Deer Dancers #01: Daughter of the Sky

First book in The Deer Dancers series. This book is a pure delight in adventure and mysticism of Early Native Americans. Amanda Cockrell is a talented writer who weaves history and fiction into a believable account of the life of Deer Shadow, the main character.It is an account that takes the reader along on the ride while she uses her Magic, finds her magical mate, has her children and builds her future.Her world is changing and you are there to be witness as the game becomes scarce and tribes of "Others" threaten to overrun her clan's hunting territory.If you love ancient history told in an entertaining way...then this is your book to read. It is not as indepth as that of the Gear's team but Cockrell appears not to have the material information at her disposal, as shows up in their books...However, that doesn't stop her from writing an excellent book.

This story is a light, fresh tale of a gifted but spunky girl who has a power to help her people and of a free spirited boy with a gift of his own from the spirits.Although the dialog at times is a little "Me Tarzan, you Jane", this is still a fun book with a decent amount of historical facts to keep it out of the sci/fi-fantsy category. A rice read that dosen't get too deep or take itself too seriously and moves at a fast pace. I would however only recommend the second book, "Wind Caller's Children" as a must read and not the rest. The third in this series seemes to be stuck in a loop that never gets interesting and the next three books don't appear to be written by the same author they are so poorly written.

If you ever see this book or either of the two sequels at a second hand book store anywhere (my copies came from Pyramid Book Stores), I would strongly urge you to snatch it up. Amanda Cockrell has a quirky, delightful writing style that brings to life the story of Deer Shadow, a girl of the Yellow Grass People who has a talent the People have not seen. She has the gift of drawing, a gift that magically summons the subject of her sketch - deer to feed her people (thus her name), a scorpion to frighten her stepmother, and, eventually, a man. (woo woo - !)To stray from the first volume of the trilogy, I have to say that the next two books are my favorites, simply because I love Others Child and Nighthawk. But in the end, all three are worthy reads. They sit on my bookshelf (under C for Cockrell, of course) and are reread enough times to have rank in my novel collection.