People of the Mist (The First North Americans series, Book 9)

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Summary: Delicous combination of anthropology and mystery!
Review: How delicious it is to discover a new series by great authors! I picked this book up by chance and I loved it.

The Gears have written an entire series of books, each one of which is a novel set among a different pre-historic culture in North America.

The Gears do an exceptional job at researching and presenting a culture. The archaeological details they provide give their story an authenticity that feels very real. "The People of the Mist" is set around 1300 A.D. in the Chesapeake Bay area. Unlike many other novels set in prehistoric times, this book neither looks down on the characters as "primitive," nor does it glamorize the characters as being unrealistically heroic or noble. Instead, these are very real people caught up in the same political and survival problems as people today, but in a different setting. Interspersed throughout the novel are interesting tidbits on how the people of these coastal villages hunted, cooked, and maintained family and clan relationships.

Set against this fascinating background, the book presents a well thought out murder mystery that has all the twists and deadends you could wish for.

I could hardly put this book down, and spent several late nights and overly-long lunch hours reading it as quickly as I could.

Excuse me while I get back onto Amazon and find and buy all of the rest of the books!



Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I am a huge fan of the First North American series. This book is certainly among my favorites. It keeps you guessing and there are many twists and turns. I have a very difficult time finding large print books now that I am legally blind, but I am thrilled I was able to find this one. A very good read!

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Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have read all of the First North Americans series by the Gears and loved them all...except this one. "People of the Mist" seemed more superficial than their previous works with less historical information than I had become used to hearing from these authors. I felt the 'investigation' dragged on much too long. I wish the focus of this work had been on Panther without the extraneous murder mystery. His life appeared to be more interesting and meaningful than any of the other somewhat shallow characters. I found I did not 'care' what happened to the people in this story...something highly unusual for me when reading one the O'Neal/Gear books. If this is your first introduction to their writing and you enjoyed it, you are in for an exceptional reading experience with their other works.

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Summary: great book
Review: I have read almost all of the Prehistoric "People of the..." novels by the Gears (I am currently reading the People of the Masks). People of the Mists is FANTASTIC! What a great murder mystery! I could not guess the killer til the end...and even then...wow! The characters are well drawn and the hints and clues and potential killers with their wide array of motives are very skillfully inserted in the story. I like all of the books of the series. People of the Lakes is the best, with Mists ranking second on my list. Highly recommended!

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Summary: I figured out who the killer was right from the start.
Review: The Gears are among my favorate writers, their books are among the best of pre-historic North American fiction. The poem/vision of "Wolf" has set the stage for the rest of the books(until this one)and has kept us waiting to see where it will lead.
That being said, this book was a wash! It is a complete takeoff from the rest and it is very poorly written. They just about gave away who the killer was while it was being done. I mean really, if you are about to run away with the love of your life to escape from an arranged marriage that your widowed mother has forced you into and you are discovered by the ONE person who could be described as "worst of your fears realized", WHO could the killer be?
Did they use up all of their ideas for a mystery in "Silence", with it's plot twist that you could never guess, and "Earth" that kept you guessing till the end?
This book is not worth your time to read.

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Summary: Quite Different than the Rest
Review: This book was quite different from the rest of the series. It was more a prehistoric mystery than a recreation of the Algonquin people. It was a pretty good mystery, but the usual fine descriptions of prehistoric life were missing. Maybe the Gears are getting tired of their series. I do still want to finish the last book in the series - People of the Masks.

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Summary: Different style but just as good...
Review: This is the latest book in the People series that I have read, and it is a little different from the rest. It was given to me by a friend, and I thought that the storyline didn't sound to exciting (I'm not into that mystery type books), but I was in for a surprise. This book was awesome! Second best that they have written... I liked People of the River the best... and very entertaining. The charachters are not as mystic and dreamerlike as the other People books are, but it makes them more believable, and realistic. The Panther was so intriguing, his past and present life. I liked the way he allowed mostly everyone to think he was a witch, when he really was just an old man who resented his past mistakes but had the Power (a different kind of Power than htat of the other books in this series), to correct those of others. Sun Conch was so regal and brave, she didn't desrve to love such a coward. I almost cried when... well, you gotta read it. Throughout the whole book, I thought I knew who the killer was. I would jump around from character to character changing my ideas, at one time even coming to the conclusion that White Otter and Quick Fawn were in on it together. I would read one part of the book, and backtrack to another part of the book to see if my theory fit, and sometimes it did, but sometimes it didn't. In any case, if you wanna find out who killed the heiress Red Knot, you have to buy this book.

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Summary: Captivating till the end
Review: This was the last novel I read by the Gears and I truly enjoyed it. I felt like I was a part of the characters lives'. It was as if I myself was trying to solve a mystery. The characters showed how superstition and tales can cloud the opinions of many people.. Sun Conch had the ability to see through the tales and lies to help a friend in need, giving up some of the most important things to her. As the novels winds down, the slueth of the story comes up with some electrifying clues to a very puzzling murder. If you've enjoyed the other Gear novels this one will surely keep you on the edge of your seat..

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Summary: People of the Mist is a compelling and gripping novel
Review: When I sat down to read 'People of the Mist', I was not sure what to expect. The synopsis on the back cover said that the book was about the Native American people in the Chesapeake bay area, and in particular about the murder of a young girl, Red Knot. Well, I was amazed with the writing style of Kathleen O'Neal Gear, and W. Michael Gear. I got into the book after a chapter or two, and couldn't put it down. The authors had me guessing till the very end of the book as to who the murderer was, and I'm usually good at figuring things like that out. If you want a good novel with an excellent mystery componant to it, 'People of the Mist' is the book for you.

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Summary: DIFFERENT
Review: You will enjoy the same basic ingredients from past works: description of all aspects of the lives of the american indians, very deep and alive characthers, and a plot that will make you feel inside the Flat Pearl Village. Just one thing missing: Power is not an essence here. The dreamers seems to be no more. All comes around a murder that could mean the end of a lot of clans and villages. A terrible war could destroy all alliances. I couldn?t guess who the killer was until the very end, and the motives were so surprising and horrible for me as they were for the characters in the book. The characters Panther, Sun Conch and Nine Killer are too interesting and great to let them be. In my opinion, another book could be write about them alone. I will give anything to know how far will Sun Conch reach in her life. Anyway, the great North American Series go on with big steps.