Author/screenwriter Michael Blake’s “Dances With Wolves” blasted through layers of conscience easing illusion and carved the plight and struggle of a proud people forever into the hearts and minds of millions. His novel “The Holy Road” continues the saga of the unforgettable characters of this modern classic, Oscar winning film.

 “A soul as purely Comanche as any that had been born.”

 Wind In His Hair knew of the consternation and worry the long, red haired scalp he took from the white women that shot out his eye caused. Though none questioned his right to display this honorable trophy of war, it was a symbol and reminder of the threat that had been steadily growing for years. The whites grew closer and bolder each day. He wondered how many he would kill to preserve the only life he knew. The number did not matter; the killing did not matter. Yet, lately, he woke often to stare into the shadows at the long swaying hair, and knew, the time of the battle drew near.

 “Perhaps a powerful whirlwind will sweep them away.”

 Ten Bears is embarrassed by the limitations and infirmities of old age.He dreams of and longs to follow tradition and simply refuse to move, to lie back and let his body melt back into mother earth. But Ten Bears cannot leave the people who seek his wisdom and guidance at such and dangerous and challenging time. To the east, west, north, and south, although he knows even if his tired old eyes were young and clear he could not see them, not yet, he knows the white men are there, drawing closer and closer. And he fears they are the whirlwind, and his people are directly in the path of an unstoppable force.

 “A collision with the white people was inevitable.”

 Kicking Bird has the heart of a warrior weighted by the mind of a man who knows the inevitable. He craves the new, dreads and is depressed by doubts and fears of what changes it will bring. But, convinced of the futility of stopping the unstoppable, he is determined to prepare. He has drifted away from his traditional calling of Medicine Man and become a Comanche statesman, traveling far beyond the boundaries of the Comanche lands, attending meetings and counsels, listening and learning. Someone has to stand strong against his warrior’s heart, prepare and learn and understand, and guide the people through the coming devastation and challenges the changes will bring.

 “Something strange had invaded him, a power to erase the past and set the future.”

 Smiles A Lot, at twenty-one, is still the daydreamer, the genial, gentle boy who cares for the horses. And after the near disaster of the raid into Mexico, he withdraws even more, hiding among his horses and dreaming of Ten Bears granddaughter, Hunts For Something. But all changes in an instant as he stands outside the counsel tent and listens to a visiting Cheyenne brother, Wolf Robe, tell of the white man’s “Holy Road,” tracks laid across the prairie that carry an indestructible fire wagon that pull boxes on wheels full of more whites and more soldiers.

            “What can be done to fight an enemy that is everywhere, an enemy

 with weapons no one understands, an enemy that becomes larger

 every day no matter how many we might kill?”

Wolf Robe’s words reach into the boy standing outside and yank out the man. “He wanted to die a warrior.”

 “Their blood was as distinct from that which flowed through Comanche veins as the color of the earth is from sky.”

 Dances With Wolves and Stands With A Fist: Just a bit apart. Just a bit different. After so many years, no one thinks of them or their three children as white. Their uniqueness only evokes pride and an occasional smile of amusement. Stands With A Fist’s value and place in the tribe long since earned and secure; Dances with Wolves loyalty, bravery, and power proved in battle. The encroaching threat of the white men on their world is just a bit more worrisome to them. They have more to lose. More to fear from their own kind.

 Eleven years ago Lieutenant John Dunbar married Stands With A Fist, embraced the Comanche way of life with equal wholehearted devotion, and rode away from the white world with Ten Bears’ tribe. He is Dances With Wolves, a member of the elite warrior society, the Hard Shields, a protector of the people.  When their village is attacked and Stands With A Fist and his infant daughter are taken back into that world, he is forced to search deep into his soul for John Dunbar, and return to a world and a culture that is now strange and abhorrent to him to bring them back. But back to what?

 There is no question that Michael Blake is a superior literary talent. But one cannot help but speculate about some mystical connection or knowledge or force adding to the soul-stirring, soul-searching depths of his work on “Dances With Wolves” and this sequel. Reading “The Holy Road,” packs all the punch of sitting in the theatre watching “Dances with Wolves” on screen, and more. Perhaps you will say that familiarity with the film is the reason for the empathy and closeness I felt to the characters and the visual clarity I saw them with. At least you might until you pick up the book and experience its power for yourself. Blake crafts the story, the sights, smells, sounds, confusion, love, doubts, fears, pain, and loss into deep a sensory pool of imagination so compelling and real, coming back to the surface at the end was a bit of a shock. I did not read this story; I lived it. Thank you, Michael Blake, for sharing these characters, their plight, their story, and your talents. I have doubts about a film doing justice to this book, but with the talented Mr. Blake behind the pen, I look forward the film version of “The Holy Road.”

 Review © Charlene Austin

Charlene Austin writes fiction under the pen name Carrie Lynn Lyons. Her stories and poems are available electronically and in print. Her first novel, Dream Pictures, is available in stores and on line. She is a member of several writing groups, owner moderator of the popular Writing Road group, and a contributor and Managing Editor of the Writing Road Weekly Newsletter. Charlene reviews for Writers and Readers Network, and her reviews appear in Northeast Book Review, MS magazine, and Sabledrake magazine. Visit her at
Carrie Lynn Lyons

[Home] [Author pages] [Reviews] [Michael Blake] [Spotlight] [New Releases] [Chats]