Ghost Warrior

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Summary: Ghost Warrior a Great Western
Review: Ghost Warrior is one of the best Westerns I have read in a long time. The characters are real. The settings are written in detail so you can understand the background where the Apache wars took place. A very well done thoughful book that covers all points of view during the tragic events in the Southwest during the 19th Century.

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Summary: An Apache Story that Needed to be Told
Review: I didn't know what to expect when I picked up a copy of GHOST WARRIOR for I had never read any of Lucia Robson's novels. I have a love for Native American and western history, so I thought it was worth a try. I finished the book about a week later, and was simply amazed at what I had read. I thought the book was very well written and was a compelling story that grabbed my attention at the very beginning and has held it ever since.

Ms. Robson's book made a significant impression on me. It inspired me to spend the next several months reading Apache Indian history. I didn't realize how good the book was until I really understood how much research the author had done to be able to tell this story with so much passion, detailed knowledge and competence. The book followed the history of the Apache Indian wars accurately, but it also gave me insight into what her Native American, and American characters must have been like beyond the historical facts. I had to keep reminding myself that her book was a novel, and by definition novels distort history. But I found her depiction of history was in many cases more accurate than some of the histories I have read, and it was exciting, sad, outrageous, fun, and gives a profile in American history that deserves wide attention.

Ms. Robson tells a complex tale that centered around Lozen, an Apache warrior and Shaman of the Chiricahua Apache band. The complexity of the story increases as her novel follows Lozen's long life as a warrior. The Apaches struggled for survival against western expansion pre and post civil war, against the ever present Mexican army, other hostile indians, the invading gold rush and it's inherent lawlessness and the best troops the US Army could deliver.

Lozen, the main character, was one of the only Apache warriors, male or female, to fight with all of the great Apache Chiefs over a 30 year period right up to their final battles. Their mission was survival of their race.

GHOST WARRIOR is an ambitious work, and I not only recommend it to family and friends, I rave about it. I've noticed that Ms Robson's best selling work makes noticeable improvements with each new book. I'm looking forward to her next book; it can't come out soon enough!

A reader in Arlington, VA

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Summary: Ghost Warrior
Review: I have studied the history of the West for over fifty years and I was impressed with the depth of the facts written here. While the book is a novel, it is an historical novel, and the the writer really did her research well. I think it was 1952 when I read in a New Mexico newspaper a reprint of an interview of Kit Carson done before his death. He explained the reason Geronimo turned against the Americans (he had previously hated Mexicans, but often even dealt with Americans). I have read of that act (by a US cavalry officer) in an occasional old book, but do not remember seeing it anything current in all these years. Ms. Robson details it here. I'm surprised she found it since no other writer/researcher seems to have, but obviously she did.

What the author has done is depict her characters, whether Indian, Mexican, or white, as individual persons. Some good, some bad, many mixed, all struggling in a hostile and unforgiving land against plenty of hard, mean people no matter their race. It may not be the television West, but it was the West as it really was.

I liked this story very much. I did not think anything could ever make me feel empathy for the Chiricahua Apaches, but this book did. It is an excellent story of the time and people it covers. It is not, in my opinion, quite as fun and interesting as some of Robson's previous novels, but those are so towering that this is hardly a criticism.

This book is not a shoot-em-up Western, it is a thoughtful story of the Chiricahua Apaches, the single most feared and respected Indian tribe in the history of the American West. Essentially the Chiricahuas took on the land and all comers, the Chiricahuas against the world, and made the better of it for far longer than their meager numbers should have allowed. Apaches were such fierce opponents that Mexicans used to say they could make themselves invisible. The Apaches actually liked to have better armed and mounted men try to hunt them down--the Apaches viewed them as a source of new weapons, horses, and supplies. This spirit is shown in the attitude of Lozen toward Rafe and his horse.I have read lots of Western history, but this book gave me a new perspective for understanding these fierce warrior people.

Ms. Robson is one of the finest historical novelists in America, living or dead. Fearless, Ride The Wind, Light A Distant Fire, and Walk In My Soul, are classic examples. Ghost Warrior is not (to me) her best, but it is excellent, and better than anything I have read on the Chiricahuas in thirty years.

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Summary: "Ghost Warrior" review
Review: I highly recommend Lucia St. Clair Robsons' book "Ghost Warriors". The book not only transports you back to the western historical terrain and people of the late 1800s but Robson gives you a fascinating insight of the Apache Indian Tribe and the white men through her characters of Lozen and Rafe. When reading this book, the people are so real you feel their joy and their pain. It is almost impossible to quit reading this book until the very last page.
"Ghost Warriors" is one of her best reads and it's like a good cup of coffee - you savor every drop and when it's gone you wish for more!
Fans of James Michener, John Jakes and the late Louis L'Amour should add Robson to their must read list. I have!

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Summary: One of Lucia's best - right up there with "Ride The Wind"
Review: Lozen, an Apache Warrior blessed with far-sight and horse magic, is a wonderful subject for Lucia's rich tapestry woven from The Old West. Well-researched and detailed, Ghost Warrior puts you there in the daily life of the Apaches and the wide assortment of white people living in the same time and space - so realistic, I needed to wash the dust out of my hair and empty the dirt out of my shoes while reading it. Best of all, this story of the Chiricahua Apaches and their war with everybody is so well told, it is hard to put down and impossible to forget.

After reading this, I went back to re-read Ride The Wind again - yes it's on that level.

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Summary: Unforgettable Read
Review: Ms. Robson is one of my favorite authors, and I TRY to ration her books by reading only a chapter or two at each sitting. Well, that hasn't worked on any of her other books, and it didn't work on this one, either!

Robson crafts two stories, really, and winds them together in Ghost Warrior (which is oftentimes laugh out loud funny!!). One is that of Lozen, the far-sighted woman warrior of the Chiricahua Apache; the other of Rafe Collins, a Shakespeare-enthralled desert teamster. Both characters occupy the same time, and occasionally the same space, in history. But through Lozen's and Rafe's eyes, Robson shows the futility of the warring Apache's way of life and the US government's drawn-out and inconsistent attempts to stamp it out.

I'm sure Ms. Robson's Ghost Warrior will pique the curiosities of many who will want to know more than the Hollywood version of these turbulent 30+ years in our history. Thanks, Lucia, and write faster!

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Summary: Another fine Native American novel
Review: Ms. Robson's meticulous research and attention to historical accuracy is again evident in this excellent and heartbreaking story of the Native American people. If you haven't read "Walk in My Soul" or "Ride the Wind" - what are you waiting for? Once you've read one of Ms. Robson's novels you'll want to collect them all.

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Summary: Big Disappointment
Review: Robson's Ride the Wind was one of my all-time favorite books so when this book was released I snatched it up. It was hard to get into but I was persistant and kept waiting for the book to meet my expectations. Unfortunately, there was no turning point. I just trudged through this book. Read the editorial review from Publisher's Weekly. It is right on, saying that the story is "watered-down" and "lacking energy." I hope this review spares someone from wasting their time and money on this book.