Climb the Wind: a Novel of Another America (ISBN 0061050296)

Interesting history, weak character:
With the American Civil War over, the Union turns its attentions toward the west, toward the territory of the Lakota and the gold of the badlands. In our history, the result was the genocidal attacks on the Sioux and the horrors of Wounded Knee. But what if the Native Americans of the plains had united--if the Crow had fought with the Sioux and Cheyenne rather than scouting for Custer? And what if the Sioux had been able to secure more modern weapons--Chinese rockets and better rifles? In CLIMB THE WIND, author Pamela Sargent addresses these questions. The real hero of the novel is Russian Grigor Rubalev. He knows of American betrayal having suffered it when the U.S. bought Alaska and promptly ignored their promises to the Russian inhabitants. And he's read of the Mongol victories over the far more numerous and better armed Chinese. Could the Lakota chief Touch-The-Clouds be a later-day Gengis Khan? Touch-The-Clouds' mystic visions of Indian warriors in the streets of Eastern cities seems to indicate this possibility, and Rubalev is willing to do anything to make this victory possible. From the reader perspective, it is unfortunate that Sargent choses Seneca Lemuel Rowland as her protagonist. Rowland, an ex-soldier, is disenchanted with his life and wants to help the Sioux against the never-ending string of treaty violations that they have suffered. But he sees no alternative. If the Sioux fight, they will lose. If they fail to fight, they will lose. Rowland doesn't believe Rubalev's vision. Even when the plains Indians slaughter Custer and his entire force, Rowland knows that the result can only be more suffering. Sargent's selection of the genocide of the Native Americans as her setting for an alternate history is a good choice--the result in our own world was so horrible that almost anyone would want an alternative. The history is also familiar to most Americans, increasing its marketability (try selling an alternate history of Bactria after Alexander's death and see how important this is). Best of all, Sargent's story-telling and descriptions of Lakota customs is compelling. Although I found the first half of CLIMB THE WIND to be slow going and Rowland far too passive for a good protagonist, the novel still makes interesting reading.

A great idea poorly executed.:
What a waste. A promising idea that never comes close to maturity. You keep waiting for the characters to gain depth or for the descriptions and action scenes to climb above the level of a park brochure as you wade through page after page after page. Some of the sections are simply boring. The idea is clever but never truly works. The appearance of historical figures within an alternate history tale is usually one of the high points of the reading but does not offer a pay off here. Most of them walk briefly across the stage and disappear. The main characters are two dimensional and unconvincing. The reader never really cares what happens to them because they are cardboard cut outs without any real emotional anchors to give them depth. The action scenes are awkward and slow and the climatic battle that is foreshadowed throughout the first three quarters of the novel never materializes. I was extremely disappointed.

Bad history - but a good story:
Most "Indians Win" AH's are at best house-of-cards constructions and this one - while better than most - is no different. So if I told you I had problems galore with the history in this book, you'd probably not be surprised. But If I told you it doesn't make a darn bit of difference to the story, you might be. Pamela Sargent is an excellent writer. I found the characters all to be believable, their actions all made sense, given the circumstances, and the book is just a darn good read. But the AH - Oy! To begin with, the actual POD is at best diffuse. It seems to be set back a few years prior to the events of the story (Crazy Horse, for example, seems to have a different wife on this ATL, which led to Touch-the-Clouds not having to save his life because of his OTL wife's ex). But other events change as well, most notably Grant steps out in front of a carriage and dies in the middle of his term (Schuyler Colfax becomes President). But the _actual_ difference seems to be that visions are real, and can convey useful information. Sargent realizes that in order to have any chance of winning, the Indians have to face a much reduced enemy. And she arranges things so that rebellion breaks out in the South again (Colfax is a lot more heavy handed with them than Hayes would have been), Texas and California break away as "autonomous republics," and eventually much of the U.S. is in some form of rebellion. So, much of the army is busy putting down those rebellions - and much of the rest is unsure just whose orders they should be obeying. I just can't bring myself to believe this, though. The U.S. falls apart entirely too easily (I especially can't see California just breaking off like it does. The vast majority of its population was very pro-Union). Rebellions just seem to break out here and there for no real reason (though it is the time of the great Railroad Strike, I admit). OTOH, while the Indians win their territorial integrity by the end of the book (and the United States has become more of a NATO-style alliance than anything else) I do admire that she's left the future more or less undecided. That the Indians will keep their freedom is not a given and many of the Indians are upset with all the changes they had to make - all the things they had to lose - to win this war. It's pretty much going to be such that if the Indians do keep their freedom, their culture(s) are going to change at least as much as if they don't. But anywho, it's a great story. So put your disbelief-suspenders on "high" and read the book.

Badly convergent AH:
Though the idea of Souix and others rallying against the genocidal US, the creation of the book lacks in a good Point of Divergence from Our Time Line. In other words, Ms.Sargent uses fiction characters to push along the Souix to do one thing or another that will make them victorious. Then, after the US endures a cabalic despotism in Washington,that is put down by the Souix, the world reconverges with Our Time Line, which is very unlikey. The last passage makes a mockery of the Ghost Dance. Rent it from your library.

Confusing:
The major reason I didn't like this book is that there are too many characters.The plot was also confusing,so much so that I didn't even finish reading the book.