People of the Wolf (North America's Forgotten Past)

by Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Other authorsW. Michael Gear (Author)

1990

Status

Available

Publication

Tor (1990), Edition: 1st, 448 pages

Description

A sweeping epic of prehistory,People of the Wolfis another compelling novel in the majestic North America's Forgotten Past series fromNew York Times andUSA Todaybestselling authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear In the dawn of history, a valiant people forged a pathway from an old world into a new one. Led by a dreamer who followed the spirit of the wolf, a handful of courageous men and women dared to cross the frozen wastes to find an untouched, unspoiled continent. Set in what is now Alaska, this is the magnificent saga of the vision-filled man who led his people to an awesome destiny, and the courageous woman whose love and bravery drove them on in pursuit of that dream.

User reviews

LibraryThing member dawng

I tried really hard to like this book but I just couldn't get into it. My sister-in-law borrowed the book and like it.

7 more

LibraryThing member qarae

The first in the First North Americans series that currently consists of 17 novels, but each book stands alone. Michael W. and Kathleen O'Neal Gear have brought our ancestors and their cultures to life. Each of the book is a 5 Star Rating and deserves to be read and re-read. But because I'm a

sentimental sap, The People of the Wolves is my favorite, simply because it was the first one I read.

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LibraryThing member eljabo

I picked up this book because I thought it would be similar to Jean Auel's "Earth Children" series. (Sadly, I love those Ayla books. I read them in high school and have so many fond memories of dog-earing the dirty parts. My parents thought I was reading historical fiction - ha!)

This book was

similar since it had a prehistoric setting, but there were a million characters and no dirty parts. Overall I liked it, but I had trouble keeping track of all the people. There were two tribes and the names were all very similar - "One Who Cries", "Dancing Fox," "Ice Fire." Plus, there was "Grandfather White Bear" (polar bears) and "Wind Woman" (the wind.) It made my eye twitch.

I still liked it once I figured out who everyone was and I'll probably check out the next one in the series. (Just not anytime soon - reading this was hard work!)

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LibraryThing member MarysGirl

I liked the premise, but felt the execution lacked finesse. The story was interesting, but the characters were cardboard stereotypes: all the old women were interchangeable; warriors, ditto. I had trouble keeping them apart even with different names. Personally, I also got tired of the "Dreaming."

The book could have been about a third shorter and much more interesting. I won't look up the sequels.

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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C

I liked the premise of this novel, a tale of the Clovis people of the Pleistocene, the stone age hunters who crossed the Siberian Bering land bridge to become the ancestors of the native tribes of America. The husband and wife writing team are archeologists, and certainly must have the technical

knowledge to ground the tale. The problem is the puerile quality of the writing, so bad from the beginning I could barely push myself to persist to at least page fifty. The mystical/spiritual aspect isn't just heavy-handed and takes the supernatural too seriously for my tastes, but given animals are often capitalized, that the gods the People worship are called things like "Wind Woman" and "Grandfather White Bear" and the human characters named things like Singing Wolf and Dancing Fox, it was hard to keep straight which was meant at times--person, animal, or divinity. The dialogue is wooden and the characters one-dimensional. I rarely see historical fiction exploring our prehistorical era. Other than Gear's series, Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear is about the only one I've seen (and it's much, much more engaging, and despite Auel not being a professional archeologist, her world seemed better filled out and thought out.) I'm afraid People of the Wolf just isn't worth the time or money.

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LibraryThing member dragonasbreath

Read it through in one day. When they arewriting as a team, they throw a good story together.
this is the story of a peaceful people who have been pushed out of their hunting grounds by others, also driven out by migrating peoples and disease. It is a time of global warming, the water is rising, the

usual grasses hard to find, game is getting scarce from over hunting.
Runs in Light dreams the Wolf Dream - and of a hole in the glacier that leads to a lush new land teaming with food.

Can he find that hole?
Can he convince his people to follow him under a glacier?
Can he control his twin, who has decided the best way is a war of annihilation against all the other peoples of the world?

Will the pursuing enemy follow them through?
Will this small band live or die?

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LibraryThing member Filip.Nielsen

This book is a fantastic story about the first humans who came from Asia to America and how they have to struggle for survival from other tribes, the climate change and feuds in their own tribe. One man to guide his tribe to a better place and will he succeed?

LibraryThing member mainrun

I tried. I was reading "200 Years of Dover-Foxcroft History" by Louis Stevens. I will finish that book. Could not finish this one. It was too boring/painful to read. I was also reading Sunshine by Robin McKinley, and had the same opinion. Maybe reading three books at one time is just something I do

not have the skill to do. 830 members; 3.53 average rating; 10/5/2017

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