Helpful Score: 1
Meredith Ann Pierce is always a pleasure to read. Her imagination is captivating, and her words flow like music. I will wait impatiently for her next work.
Helpful Score: 1
A neat fable, with overtones of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear.
Meredith Ann Pierce has a beautiful, lyrical style to her writing that grabs you from page one. This story loosely follows a Norwegian folk tale of a people who follow the caribou, and how a woman's life is touched my a magical shapeshifting "reindeer". From arctic tundras to underground troll caverns, this book will take you on an adventure you won't soon forget!
This is a very kewl story and an awsome read. It reminds me of an indian type legend.
From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up The two-mooned planet on which this magical fantasy is set is a cross between Yellowstone and Lapland. Caribou is the wisewoman of the title, and Reindeer is a trangl one who can take the form of deer or mortal. As a pre-teen, Caribou was brought the baby to rear by her brother's frightened wife, who conceived the child while her husband was away. Caribou grows attached to the precocious golden-eyed boy but never thinks of him as her own child. From early on he shows signs of being more than human, but Caribou's growing status as wisewoman and her apartness from the villagers help shield Reindeer from notice. But when the deer part of his nature calls him to run with the wild herds, Caribou grieves and rejoices when the man side compels his return as her lover. The author of the "Darkangel" series (Atlantic) convincingly and poetically portrays their lives and adventures, both together and in Caribou's attempts to save her people from the changing earth of quakes and eruptions and to find them safe passage away, aided by Reindeer's wild knowledge in his guise as stag. Her dealings with troll hedgewives and her visit to the Fireking's underground world are wonderfully realized. A promising new world for fantasy buffs. Ruth M. McConnell, San Antonio Public Library
Grade 8 Up The two-mooned planet on which this magical fantasy is set is a cross between Yellowstone and Lapland. Caribou is the wisewoman of the title, and Reindeer is a trangl one who can take the form of deer or mortal. As a pre-teen, Caribou was brought the baby to rear by her brother's frightened wife, who conceived the child while her husband was away. Caribou grows attached to the precocious golden-eyed boy but never thinks of him as her own child. From early on he shows signs of being more than human, but Caribou's growing status as wisewoman and her apartness from the villagers help shield Reindeer from notice. But when the deer part of his nature calls him to run with the wild herds, Caribou grieves and rejoices when the man side compels his return as her lover. The author of the "Darkangel" series (Atlantic) convincingly and poetically portrays their lives and adventures, both together and in Caribou's attempts to save her people from the changing earth of quakes and eruptions and to find them safe passage away, aided by Reindeer's wild knowledge in his guise as stag. Her dealings with troll hedgewives and her visit to the Fireking's underground world are wonderfully realized. A promising new world for fantasy buffs. Ruth M. McConnell, San Antonio Public Library
This was the first book I have read by this author. Beautiful storyteller, I'll be looking for more books by her.
A wonderful story, possessing the entertainment value of a fantasy novel and the authority of a creation myth.
This was an OK read