Review: PUHA by J. Bradley Van Tighem

[khudecek]

Five Stars!

I have to give this book five stars just because the story was captivating and it was well-written.

The story starts out with a boy named Hollow Leg who is a white boy that is living in a Lipan Indian village, being raised as a Lipan Indian. It's never really revealed as to how he got there other than he was found. He has dreams about the Buffalo People and their identity is a mystery until you're well into the story.

A naming ceremony takes place and Hollow Leg gets the name of Many Wolves. Meanwhile, this kid had found some baby hawks that had been blown out of their nest and the parents had abandoned them and the crows were after them so he picks them up and takes them to a secret place where he raises them until he is forced out of the village by no doings of his own. He was twelve then and his parents didn't want to let him go but they had to for the safety of the village and for himself.

Laughing Crow was the leader of a battling tribe, the Nokoni, and had extorted some horses and the white-skinned boy from the Lipan. In return, he wouldn't wage a war with them. A war they would surely lose which is why Many Wolves was forced to leave. He had a better chance of survival in the wilderness than he would have had with Laughing Crow who was going to trade him to the French traders or make him a slave.

Laughing Crow had a story unto himself. He was ruthless and showed no mercy. He slashed a man's throat for coming at a buffalo at a hunt from the left side when they were supposed to do it from the right. The guy was left-handed and for that, he paid with his life. Laughing Crow was diabolical yet at the same time, he was spiritual. It was almost like an oxymoron. It was weird but it worked. I'm sure there were some Indians out there like that. He was feared yet respected. You don't get to be a great leader by staying home and baking cookies all day.

Fast forward a few years because that's what the story did with just a few lines. Many Wolves has an encounter with a bear who earns him the friendship of a Penateka, named Ten Arrows. I won't go into that because I don't want to ruin the story. Before that, he'd encountered another man, Hadakai, who offered him some spiritual guidance that served him well.

The ending was as it should be although I wished for a different one. I was also hoping that Malone would come back for some reason I don't understand. I liked him, I guess.

A lot happens in this book that kept it rolling. I never dreaded having to go back to reading it when I had to put it down for whatever reason. It had some of my favorite things in it. It had Indians, wildlife and true friendship.

It really was an incredible story.