Helpful Score: 1
Poorly written, poorly researched (especially bad considering they used real historical characters), and way too preachy (and I pretty much only read Christian fiction, so that's not something I'm going to say lightly!).
I was pleased with how the authors of this book treat the Indians and whites with respect while telling of the atrocities that occurred on the Trail of Tears.
The Lacys present this story as fact-based fiction, but it is immediately clear they did little research into the time of The Removal, the Cherokee People, or the land they still inhabit in the Great Smoky Mountains.
NATURE ERRORS: A raccoon chasing a fox in the woods on a sunny afternoon. Both are nocturnal. Foxes are much faster than raccoons.
The fragrant dogwoods in bloom in mid-May. Dogwoods bloom early in the spring. They are never fragrant. They have no scent at all.
A poisonous snake bites someone on the Trail in February. Who doesn't know that reptiles are dormant in the winter?
HISTORICAL ERRORS: John Ross, 1/8th Cherokee, 7/8th Scottish, was born in Turkeytown, AL and never lived in a Cherokee village nor learned to speak his mother's native language. Calling someone a half-breed was an insult, not to mention that Cherokee didn't take the father's bloodline into consideration.
Sequoyah was born in Tennessee and never learned English, nor did he care about Christianity. He likely didn't meet John Ross until after the Removal.
The Cherokee culture was and is nothing like what was written in this fictional novel. Cherokee are matriarchal. No leader wore a large feathered headdress. Daughters don't need paternal permission to go for a walk. Fathers don't whip their sons. Character names like Bando, Binjie, Tisimndo, Ridino contain sounds not heard in their language. The whole "shaman" thing is wrong.
GEOGRAPHICAL ERRORS: Early chapters, taking place in 1801, mention towns of Bryson City and Gatlinburg. Later John Ross is in Atlanta, and the displaced people rest at Lake Chickamauga.
Bryson city was named for Colonel Thaddeus Dillard Bryson, born in 1829.
In 1856, a post office was established in the general store of Radford Gatlin (c. 1798 - 1880), giving the town the name "Gatlinburg".
John Ross takes a train from Atlanta. At that time the budding town in Georgia was called Terminus (as fans of The Walking Dead can tell you) and wouldn't see the railroad completed for several more years.
Construction of Chickamauga Dam began in 1936 and was completed in 1940, a full century after this story took place. Lack of research combined with stilted dialog makes this the worst book I ever forced myself to finish. The phrase "warm commotion" still makes my kids laugh.
NATURE ERRORS: A raccoon chasing a fox in the woods on a sunny afternoon. Both are nocturnal. Foxes are much faster than raccoons.
The fragrant dogwoods in bloom in mid-May. Dogwoods bloom early in the spring. They are never fragrant. They have no scent at all.
A poisonous snake bites someone on the Trail in February. Who doesn't know that reptiles are dormant in the winter?
HISTORICAL ERRORS: John Ross, 1/8th Cherokee, 7/8th Scottish, was born in Turkeytown, AL and never lived in a Cherokee village nor learned to speak his mother's native language. Calling someone a half-breed was an insult, not to mention that Cherokee didn't take the father's bloodline into consideration.
Sequoyah was born in Tennessee and never learned English, nor did he care about Christianity. He likely didn't meet John Ross until after the Removal.
The Cherokee culture was and is nothing like what was written in this fictional novel. Cherokee are matriarchal. No leader wore a large feathered headdress. Daughters don't need paternal permission to go for a walk. Fathers don't whip their sons. Character names like Bando, Binjie, Tisimndo, Ridino contain sounds not heard in their language. The whole "shaman" thing is wrong.
GEOGRAPHICAL ERRORS: Early chapters, taking place in 1801, mention towns of Bryson City and Gatlinburg. Later John Ross is in Atlanta, and the displaced people rest at Lake Chickamauga.
Bryson city was named for Colonel Thaddeus Dillard Bryson, born in 1829.
In 1856, a post office was established in the general store of Radford Gatlin (c. 1798 - 1880), giving the town the name "Gatlinburg".
John Ross takes a train from Atlanta. At that time the budding town in Georgia was called Terminus (as fans of The Walking Dead can tell you) and wouldn't see the railroad completed for several more years.
Construction of Chickamauga Dam began in 1936 and was completed in 1940, a full century after this story took place. Lack of research combined with stilted dialog makes this the worst book I ever forced myself to finish. The phrase "warm commotion" still makes my kids laugh.
The best part of this book was the history, it is right on! I am Cherokee and have been tought from the real thing, its very true to the facts. However, the rest of it, the "story" part was so not what I like at all, I only finished it because of the history, I will post it and not get any more from this author!
