Synopsis:
A young man’s military training is threatened by his seeming possession by a creature in thrall to an evil forest goddess.
Review:
Shaman’s Crossing is the first book in Robin Hobb’s newest trilogy, Soldier Son, and I ate it up with a spoon, thanks to a very long train ride to Canada. The world of Soldier Son takes place in a frontier-like environment much like the Old West at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with Nevare, the main character, on his way to his training in the cavalry at a West Point-type officer’s academy. Nevare’s world is highly ordered, focused on both tradition and progress, and a magic-less rationalism. His father, also a soldier, decides that before heading off to school Nevare would benefit from training with a respected leader in one of the Plains tribes that the military is fighting against. Nevare ends up in the middle of the desert in what resembles a Native American spirit quest that unlocks the doors to another world–and to a goddess who wants the destruction of Nevare’s people. Continue reading
