Ahira's Hangar

Finished reading this new historical fantasy tonight, and here are some early impressions:

* I really liked the main character, Paha Sapa. He was intelligent, spiritually gifted, and gentle. If he had been born at a different time in history, he would have obviously been a great shaman/spiritual leader of the Lakota. I also greatly liked his wife and father-in-law. The absolute opposite of the loathsome Wilkie Collins main character from Drood.

* most of the Custer chapters made me feel dirty. I usually do not have trouble with sex in books (other than graphic rape scenes which are disgusting and disturbing to me) but these just seemed really...private...and made me feel like I was secretly spying on a married couple's most intimate moments.

* I wish the author had dialed back a bit on some of the more racist aspects of the story. In particular the point where the main character discovered that white society had various tribes and then he names some of them with ethnic slurs including the n word. I would rather read a book filled with f bombs than the n word. Yes, I know these slurs were being used in a historically accurate way, and people really did used to speak that way. But we (at least most of us) no longer speak in such a way currently, and today those words are filthy in a way mere curses and expletives are not. I can grudgingly tolerate those words in a book written back in those times (especially in a book that takes a strong stand against racism like Huckleberry Finn) but expect better of today's authors. I think that most people educated well enough to read and understand the history behind the story are well aware of the shameful racism of America's past without those ethnic slur words being rubbed against our noses.

* I enjoyed reading about the building of such famous things as the Brooklyn Bridge and Mount Rushmore, and it is obvious that Simmons researched the heck out of the lifestyle and customs of the Lakota both before and after they were penned up in reservations, and those sections of the book were also very interesting, as was the Dust Bowl section.

I too liked Paha Sapa. I enjoyed the first half of the book more for the historical details (Indian lifestyle, Indian wars, Mount Rushmore/Stone Mountain, Chicago World's Fair [never knew the original Farris Wheel held 30-45 people in a car]) but by the second half of the book, mainly due to the supernatural, fantasy elements being so weak and downplayed, I had a hard time keeping interested. I pushed through but was ready for it to end by about 60% through the story.

I enjoyed Drood better (except for the horrible ending).

Yes, at some point (and not sure I can even pinpoint it), the plot seemed to become a bit unraveled and all over the place. Earlier in the book it was much more tightly woven.

For me I think that The Terror was the best of Simmons' three books of 19'th century historical fantasy - but Paha Sapa is my favorite main character of the three.

Drood was certainly a well written book, but the Wilkie Collins main character gives me the shudders (and not in a good way).

I agree, The Terror was by far the best for me.