KLF Writing Services

Let's get the full disclosure thing out of the way first. This book was a gift to me from James Strauss, but not for the price of a review. James happened to get on a roll one day and was amazed by the price The Boy: The Mastodons-Book 1 goes for on Amazon, so he decided to give away a few signed copies. I was one of the lucky recipients. Now on to the actual review.

Honestly, The Boy: The Mastodons-Book 1 is everything you would expect from James Strauss. I had been interested in reading this book for a while, but the last time I paid over $70 for a book was in college and it was never worth it. I'm too frugal to do it for pleasure.

If you, like I did, wonder if this is going to be a similar read as The Clan of Cave Bear series is, let me clue you in. They are similar in that they are both realistic historical fiction and they both offer a potential glimpse into the life of an individual who dares to step outside the bounds of approved societal behavior for the time the story is set in. However, the similarities end there.

You won't find so much in the way of healing herbs as you will in human behavior and the difference one person straying from the path can make. This book is about the entrapment of how the codes of a society that originally meant to protect a community, can ultimately be the downfall of one.

When loneliness and fear are your only companions, and internal ones at that, you will seek outside solace as The Boy does. Separated from his tribe by disaster, The Boy makes an unusual friend and is soon lost in isolation that leads to discovery. The book delves into the human mind and includes not so pleasant thoughts of the main character, so that you get a glimpse of real human nature, how it can be flawed, and how it can be changed.

While The Boy: The Mastadons-Book 1 is rich in detail and description, it is also the gateway to understanding the destruction of conformity and the assumptions that are made because of it. If you enjoy (pre)historical fiction, you will enjoy this tale for the sake of the tale. If you enjoy reflecting on the fallacies of societal behavior, you are going to wonder why this book is not required reading for any parent, teacher, or leader of any kind.

I've had the pleasure of reading Walk in My Soul by Lucia St.Clair Robson several times now. It's one of those books you find a new pleasure in every time you read it. This masterpiece of historical fiction lends details and emotions to the life of the legendary Sam Houston and his Cherokee wife, known as Tiana.

This isn't exactly a historical romance, though there are certainly romantic elements woven through out the book. It's more of a detailed documentation of the lives of the Cherokees before and during the infamous Trail of Tears.

Lucia St.Clair Robson gives us a glimpse into the childhood of the one who would become Beloved Woman to her people as well as the glory and pains of the one we know as the father of Texas. With excellent character development and a plot that grips the reader to the core, Lucia St.Clair Robson has brought not only her characters to life, but has given us invaluable details so that we may better understand the times they lived in.

Set in times when land seem to hold more value than human life, the struggles of a nation who seemed to live as one with nature are pitted against those who would destroy the very land they hungered for. This isn't just an account of two people's lives. This is a wealth of insight into an entire matriarchal society that struggled to hold onto its heritage even as that heritage was systematically being disassembled.