Opener for the New Trilogy: Colorado Wind --
For the opening book of a trilogy, this book was rather bland. Don?t get me wrong, it was enjoyable ? just not great. There just didn?t seem to be enough plot/subplots for the 350+ pages of the book.
There are three children and a blind father in the stone house with dirt floors when Logan Horn begged entry during a rainstorm. He had his dying mother in his arms. Although Grant Spurlock was prejudiced against Indians, Rosalee let them in and placed his mother in her bed.
Rosalee is about 19 ? 20 years of age, Ben, her brother, is 14 and the younger girl, Odell, is 10. I had a hard time dealing with Grant?s status as a dreamer and a drifter. As a blind man, he should have been aware that he could not protect his children in this harsh wilderness. They were miles away from a town or a neighbor?s help. He?d sunk all of his money in the tract of land they now owned free-and-clear.
Logan was an interesting Indian. His father was a white man who married his beautiful mother and abandoned her when he was ready to leave the area. Using the Indian method of divorce, he did it in such a way that Morning Sun would never be chosen for marriage by an Indian.
Logan?s father and his brother both married Indian women; however, Henry took care of his responsibilities toward his Indian wife. He also took Logan back East and provided an education and care. Logan was educated in the Classics and adapted to the white man?s ways. When his uncle died, Logan inherited his sizable estate.
This book takes a hard look at how half-breeds (1/2 Indian, ½ white) were treated. Although Logan had fought (and lead others) in the Civil War, he was still unacceptable to most of the people of the area.
This book also looks at the problems a person of mixed heritage (one of them being Indian) had when he wanted to marry a white woman in the 1860?s and later. (In the very early days of English migration, trappers often married Indian women and there were no raised eyebrows.)
There are several subplots but the character development (of the secondary characters) wasn?t really strong enough. There?s lots of action and wonderful descriptions of the landscape, but it just seemed to be a fairly ordinary story. 3.5 stars
