Publisher's Weekly Review
No static diorama of prehistoric Alaskan life, Harrison's (Brother Wind) engrossing fourth novel, set among the ancient Aleuts, is a complex psychological and sociological epic. Then as now, nature's ice and snow are benign compared to the devastating effects of human nature. The reverence that the ancients accord to animals (placing a gift in the mouth of a freshly killed fox, for example) contrasts sharply with the commonplace rapes, mutilations and murders that they inflict on one another. At the center of the story is Chakliux, a Near River baby abandoned by his mother and adopted by K'os, a Cousin River woman, who sees a good omen in his clubbed foot. K'os finds Chakliux shortly after she has been brutally raped by three Near River men: she is convinced (because of his "otter-like" foot) that he is a gift from the animals sent to restore her powers so that she can take revenge. Two decades later, Near River elders unknowingly send Chakliux, who has grown into a great storyteller, back to his birth tribe in order to negotiate a peace which K'os schemes to undermine. Young Near River people, also itching for war, frame Chakliux in a mysterious double murder and the death of many hunting dogs, spurring him to undertake an arduous journey in search of the truth. Violent as that truth is, Harrison witholds it successfully until the end of the story and makes it seem authentic to this primitive, vengeful time and place. 50,000 first printing; author tour. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
As in Brother Wind (1994) and others, Harrison once again displays her first-rate storytelling talents, here in a rousing tale of murder, revenge, and internecine warfare. The stunning backdrop this time consists of the coast and interior of what is now Alaska in the far, far mists of the seventh century b.c. was home of the Aleut peoples. Chakliux, the Dzuuggi (a favored child trained in oral traditions), was born to a woman of the Near River Village and as a newborn put out to die because of a deformed foot. He was found by K'os, a fiery, bitter young woman of the Cousin River people, and raised by her. Eventually, Chakliux returns to Near River, but the anger of K'os, bent on a savage revenge upon those who have wronged her (and out of pure meanness to hurt those who haven't), brings ruin to the efforts of Chakliux, a wise and gentle man, who's determined to bring peace among the villages. Then in Near River, Daes, mother of a young boy by the trader Cen, is mysteriously murdered, as is Chakliux's old grandfather. And why are the village dogs dying? Bad feeling swirls around Chakliux, who travels to the wise Cloud Finder of Cousin River to acquire the strong ``golden-eyed'' dogs. But Cloud Finder is killed by warriors egged on by K'os. Finally, Chakliux and his often untrustworthy brother Sok travel to other villages. In the First Men Village is Aqamdax, a trained storyteller, daughter of Daes. She'll be betrayed by Sok, accused of murder by the Walrus Hunters, and wind up as a slave to vicious K'os before escaping to a difficult marriage. At the close, murders of people (and dogs) are solved as war rumbles, though the good guys form a new village- -with two storytellers and a dog named Biter. A warm yarn from the frozen North and as authentic as all get- out, with maps, glossary, author's clarifying notes--the works.
Booklist Review
Prehistoricals are more like fantasy fiction than like historical novels. Lack of detail about how ancient societies actually functioned and about provocative relics whose uses can only be surmised allows writers like Harrison to create intriguing cultures without being bound by facts. The author of the popular Mother Earth Father Sky (1990) sets her new prehistorical in the windswept Aleutian Islands, southwest of mainland Alaska. The story is one of poisonous revenge for the rape of a young woman, K'os, by men from a neighboring village. Most of it transpires several decades after that calamity, when K'os uses her sexual prowess and manipulative abilities to stir up a war with the offenders' village. More compelling than K'os' story is that of the orphaned storyteller Aqamdax, brought from a distant island and betrayed upon her arrival. She loves, loses, and is finally reunited with K'os' adopted son, the crippled storyteller Chakliax. Complex and well imagined, the interlocking societies of Harrison's ancient Aleutians make a compelling backdrop for this tale of romance and revenge. --Patricia Monaghan