The Spanish Bit Saga #9

PALE STAR 
by Don Coldsmith

Bantam, 1988
first published by Doubleday Feb. 1986

A Moon of Sorrow comes to the Elk-dog band when the buffalo return to the Plains and starvation forces the People into the forests of the East. For the young woman Pale Star the dark woods become a place of terror as she is kidnapped and sold into captivity. Her owner, the mysterious Traveler, will carry her far from the People into a world of turmoil and savagery. But have the spirit guides given Pale Star this fate for a special reason? In the land of the Big Water she will discover a link between the Traveler’s shining knife and her tribe’s most magical amulet – the Spanish Bit. But she also encounters the cruel renegade Three Owls, who vows to make her his slave wife – and keep her from returning to the People.

This is a beautifully written book through which the reader will share many wonders as Traveler, and his wife, take Pale Star on a journey of learning, discovery and danger to a far away place of unknown tribes where she will become the first of The People to come into contact with the French.

There were many moments that really captured my imagination, particularly when Pale Star stands on the shore of the great lake and sees nothing before her but water. The thoughts that run through her head made me wonder just what it would be like to really see something you had no idea existed for the first time.

If you’ve yet to read any of this series then I suggest you give it a try. Don Coldsmith is definitely up there with my favourite writers.

Get a copy here.