The Holy Road Hardcover – October 1, 2004

I enjoyed the book very much and read hoping to find out what happened to Dances With Wolves after reading the first book. There is a lot of history in the book though it isn’t meant to be. The book does make a point of both sides from an Indian and Army point of view but mostly gives the Indian point of view.

Writer killed all the characters at end of book. Good til the end

Possible Spoilers Ahead‘The Holy Road’ is the sequel to ‘Dances with Wolves’. The sequel doesn’t live up to my expectations. The alluring characters from DWW only carry this story so far. John Dunbar becomes a supporting character with only one active role, the rescuing of his wife and child after the village is decimated by soldiers. Even at the end of the book (arguably another active role, though more so for the Comanche nation) Dunbar seems to only provide a subordinate role. Ten Bears and Kicking Bird are much more centralized characters, and I enjoyed their perceptions of white living during their trip to Washington. The book is told from many perspectives and this seems to make the reading plod along at times. The dream sequences come across as filler. Stands With a Fist loses her fire and grit as she becomes a seldom mentioned character, except for her kidnapping. There are other portions of this book that ring hollow. Dunbar’s problem remembering English stands out. But the general charm and personality of the original is absent here, and that was a big draw for this reader.The ending is depressing. Everyone knows what it is coming, but the conflict of the two cultures and the incapacity for the American Indians to arrive at a satisfying compromise is never more glaring than at the end of the book. Blake handled this difficult section with a documentary-style listing of what happens to the main characters. While other parts of the book were drawn out and uninteresting, he skims over the portrayers’ fates. Of course, this would have only added to the gloomy aura at this point in the book. Maybe Blake realized that. But any look at the plight of the American Indian in the west will be wrought with depressing events.

Very well written, not what I thought it would be but still worth the time to read this book. Wished it had been a little more about the end of the movie to the end of tis book. Left out several years between the movie and book.

Dances With Wolves was a great read and I was looking foreword and expecting to see what happens to Dunbar and his wife Christine (Stands With A Fist) in The Holy Road. At first I was a little disappointed that those two as well as their three children were barely even mentioned in 'The Holy Road' and were pretty much inconsequential to the meat of the story. As the story developed, I became more intrigued by the lives and the played out drama of the secondary characters who were all Native American and soon found it hard to but the book down. Blake was a great story writer (rip). He was able to take fragments of individual lives of the Comanche people and other other tribes and weave them into a haunting and sad story. This is more of a story of how the way of life of the American Indian came to a tragic end; by way of the "Holy Road" which doesn't seem to me to be a holy road at all - (I must have missed the metaphor somehow). But a great story - Should have been made into a movie!

Great book told from the Native American side. Always felt they were so misunderstood. God bless them all!

I really enjoyed the movie Dances With Wolves...but I was sorely disappointed in the first book. It covered all the main points as the movie did but I felt the book itself was rushed and was actually poorly written. I was expecting the same from book two - The Holy Road - I was shocked to see the differences. It was almost as if different Authors had written them. This book was extremely well written. It sadly shows the demise of a great nation of people and the hardships and destruction they endured. It was a great surprise after part one of the series. Highly recommended reading and excellent work by the Author.

This story takes place during the heartbreaking final years of the free Comanche. It continues the lives of the characters from Dances With Wolves. It has good insight into the dilemma and emotional trauma faced by the tribes whose home and way of life were under attack. It's a good story. Had a few issues with writing style and the end had an emotionally detached feel- like a recitation of facts- that I felt didn't do honor to the characters who we had come to care about.

THE HOLY ROADThe epic telling of the tale of John Dunbar/Dances with Wolves and the tribe of Ten Bears who adopted him, continues here. Often a sequel may try too hard, fall woefully short of its worthy predecessor by attempting to emulate that all important vibe and style, yet not so in this case. The Holy Road is a humble, fulfilling, and a truly great novel in its own right. Picking up just over a decade after Dances with Wolves , this next chapter laces together the lost years and exerts its own forceful and emotive message. There is a gently comic young love, as Smiles a Lot crosses the threshold of manhood and becomes the warrior that he has always wanted to be. There are captures and escapes, daring rescues and bloody assaults. But the looming menace is the indisputable knowledge that the whites are indeed coming. Those who kick against the proverbial traces will be punished, whilst those compliant will live their days out crammed into reservations. And so a deadline is set, and whilst dealing with brutal inter tribe conflicts and problems of their own, the Commanche warriors and their families take to the prairies half at war and half in retreat. As these much loved characters that we have come to know so well play out their literary destinies, I found this book to be as brilliant and consuming as its predecessor. Different, but very good.

The sequel to the book and film Dances with wolves, Dunbar now had children Snake in Hands, Always Walking and Stays Quiet, there had been an attack recently by Utes but they were driven away, Snake in Hands was 9yrs, Always walking was 7yrs and Stays Quiet was the youngest, Smiles a Lot was 21yrs now and good with horses, he was in love with Ten Bears daughter Hunting For Something, Kicking Bird and family were away and Dunbar hunting with his two eldest children, the Southern Cheyenne paid a visit they said the Whites were over running their country, they also told of a railroad being built in their country, Smiles a lot went away to meditate, Wind in his Hair was with the Honey Eaters, Whites and Tonkawas were hunting them, Tonkawas ate their enemysWind in His Hair wanted to go to war on the white men, Kicking Bird went with some warriors to help the Kiowas who were being told to go on a reservation, Dunbar went hunting with warriors, he had his two eldest children with him, 36 whites saw the unprotected village, they killed anything that moved, the took Stands with a Fist and her young daughter because she was white, Ten Bears was alive, Smiles a Lot returned, he was in charge of anything that was left, young boys and old men, his little brother Rabbit was alive, they all headed west for safety, boys were sent for Kicking Bird and Dunbar, the story continues as Dunbar searches for his wife and daughter, there are many battles as the whites try to force all the Indians onto a reservation,My verdict, excellent, why did they not make a film of the second book

No spoilers - I absolutely loved this book, read it over two or three days and enjoyed every page. Dances with Wolves is not the main focus of the novel by any means, he is one many characters encountered in the previous book/film and some new additions as well. Michael Blake conjures up so well the physical and mental landscape of the Comanches, I really felt that I was there, on the prairie, among the lodges of Wind in his Hair, Smiles alot and Ten Bears. For me, if I had to use one adjective to describe this book, it would be poignant. It describes a way of life which was at complete odds in every respect to the future i.e. the White man and highlights the opposing attitudes to the environment, one of reverence and respect from the native American Indians to desecration from the White man.

Not as much of a page turner as Dances With Wolves (but that may be about familiarity) but a very interesting account of how the West was lost and how the native nations were reduced to the reservations. Often heartbreaking. Also full marks to Michael Blake for not continuing to focus on Dances with Wolves but following other characters we met in the first book.

I'm not going to write a long review. If you enjoyed Dances with Wolves film and book and you have an interest in Native American history then you will enjoy this book. Michael Blake has woven the fictitious character Damces with Wolves into a story incorporating some true facts. The slaughter of 2000 Indian ponies is true and depicts the awful tragedy of the destruction of the proud and brave Comanche Nation. I cried buckets, I'll say no more.