This book is partly based on a historical event and partly fiction. I didn’t know anything about the history of the pioneering settlers on which this story was based and so this book was pure fiction for me.
A group of ninety settlers are heading west on a trail across America. They want to get from the east coast to California and are in covered wagons, with horses, mules and oxen accompanying them. There are families, lone men and some lone women with children. Winter is approaching and they decide to take a little known short cut to try to get over the mountains before the snow comes. Basically, it all falls apart. The journey is long and hard. Due to the hardships, divisions rise up amongst the families, people shoot their neighbours, old feuds are re-ignited (mostly between the men) and the group splinters into factions. There are infidelities. There is incest and abuse. Most of the characters seem to have dark secrets they are trying to run away from but the reality is they’ve brought all that baggage with them. In fact, there are so many dark secrets, I began to lose count. Then there is the difficulty of the terrain they are crossing. The terrain is vast with few outposts. It’s a lawless zone. Under poor leadership, they decide to take a little charted trail to cut down on time. This involves crossing a desert where most of their cattle die and the oxen go mad with thirst. Finally, the winter comes on them before they have crossed the mountains and they are trapped with little food and men who are at each other’s throats. In the background of the story there’s a supernatural/horror element. Something or someone seems to be stalking the wagon train and picking off weak members. Children go missing. Mutilated bodies are found. Though, as I understand it, there was an allegation of cannibalism in the historical Donner story, the horror element is the part which diverges from historical facts. The deaths and the feeling of being tracked are layered onto the already plummeting fortunes of the group. This was very well done in parts. At other times, I felt it was impossible to retain the tension at such a high level without the need to shovel in even more dark secrets and more murders. For me, one strength was the depth of the main characters – Charles Stanton, Donner, Keseberg, Reed, Thomas, Mary, Elitha, Tamsen – to name a few. However, there were far too many characters for my liking and it was difficult to distinguish between them, especially in the first half of the book. Another strength was the quality of the writing. Also a strength was the way the author portrayed the historical setting and the atmosphere of the pioneers setting out on a mad adventure into the unknown. However, there were a few weaknesses – as I mentioned - too many characters, also an unending series of horrible mutilations and deaths - so that by the end, every character I actually liked ended up dying in nasty ways. Who was there left to root for? Well, no one really. Also, there were one or two side stories that hardly made sense and letters that were written where it was difficult to fathom who sent them (and to whom) and when (before or after certain individuals left the wagon train to set out on their own). This is a difficult one to rate. Here is my overall breakdown - 5 stars for writing quality, characterisation and atmosphere. 2 stars for the ending and 3 stars for the thriller element. That makes something like 4 stars overall. (Bottom line – I enjoyed it. It’s worth reading because it’s unique, but watch out for the pitfalls.) That makes something like 4 stars overall. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. This is my honest review. If you enjoy reading these reviews, please pop over and 'like' my Facebook Page - thank you! https://www.facebook.com/AnnGirdharryAuthor/
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