The latest installment of the Gears' popular and long-running First North Americans series (after People of the Moon
) is a timely saga of environmental catastrophe and misguided hubris. As the ice age is ending, 13,000 years ago, the Paleo-Indians of the Great Lakes region of North America face an apocalyptic crisis: even as the ice dams holding back the flood waters from melting glaciers near capacity, the local tribes are locked in a desperate war. The Nightland People, who live on the edge of the retreating glacier and worship the god Raven Hunter, seek to destroy their neighbors, the Sunpath and Lame Bull Peoples, who worship Wolf Dreamer. As the fighting rages, Raven Hunter sends a guide to lead the Nightland People to paradise through a hole in the ice. Meanwhile, Wolf Dreamer taps a young orphan, Silvertip, to save the Sunpath and Lame Bull Peoples by leading them away from the catastrophic flooding. With time running out, Silvertip and his allies race to escape both the Nightland warriors and the looming natural disaster. Drawing on their backgrounds in archeology, the Gears vividly recreate Paleolithic America in this enchanting and instructive novel. (Mar.)
