Great Sky Woman

April 24, 2006
Hugo Award–nominee Barnes embellishes his 20th novel with folklore, spiritualism and impressive atmospheric detail. In prehistory, the Ibandi people thrive beneath the immense shadows of Great Sky Mountain—Mount Kilimanjaro. Two youths, Frog Hopping, a boy from the Inner Boma clan, and T'Cori, a girl from the Dream Dancer group, without much parental care miraculously blossom; T'Cori is reared by mystical visionary Stillshadow, while Frog is educated by his Uncle Snake, harnessing his sexuality, hunting ability and emerging powers of premonition. Minor intra-tribe squabbling becomes the least of their worries as the vicious Mt*tk invade their territory, assaulting and enslaving T'Cori and her sister Dream Dancers. As the hostility mounts into warfare, it's up to Frog and T'Cori to scale the vast and treacherous heights of Great Sky to appeal to the ominous, omnipotent Father Mountain to save their line from obliteration. While Barnes's narrative stalls and sputters in spots, it's daringly epic in scope and written with an undeniably rich appreciation for historical legend and human ties.

In this prehistorical novel, the Ibandi people dwell at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, which they call Great Sky Mountain. Coming of age in this society are a nameless orphan girl and her male counterpart, a boy named Frog, both of whom possess special sensitivities that set them apart from their tribe-fellows and draw them to each other. When their territory is invaded by warring neighbors, it's up to the two youngsters to climb the mountain to ask for help from Father Sky. Narrator Patricia Floyd has an appropriately earthy contralto voice. In dialogue passages, she adopts a convincing African accent, but some aspects of her delivery are awkward. In particular, her attempts to relay the primitive quality of the tale are ultimately unsuccessful. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine