Tuesday 15 July 2008

Wilderness #46


UNTAMED COUNTRY 
as by David Thompson
Leisure, August 2005

Returning home the King family discover their cabin has been all but destroyed. Seems the peace between them and the Ute and Crow Indians has come to an end. The younger generation see the white man as an enemy who must be killed. Now Nate King decides he has no choice but to seek a new home. With a bloodthirsty war party tracking him it seem he might not live long enough to find a new homestead.

This entry into the Wilderness series seems to be setting the King’s up for a new chapter in their lives. From the discovery of their trashed cabin this book gallops along at a breathtaking pace.

David Thompson’s story tugs at all the emotions, heartfelt sadness for the destruction of the King’s home. The anger of revenge for this, and the wounding of Winona. The elation of discovering new beauty in the country, the fear of death - by animal or man, and laughter - particularly the comments from Chases Rabbits, a terrific supporting character who in my mind had all the best lines (the end of chapter ten had me laughing out loud). All of this combine to make Untamed Country a very difficult book to put down.

If you’ve never yet read a book in this terrifc series this could be a good place to take the plunge due to it, seemingly, being a book of new beginnings.

3 comments:

Mister Roy said...

It will be really exciting if the Kings strike out for pastures new. Sounds like this book has all of the best 'Wilderness' ingredients. It's on my list.

Steve M said...

It's not if Mister Roy...

Mister Roy said...

I really enjoyed this, having lost interest in the series somewhat (probably from reading too many too quickly!) I'd agree that it's a good place to take the plunge. I don't think not having the the backstory would detract too much from the enjoyment of a completely new reader, the characters and past incidents are deftly sketched out without slowing the current action, so you know where you are and who you're with.