Wednesday, July 16, 2008

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

8 comments:

Katie Reus said...

Long ago I was turned off to Indian romances, but this sounds like the kind of book I'd pick up. Some innacuracies I can get over, but when authors take a nose dive away from (historical) reality I get annoyed. Thanks for the eye-opening review :)

Wendy said...

As much as I loved Hope's Captive, I didn't seek this title out because TT is a really hard sell for me. Now I'm doubly glad, because as much as I loved H'sC, I think my unwillingness to tolerate the "soul mates" theme has been fairly well documented ;)

And I do agree with you Kristie - there are some authors who write Native American romances very well and they tend to get lumped in with those others writers. Bah!

Kristie (J) said...

Wendy - Actually it was quite light on the soul mate aspect - more referred to than anything else - and haunting dreams never really explained. But I know you don't like those kind that much and if you don't like TT either - well, with your TBR pile, this is probably one you could skip *g*.
Now on the other hand I WILL hound you on Ride The Fire - heh heh heh

Katie: I know there have some bad ones done - real, real bad - to the point of making a mockery out of this genre. But even in a coal pit you can find a diamond - and this one really is a diamond. I got the impression reading it that the author really did her research.

KT Grant said...

Good to know that there are some worthy Indian romances out there. :D

The Bookworm said...

It sounds like a good read. I havent read Indian Romance before.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

pidute said...

I have read some Indian books quite a while ago .
I stopped not because i didn't like them anymore but because they are quite out of fashion no?
You don't see many of them lately and the one you see as you said are not too good maybe it's time i give it a try .

Tracy said...

Actually sounds pretty good. :) Great review Kristie.

Anonymous said...

I didn't read "Time's Captive" but I really liked "Hope's Captive."

I somewhere read a comparison to Cassie Edwards in relation to HC which threw me a lot, and the book cover did nothing to make it better, but I already had it. The first turned out to be totally wrong (from what little I read by Edwards) and the second is really a great disservice to the novel. "Hope's Captive" is a wonderful novel - good story, good writing. It's a shame that it was (as far as I know at least) Lyon's last novel.