Climb the Wind: A Novel of Another America

Rating:
Summary: I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! As much alternate histroy as there is these days (some great and some garbage), it is nice to fid someone that isn't doing the same old "what if the south won the Civil War" or "What if the Nazis won the second world war" stuff that we see too much of these days.

Ms. Sargent did a fine job of developing characters and making the story seem real. Kind of makes you stop and think about "might have beens" like good allo-history is supposed to do.

I recommend it to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: The major reason I didn't like this book is that there are too many characters.The plot was also confusing,so much so that I didn't even finish reading the book.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: This book is excellent. It takes a creative approach to a part of history that is not usually the subject of Alternate History. On the whole it was vaery believable, if told from a perspective one is not use to seeing. Buy it, read it, and enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Creative
Review: This book is excellent. It takes a creative approach to a part of history that is not usually the subject of Alternate History. On the whole it was vaery believable, if told from a perspective one is not use to seeing. Buy it, read it, and enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Badly convergent AH
Review: Though the idea of Souix and others rallying against the genocidal US, the creation of the book lacks in a good Point of Divergence from Our Time Line. In other words, Ms.Sargent uses fiction characters to push along the Souix to do one thing or another that will make them victorious. Then, after the US endures a cabalic despotism in Washington,that is put down by the Souix, the world reconverges with Our Time Line, which is very unlikey. The last passage makes a mockery of the Ghost Dance. Rent it from your library.

Rating:
Summary: A great idea poorly executed.
Review: What a waste. A promising idea that never comes close to maturity. You keep waiting for the characters to gain depth or for the descriptions and action scenes to climb above the level of a park brochure as you wade through page after page after page. Some of the sections are simply boring. The idea is clever but never truly works. The appearance of historical figures within an alternate history tale is usually one of the high points of the reading but does not offer a pay off here. Most of them walk briefly across the stage and disappear. The main characters are two dimensional and unconvincing. The reader never really cares what happens to them because they are cardboard cut outs without any real emotional anchors to give them depth. The action scenes are awkward and slow and the climatic battle that is foreshadowed throughout the first three quarters of the novel never materializes. I was extremely disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A great idea poorly executed.
Review: What a waste. A promising idea that never comes close to maturity. You keep waiting for the characters to gain depth or for the descriptions and action scenes to climb above the level of a park brochure as you wade through page after page after page. Some of the sections are simply boring. The idea is clever but never truly works. The appearance of historical figures within an alternate history tale is usually one of the high points of the reading but does not offer a pay off here. Most of them walk briefly across the stage and disappear. The main characters are two dimensional and unconvincing. The reader never really cares what happens to them because they are cardboard cut outs without any real emotional anchors to give them depth. The action scenes are awkward and slow and the climatic battle that is foreshadowed throughout the first three quarters of the novel never materializes. I was extremely disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting history, weak character
Review: With the American Civil War over, the Union turns its attentions toward the west, toward the territory of the Lakota and the gold of the badlands. In our history, the result was the genocidal attacks on the Sioux and the horrors of Wounded Knee. But what if the Native Americans of the plains had united--if the Crow had fought with the Sioux and Cheyenne rather than scouting for Custer? And what if the Sioux had been able to secure more modern weapons--Chinese rockets and better rifles? In CLIMB THE WIND, author Pamela Sargent addresses these questions.

The real hero of the novel is Russian Grigor Rubalev. He knows of American betrayal having suffered it when the U.S. bought Alaska and promptly ignored their promises to the Russian inhabitants. And he's read of the Mongol victories over the far more numerous and better armed Chinese. Could the Lakota chief Touch-The-Clouds be a later-day Gengis Khan? Touch-The-Clouds' mystic visions of Indian warriors in the streets of Eastern cities seems to indicate this possibility, and Rubalev is willing to do anything to make this victory possible.

From the reader perspective, it is unfortunate that Sargent choses Seneca Lemuel Rowland as her protagonist. Rowland, an ex-soldier, is disenchanted with his life and wants to help the Sioux against the never-ending string of treaty violations that they have suffered. But he sees no alternative. If the Sioux fight, they will lose. If they fail to fight, they will lose. Rowland doesn't believe Rubalev's vision. Even when the plains Indians slaughter Custer and his entire force, Rowland knows that the result can only be more suffering.

Sargent's selection of the genocide of the Native Americans as her setting for an alternate history is a good choice--the result in our own world was so horrible that almost anyone would want an alternative. The history is also familiar to most Americans, increasing its marketability (try selling an alternate history of Bactria after Alexander's death and see how important this is). Best of all, Sargent's story-telling and descriptions of Lakota customs is compelling. Although I found the first half of CLIMB THE WIND to be slow going and Rowland far too passive for a good protagonist, the novel still makes interesting reading.