The Spirit of Thunder: An Alternate History

From Booklist
The sequel to The Year the Cloud Fell (2001) continues the story of George Armstrong Custer Jr. as a war leader of an independent Cheyenne nation in an alternate Old West. Gold has just been discovered in Cheyenne territory, and young Custer warns his friends that the greedy white men, led by his father, President Custer, will be even more inimical toward the Cheyenne than they have already been. He is right, as the U.S. Army tries to push a railroad up into Cheyenne territory. The rest of the conflict in the book revolves around preventing the railroad from going through, and the fighting revolves around a key bridge--shades of The Bridge on the River Kwai. Giambastiani isn't outstanding at rationalizing many of the differences between his and the real Old West, such as the dinosaurs the Cheyenne use for riding, but makes up for that shortcoming with informed, reverent extrapolation on Cheyenne culture. A qualified but real success among alternate histories of the American West. Roland Green
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Book Description
Soon after George Custer, Jr., President Custer's only son, falls into the hands of the Cheyenne people, he decides to fight side by side with them-against his own father's army.


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The year is 1886; most of the middle U.S. is unsettled frontier inhabited by the Indians of the Cheyenne Alliance. President George Custer is stepping up the undeclared war against the Indians, building a bridge across the Missouri (Big Greasy) River with strategically placed forts to protect future land rush white settlers. In the prequel volume, The Year the Cloud Fell, George Custer, Jr. had crashed his experimental dirigible in Cheyenne territory and was captured. Now he is fighting on the Indians' side. The Indians crush President Custer's reelection campaign hopes by blowing up his new bridge with dynamite and decimating the forts. The Indians still ride around on tame dinosaurs (one reader called the first book "Dances with Dinosaurs") and George falls in love with an Indian maiden. So it's your atypical, yet typical Indian adventure. It is difficult to get into the story without having read the first novel. But quick plotting, good characterization, and great descriptions soon sweep the reader into the maelstrom. Those who enjoyed the first will clamor for this installment. (sequel to The Year The Cloud Fell). KLIATT Codes: JSA�Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Penguin Putnam, Roc, 356p., Hoy


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