hunts and horrific tribal attacks with romantic interludes and warm vignettes of family life. Recommended. Literary Guild selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/92.
-Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688095194
• ISBN 13: 9780688095192
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 654