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Book Reviews of The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2)

The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2)
The Summoning God - Anasazi, Bk 2
Author: Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear
ISBN-13: 9780812540345
ISBN-10: 0812540344
Publication Date: 9/17/2001
Pages: 576
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 52

3.9 stars, based on 52 ratings
Publisher: Tor Books
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

14 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

royaltech avatar reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 126 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Amazon.com

Book two in the Anasazi Mysteries series, The Summoning God is the sequel to The Visitant, in which archaeologist-authors Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear introduced readers to murder, mayhem, and the myriad details of life in a 13th-century Native American pueblo. In both novels, the narrative arcs between the present and the past, drawing aside the seemingly thin veil of time that separates them. Here, as archaeologists Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole sift through an ancient Anasazi kiva, attempting to understand the circumstances that could have led to the presence of 33 charred children's bodies in the ceremonial chamber, we also see the members of the pueblo as they move toward the terrible destruction so carefully unearthed by Stewart and Cole. This narrative device isn't revolutionary, but it is clever: the demands of classic mystery plotting (we have a corpse, but who committed the crime?) are fulfilled, while the reader lives simultaneously in the worlds of evidence creation and deduction.

The Anasazi characters will be familiar to readers of The Visitant: warriors Browser and Catkin, holy men Springbank and Stone Ghost, and the witch Two Hearts continue to move silently through the sand and sagebrush, circling through a world marked by warring religions and vanishing resources. When Browser and Catkin find a mutilated old woman surrounded by the skulls of her clan, they must summon all their courage to combat what surely must be witchcraft--or is it? Although the narrative founders at times in a sea of murkily presented myth, the characters are vibrantly drawn (though to watch an Anasazi holy man conduct an autopsy in a manner that would do Kay Scarpetta proud is one of several discordant anachronisms).

The Summoning God, like its predecessor, renders the lives and habits of the Anasazi in compelling detail: we learn that they used blazing star petals for perfume and that their ceremonial purification rites included cornmeal and ground seashells. Though the tenacity with which the authors seek to hammer home a situational equivalency between modern life and the 13th century is sometimes painfully heavy-handed, the evocation of daily life never is. Readers might wish to acknowledge that overutilization of resources, a thirst for territory, and a propensity toward holy wars are indeed threads that bind us to the Anasazi--then ignore the lectures and settle into the story. --Kelly Flynn
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 16 more book reviews
An engrossing, memorable novel of the vanished Anasazi Indian Tribe.
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 579 more book reviews
step back into the year 1263 and the secret lair of a killer. he walks the ruins of a dying civilazation stalking the weak, the chosen stalking them into terror.
Dixie avatar reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 179 more book reviews
Book two in the Anasazi Mysteries series, The Summoning God is the sequel to The Visitant, in which archaeologist-authors Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear introduced readers to murder, mayhem, and the myriad details of life in a 13th-century Native American pueblo. In both novels, the narrative arcs between the present and the past, drawing aside the seemingly thin veil of time that separates them. Here, as archaeologists Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole sift through an ancient Anasazi kiva.
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 459 more book reviews
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Summoning God, Book ll of the Anasazi Mysteries is more than a superb murder mystery, it is a psychological thriller with block-buster action that will have you holding your breath waiting for the next step down the dark labyrinth of their serial murderer's mind.

The Gears seamlessly weave together modern archaeology and ancient history. Like all of their books, The Summoning God is based on real archaeological sites - sites that tell a terrifying story of North America eight hundred years ago.
nrezac avatar reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 160 more book reviews
Another excellent book in the series! It flowed very easily and kept me guessing until the end.
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 79 more book reviews
Book #2 - Ancient Murder/Mystery. Better than the 1st one...
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 61 more book reviews
This series is amazing. Truly a gem in the rough.
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 24 more book reviews
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Summoning God, Book ll of the Anasazi Mysteries is more than a superb murder mystery, it is a psychological thriller with block-buster action that will have you holding your breath waiting for the next step down the dark labyrinth of their serial murderer's mind.

The Gears seamlessly weave together modern archaeology and ancient history. Like all of their books, The Summoning God is based on real archaeological sites - sites that tell a terrifying story of North America eight hundred years ago.
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 10 more book reviews
Great read. The second in the series of the Anasazi Mysteries. I would reread this series over in a minute.
mimariposa07 avatar reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 7 more book reviews
Second book in the series can not be diluted in it's magical spell it casts on the reader.
Rebecca2155 avatar reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 2 more book reviews
Just have to keep reading to find some closure. Nicely done, not too much review of the previous book
CraftyTJ avatar reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 381 more book reviews
The Summoning God is the sequel to The Visitant, in which archaeologist-authors Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear introduced readers to murder, mayhem, and the myriad details of life in a 13th-century Native American pueblo. In both novels, the narrative arcs between the present and the past, drawing aside the seemingly thin veil of time that separates them. Here, as archaeologists Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole sift through an ancient Anasazi kiva, attempting to understand the circumstances that could have led to the presence of 33 charred children's bodies in the ceremonial chamber, we also see the members of the pueblo as they move toward the terrible destruction so carefully unearthed by Stewart and Cole. This narrative device isn't revolutionary, but it is clever: the demands of classic mystery plotting (we have a corpse, but who committed the crime?) are fulfilled, while the reader lives simultaneously in the worlds of evidence creation and deduction.
reviewed The Summoning God (Anasazi, Bk 2) on + 2 more book reviews
new and unread, I got 2 copies by mistake