In the Season of the Sun

By: Kerry Newcomb

Narrated by: Joel Richards

Torn apart by betrayal, two brothers search for each other on the Western plains.

While their family’s wagon train stops for a rest, Jacob Milam goes hunting with his younger brother, Tom. They are hoping for a rabbit, a deer, or even a buffalo, but they haven’t managed to catch anything bigger than a rattlesnake when they see the Indian raiding party galloping over the plains. Jacob races back to camp, desperate to warn his parents, but it is already too late. Betrayed by their Indian guide, the settlers have been slaughtered. Jacob and Tom are the only survivors.

When the Indian guide kidnaps Tom to raise him as a warrior, Jacob is left to wander the plains. Rescued by a shaman, he is initiated into the mystical rites of the Blackfeet people. As they come of age in an unfamiliar land, Jacob and Tom are finally reunited in an unlikely place: The killing fields of the Old West.

©1990 Kerry Newcomb (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Magnificently told tale of adventure

I stumbled across this historical fiction published in 2003, while I was wandering around in Audible.com looking for something different to read. Technically this book would be classified as a western.

The story starts in 1829 when four families left Virginia for St. Louis and a voyage up the Platte River to the land of the big sky. Their guide was a half breed named Coyote Kilhenny. Kilhenny was part of a renegade band that ambushes them. Only two boys survived the ambush. This book is about the lives of these two boys, one was taken by the renegade band that ambushed them; the other was raised by a shaman of the Blackfeet nation.

This book is well written and substantially researched. The book is multidimensional as you are exposed to both viewpoints. The bother’s fates are credibly related, though Newcomb burdens the story with subplots that are unnecessary. The Indian lore is handled respectfully and intelligently. Unfortunately the ending was predictable. The book was a nice change of pace from what I have been reading recently. Joel Richards narrated the book.

Could have been a great story

The premise for a powerful story was there, but the author couldn't quite make an emotional connection between the characters. The best sections were those set among the Blackfoot. The white characters were stereotyped villians. Maybe the narration contributed to my antipathy to this book. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't nuanced or emotional either.