TBR Challenge - July

Time’s Captive – Kate Lyon
Published: 2004
Publisher: Dorchester

OK – Here goes. Cassie Edwards (and yes, I heard she had a stroke and I truly do hope she makes a full recovery) and a few authors like her who write Indian Romance have almost made this genre a joke. I know that. But I’ve been reading them for a long time and there are some good ones out there. Kathleen Eagle has written some truly wonderful ones. Keishon, who I admire for her taste in books loves this author. Rosanne Bittner is another author who has written in this genre that I think demands respect. But I almost feel defensive reading them now. So it was with a bit of apprehension I thought about how I should do this review. But – the book deserves it so here goes.

I read my first Kate Lyons book after I read Wendy’s most excellent review for Hope’s Captive. I loved it too – it was the kind of book that is published far too rarely these days. So after I read it in 2006, I wanted to read another book by Kate Lyon’s and promptly ordered Time’s Captive – and there it languished in the TBR pile.
While I would like to return the favour to Wendy for Hopes’ Captive with Time’s Captive – I don’t think it will work for her. You see this is a story of soul mates and I know that’s not Wendy’s cup of tea. But this kind of story really works for me.
Kris Baldwin is a young woman of two cultures. Her mother side is Cheyenne and her father’s side is white. Her mother died years ago and she only recently discovered her grandmother. While out swimming one day something very strange happens to her. She has a vision of a young Cheyenne warrior and then she is pulled into a pulled into a deep pool. When she surfaces, she is confronted by her vision.
Black Eagle is a Cheyenne War Chief who has gone on a vision quest looking for help for his people. The buffalo are being slaughtered and The People are slowly being herded onto reservations and he wants to stop this – he wants thing back the way they were.
When he sees Kris he takes this as the answer to his quest – that she can help his people. They are strongly attracted to each other but neither is prepared to act on it; Kris because she wants to get back to her own time and Black Eagle because he sees her as his people’s salvation and doesn’t want to ruin that by acting on his attraction. During this time, with the help of magical stones – Kris’s handed down from generation to generation and Black Eagles formed when he first sees Kris, they each catch brief glimpses in their dreams of each other in another time and another place, dreams that haunt them and end sadly.
I don’t how good a summary this is of someone who might be interested in this book – I hope it’s clear enough without giving too much away.
So what did I think of it?
I loved it!! This is the kind of book that makes this an interesting genre. It doesn’t have any of the silly and even offensive kind of stuff that some writes publish – no names needed.
Both Kris and Black Eagle came across as real people with real strengths and weaknesses. This was a brutal time and Kris is appalled at some of the things Black Eagle does and has done. But as he tries to tell Kris – this was a time of war and while his people committed atrocities, so did the white man. While living in the present, being of two heritages doesn’t cause a lot of conflict for Kris, but in the past it was very different and she had difficult choices and a different way of seeing things.
This was an emotional read and I took a bit of a break while reading. It’s the kind of book that makes you sad for the history of Native Americans. It’s NOTHING like a Cassie Edwards book with the silliness and inaccuracy.
I don’t know what happened to Kate Lyon after Hope’s Captive, but I hope we see her again sometime. I’ve really enjoyed both books I’ve read.
In the end I give this one a 4.5 out of 5