Review of Totem
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- Hilda Martinovic
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Review of Totem
Totem by Charlie Sheldon is a fictional novel, and it is the third book of the Strong Heart trilogy. Sarah is the main character of the book. She was Strong Heart in an ancient past from her ancestral self. She goes back to a time when First People were facing survival due to environmental dangers: animal attacks, rising waters, climate change, and the transformation of lands. Strong Heart was 109 summers old. She was wise, and she was carrying the tradition and the culture of the First People.
The third book of this series describes how Sarah and her friends deal with the Buckhorn Industries, which will have a mining operation set up in the Olympic National Park. The book pertains to a few groups of people that have different goals to start a journey in the deep mountains of the Olympic Penninsula. Sarah's group wanted to take her grandfather's ashes to the family grave in the Bear Valey. There was Victoria's group, which was representing Buckhorn Industries. Victoria ensured that everything was settled and clear for erbium extraction in a National Park. She had received legal clearance with strict rules that would allow mining on sacred Indian land. Carl was with his niece and a friend, Steve, with Fish and Wildlife, studying strange elk killings in the National Park. The groups met on their hike and had adventures they would never forget. Sarah, William (Sarah's grandfather's, Tom Tom's friend), and Laurie would all have ancestral memories coming like a dream and were able to tap into their distant self. They had relieved memories and saw details that would carry over in the present time. The memories would help discover artifacts and understand the beginning of humanity as First People struggled to survive.
The positive aspects of the books were the stories. They were terrific, mystical, and mysterious. Nature is described in detail. It felt like being in nature, walking the trails. The animals gave an exciting and thrilling twist to the hikers. They were extinct animals from Ice Age, and the debate was on how they would show up in the present time. Sometimes the animals were guiding the book's characters and were as they were protecting their ancient land. The stories were mysterious and often told by the fire. They were like old memories passed through time. All the stories ended by guiding the hikers to discover ancient sacred treasures. Strong Heart carried on the tradition while she lived within the First People, and through Sarah, she brought them to the present by finding the artifacts.
The negative aspects of the book would be that there are several groups described, and the reader might have to reorient and remember who belongs to which group, especially when they were together at one point. It is not an extremely negative aspect, but connecting the people sometimes became overwhelming until I got used to all the characters. Also, the mining in a National Park that was an Indian tribal territory would be a negative aspect. However, the extraction of the erbium that would help diminish the coal emission damage on our planet would not make it as unfavorable. Anyhow, the damage was done to the sacred land. Finally, the bullying of Jared by Wallace was hard to read. However, Jared overcame his bully and even saved his life.
I would rate the book 4 out of 4. The novel is full of action and adventure. There are several strong characters such as Sarah (Strong Heart), Myra, who has tribal roots, and Victoria, who stands her ground and does the right things instead of lying as she was told to do. In addition, there were several warriors in the book: ancient ones as Finder but modern ones, also as Jared.
I would recommend the book to anyone who loves to read about nature, mystery and suspense, and native Indian culture. Also, I suggest the novel to people who enjoy reading about strong characters with heroic actions, history, legends, and rituals.
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Totem
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