The Battle for America - Book One of Contact

I got this book for my mom because she has read previous books from the same author and she loves these types of books. This is her review:

I read this book and found it interesting. I have read books by these authors before and found this book to be a continuation of their attention to detail. I have found the Gears to be accurate in their portrayal of the way people lived during the time periods they write about. Also, their historical facts are accurate. The only suggestion I have is that the Gears include a pronunciation key for the names of the people in their books. Although there is no wrong pronunciation I feel that I lose too much time stumbling over how the names should be pronounced.

If there are more books to come in this series I will seek them out and purchase them.

Coming of the Storm details the early days of the Spanish colonization of America. What's detailed are tribal practices, the early indigenous barter system, and several tribal cultural setups.

The problem with the story is the central character. Against the advice of the female lead, who begs him new owner not to "just go see" the Spanish colonists. Coming from someone he effectively just bought, one would think he would give her words more weight. After that, the story goes down into a fairly visceral escape story.

Following the main characters idiocy, it was difficult to keep going. The decisions are so cliched at sometime as to be xeroxs of several different "encounter with the white man" story lines. But from such good beginnings, it was just jarring how much the initial plot point colored the rest of the book.

Coming of the Storm: Book One of Contact: The Battle for America, wow what a title, and wow what a book! This is a book long overdue in my opinion. A really hefty story with a lot of attention to detail, when you immerse yourself into the pages of this book, its very hard to come back up for air. This is not a book to read during during that 15 minute work break, I found that this book requires a good amount of quiet time to delve into, deserving the reader's full attention and concentration. Distraction free, this story swallows you whole and keeps you there, page after finely crafted page. Though the book is a work of fiction, it is based on real history, and as such comes across as quite believable. Though this is the first book I've had the pleasure of reading from these authors, I find myself ready to seek out other books by these talented individuals to add to my personal library.

Good book to spend time on. The Spanish characters are extremely one-dimensional, and de Soto himself is in very little of the actual story.

The Native American characters are drawn more boldly and with deeper characterizations, however there's very little nuance to their relationships and core characteristics. Much time is spent on the characters describing their feelings and motivations.

The Gears have written a dialogue that utilizes both an expected use of certain terminology like "thundersticks", but also an odd mix of modern terminology that would too often leave me shaking my head wondering why A-Team vernacular was making an appearance in early 16th Century Florida.

There are enough action sequences to drive the plot along at a good pace. And while 530+ pages feels long, I read the book in only a few days, in no small part because I'm not very familiar with de Soto's story and I was interested to see where the Gears would take things.

What's really wonderful about the gears' books in general, and this one in particular, is that they show native Americans as people of depth and courage. They come to life as intelligent and real, rather than as the "ignorant savages" of popular culture. I have been a fan of their books from the beginning. But what I love about this series is that it makes history come alive, from the often left out viewpoint of the conquered. I have just finished this book for the second time, and can't wait to read the other 2! I highly recommend this series to those who would like a slightly different look at the history of first contact on this continent, than most history books tell.

I don't know offhand how many books I have read by the authors, but I have never been disappointed. The details and research, along with a good story line and character development make every one of their books a delight to read.

Just as good as their previous novels, this one starts with the story of Black Shell and Pearl Hand. Black Shell is a trader and risks all he has to win Pearl Hand from her abusive owner. It was love at first sight when Black Shell saw Pearl Hand in the woods on his way to her village.

About the only part I did not enjoy in the book, was the flashbacks, not because they were not good, but I'm still adjusting to bifocals, and found the different font used more difficult to read.

W. Michael Gear and his wife, Kathleen O'Neal Gear write wonderful Indian stories. Their series of the Indian peoples cannot be matched for interest and just good storytelling.

"Coming of the Storm" is something new for them in that they are beginning a series that is a telling of history, of things that happened and they start with the story of de Soto and how he treated the Indians here in America. The treatment was brutal and we have heard only one side of the story in our history. The Gear's tell the story from the Indian's side.

A great read.

J. Robert Ewbank author, "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

I love historical fiction centered around or featuring a focus on the American Indian. "Hanta Yo" by Ruth Beebe Hill is a favorite, as well as Michener's "Centennial". I was really looking forward to "Coming of the Storm", basically a fictional account of Hernando de Soto's drive through Florida and what was to become the American South and his army's impact on the tribes there. Unfortunately, while the story sounds great, the writing is so poor at times it's simply laughable.

In a nutshell, we are introduced to Black Shell, a trader who is in exile from his own tribe after running away from a battle. We meet his wife Pearl Hand who has some history with the "Kristianos" and their efforts to thwart the invasion of their homeland.

While the basic tale sounds very interesting, the finished product is anything but. The dialog switches jarringly from the modern day tongue, to "Tonto"-like stereotypical speak and back again quite often...sometimes within the same sentence?! For instance when describing a "gun" to another tribe Black Shell refers to it as a "Thunderstick" (no...I'm not kidding), and in the very next sentence Black Shell informs the reader that he led his dogs into a field so they could "evacuate" away from camp???? We are supposed to believe that Black Shell also thinks the "Kristianos" live on "floating islands" with giant "trees" growing up from them which hold great white "clouds"....so basically Black Shell has trouble conceiving of "cloth" or "sails" or "boats"...even though it's explained that his own tribe used similar methods for catching wind on small boats when out fishing?!!?!?

The majority of the book has our two protagonists following or evading de Soto's forces in hopes of recruiting Northern Tribes into fighting de Soto's army with guerilla tactics. Toss in a laughable romantic subplot and tons of poorly written sex scenes and you just have to shake your head and laugh. Simply awful.

Coming of the Storm is vary good. it about one of the first encounters of native americans and whites in this case De Soto and his men in florida.even tho the book is over 500 pages it will keep you wanting to read more and more. so if you like the Gears and there books go and get this book.

I have had this book on my iPhone for several months and never got around to reading it. When I finally started it I could not stop. It makes me look at history from a whole new perspective and wish for the underdog to win when I know That in the end he will not. However I am immediately ordering the next in the series. I will give it 4 1/2 stars only because I very seldom to never give five. This is really a great book.

I have been wanting to try books of this Genre.
Sadly I found facets of this book to be a bit too "soap operahish" for an early american fiction.
The "language" and phrases used did not fit the genre IMO and turned me off almost instantly.

Although I was a bit wary about reading this book, it just didn't fit the typical Gear novel, I was pleasantly surprised. The book takes off with the typical young stud and the curvy damsel in distress. Let's say that I was hooked, as I always am.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I live in Florida and it was great to read a book based in my homeland. I would reccommend this book for anyone interested in american indians or interested in de soto. I def want to read the sequel.

This is a great read, and I can't wait for the rest in the series! Please ignore the 1 star reviews, as they are posted by morons that have a gripe with Kindle, and have never even read the book. How stupid is that?

It is still cheaper than buying the hard copy and you don't have to pay shipping...I love reading on my Kindle, the convenience, the free sample chapters, there are a lot of pros, even if it is a little over 9.99