Official Review: Quanah: Last of the Paiute Warriors

[Ngozi Onyibor]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Quanah: Last of the Paiute Warriors" by Steve Gladish.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In the ruthless Nevada desert, with nothing but a herd of mustangs for company, Dakota Duval spends his nights releasing balloons into the air and recording their movement as a weather airman for Nevada Test Site. Faced with racism and hostility at work, seeing the mustangs became the highlight of his days. Their beauty, strength and team spirit fascinated him.

Quanah is the first child of Bronco and Nevada Winnemucca, a Native American family of mustangers. Raised with love and respect for her ancestry and culture, she has a lot to do to live up to her heroes and family expectations. Her family's dwindling finances drove her to work as a waitress in a bar where she met and became friends with Dakota. Their shared heritage and love for mustangs draw them together. Their friendship blossomed until Quanah’s father went missing. Quanah is convinced that the key to finding him lies with Dakota, but first, he must become a mustanger.

Quanah: Last Of The Paiute Warriors is written by Steve Gladish. Steve’s storytelling skills and experience as an airman comes to the fore in his lucid descriptions of the Nevadian scenery and the everyday operations of the test site Dakota works. He did a superb job of highlighting the struggles and triumphs of Native Americans, past and present. Also, the characters are so well developed; I felt like I watched them grow up. Quanah’s mettle and intelligence are remarkable.

As a culture enthusiast, I have an affinity for books with a cultural theme. It's no surprise that my favourite aspect of this book is its richness in Native American culture. Steve centres a good portion of the story on the lives of a close-knit Native American family. The Winnemucca’s are evidently proud of their culture and ancestry. Through the patriarch's stories to his daughter, Quanah, I learned about Native American traditions, their love for mustangs, and heroes such as Sacagawea, Sarah Winnemucca, and a host of others.

The book’s shortfalls are its slow pace and overt attention to details. While attention to detail can evoke vivid images in a reader's mind, I don't consider knowing the exact size of a character's beard appealing.

Besides the quibbles mentioned above, I caught just one error throughout my reading, so I have no doubt that the book was meticulously edited. For its spectacular character development, vivid scenery, culture and family themes, I rate it 4 out of 4 stars. It will appeal to readers with a taste for Native American culture, mustangs and unconventional romance.

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Quanah: Last of the Paiute Warriors
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[Sakura5]

This seems a very fascinating book! I have a keen intereset in Native American culture, so this seems to be a very good fit. Thanks for the interesting review!

[Luluwa79]

Giving us insight of what the book entails is a great work. Thanks for the review and summary.

[Ada Ling]

"spectacular character development, vivid scenery, culture and family themes," - Besides these, I was also attracted by the cover. Great review!

[Star_and_Buck]

The story seems to be rather interesting. I think I might like this book. Thanks for an insightful review.

[Christabel Uzoamaka]

I must say that what drew me here was the cover page, and I am glad that the book is not disappointing. I always love to learn about different New cultures, so this book is one I would love to pick up.

I really enjoyed this review, thank you.

[Ellylion]

Sounds like an absolutely amazing read! I would love to explore the Native American culture depicted in this book The cover is also outstanding. Thank you for a great review!

[dm1971]

I am a bit interested in the protagonist's work since one of the jobs that I am interested in is being a meteorologist. Being a meteorologist and the protagonist's work is in a similar field. I am also interested in the everyday sceneries being described by the author.

[Ify_Reviewer]

I like the strong cultural theme. Thanks for the review.

[BreeAnn Whittaker 4]

Seems like an amazing love romance novel between two different people of two different cultures brought together by love and pain of the lost missing person.