Mountain Folk

By John Hood
Published: 2021

by Nancy Roberts and Carlisle Cooper

About a year back, I was looking for some ideas for a book as a gift for a young girl on my Santa list. I found "Mountain Folk," and knew it would be something I'd enjoy, and thought maybe she would as well. She read it immediately and enjoyed it. Not long ago I asked her if she'd care to do a joint review of a book in this column, and she chose this one. I read it, and for that, I thank this young reader - an excellent suggestion!

To set the stage, the book is a splendid mix of history and fantasy, and the writer moves from one to the other so seamlessly you happily accept that such historic figures as Daniel Boone, George Washington, Peter Muhlenberg and John Skenandoa (aka Shenandoah) were able to see the fairy folk that populate their realm, and interact with them. The folk can cross The Shimmer (the wall between the worlds) into The Blur (their name for our world), and spend their time protecting us - or is it using our skills to procure goods? Perhaps a bit of both.

Early in the book we meet Daniel Boone who discovers he can see a Sylph named Goran, and the two become unlikely friends. Later, we're introduced to Har (a large dwarf nick-named The Tower), a Sylph queen named Virginal, a Water Maiden, The Puckwudgies of the New World, and a host of other characters based on fantasy and lore from many places and times, as well as real humans from the period taking part in real events.

As soon as you meet Daniel Boone, you know the time and place, and shortly thereafter you discover that the fantasy folk are going to be involved in two brewing wars, The French and Indian War, and the American Revolution.

With that background, here are the readers' comments.

1. What made you (Carly) choose this book for our joint book review?

Carly: Honestly, I thought you had read it too, I didn't realize that people recommended books without reading them. I think I was also reading the book at the time, and that you liked it.

Nancy: In this case, the book was well-marketed, fit a great niche, and as it sounded like a story I would have enjoyed at Carly's age (13) as well as now, I took a chance! 

2. Did you guess that I'd like the book or not?

Carly: I don't think we've really talked about it, but I think we have similar tastes in books in a lot of ways, at least if the series you've got me hooked on means anything.

Nancy: I was a little younger than Carly when I discovered science-fiction, and became a lifelong fan. While fantasy isn't quite the same, they do share the ability to create a new set of "rules" for the characters to live by. When a concept, moral principle, or an adventure is undertaken and the usual bets are off, it will more often than not make for a good story. So I will often recommend that type of book for a young reader.

3. What are the three best things about the book?

Carly: It's kind of hard to decide any one good thing about a great book but some of the things I really liked was how Goran progressed from being completely loyal to defying the sylphs (fights autocorrect once again); how people reacted to seeing the various magical beings; and the twist at the end. 

I really liked Goran's progression to rebelling because it wasn't sudden like a lot of books, but instead he tried to stay with his lifelong family and friends for as long as he could, before accepting (I admit somewhat forcibly) that he couldn't stay anymore and accept what was happening. I liked how people reacted to seeing various magical creatures, because well, it was really funny? 

Also imagining the likely off page explanation afterwards, or hey, maybe they didn't explain and the people just think they're insane. 

I liked the twist at the end, because, well, in some book series (not gonna name names but cough cough SKYWARD) the twists felt (at least in my opinion) a little overwhelming, to where it felt like the whole genre changed from the start of the series to the end. The twist in Mountain Folk felt right. Little stuff was hidden all throughout the book, as well as answered a few of my big questions about some of the workings.

Nancy: I loved the way the writer would slip between the fantasy and fairy worlds with no change of "diction," intensity, or loss of the story line. He could move among characters, from Daniel Boone to Goran to Peter Muhlenberg to Dela (a Water Maiden) but didn't until a thread was firmly tied at the end of the section featuring the previous character, and what you were about to learn with the new featured character was just what you wanted!

I also very much liked that he thoughtfully gave merit to each of the feuding factions in the two wars in the story. He never "takes sides" as he relates the many and complex issues facing the groups of people who try to live with sometimes conflicting needs and ideas in the North American continent. The tribes of people here when Europeans arrive fight among themselves; the tribes and the settlers fight, one attacking the other and then turnabout; the fairy folk get involved and takes sides; the Brits attack both; the French attack the tribes; the tribes attack the French; the French and the Brits (and settlers) fight... And in each case, the reader is able to see how each group might interpret the ideas, actions, and needs of the others, both for good and ill.

At a meeting to discuss whether to continue the fight, I found this:
“Knowing when and how to best fight for your people requires wisdom and courage,” granted the Song Snake. “But they strike me as too passive. They have come a long way to settle in a place teeming with potential enemies.”

“Just as the white have,” Nanyehi tightened the sash that tied around her waste and pushed her tomahawk lower into its confines.  “Our is a huge country. There should be room enough for all if only we would learn from each other rather than letting fear, resentment, and violence prevail.”

“You speak a truth far too many years seem not to hear,” said Tana. 

They talk about the difference between the actions of “bad” people and “good” people, and that the bad ones of EITHER side can cause trouble. And there is discussion of the times when there is little or no other option BUT to fight, and an honorable person has to take up arms.

Finally, the portrayal of women as realistically strong was handled beautifully. They are competent to lead and to fight, but the author also recognizes a point of view often neglected in modern fiction. In a meeting, a woman leader steps up to be heard.

"“We know that women are often looked upon as nothing,” Nanyehi continued, now letter her gaze take in the Cherokee men as well. “But we are your mothers. You are our sons. From our mouths, from our minds, from our hearts, our cry is the same: it is a cry for peace.”

(A cradle song is played by one of the Fairy Folk - they have the gift of "spellsong," which is one of their magical tools for creating a mood, making things invisible, guiding an idea.)

“The peace we make must continue beyond today,” Nanyehi said, raising her arms along with the volume of her voice. “The peace must last forever. Let your women’s sons be ours. Let our sons be yours. Hear our words. And let your women – your mothers, your sisters, your wives, your daughters – let them hear our words as well. I have spoken.”

4. What are three things you DIDN'T like about the book?

Carly: Come back later :l But seriously, I don't think I have any major complaints about the book. Other than the fact it ended!

Nancy: The map is too small! I do love a good map in a book in which movement from place to place figures prominently. I love it as a tool for finding where I am in a relative sense, especially if I'm not familiar with the place names. 

I quarreled with myself over the fight scenes. At first I found them a little tedious (both the individual fisticuffs and the larger battle scenes) but ultimately, I loved them! Mainly because they were so descriptively excellent I could actually envision them. That's rare talent, to write about characters wielding weapons the reader might be only slightly familiar with, and then by sheer forces of description allow him to watch as a hand-to-hand fight occurs.

Finally, I'm with Carly. Come back later!

5. Is there a scene or passage that stands out to you, that you remember or pictured really clearly?

Carly: It's been a bit since I've read the book, but some that really stand out to me right now are 

- The scene with the.... what's it called? The stone thingy (the Stoneclad) and Daniel Boone, Goran, Tana, Nanyehi (had to look up how to spell that one), especially the part where Tana's like "But it has a very strong sense of smell," as well as the earlier scene where everyone laughs about the lovesick buzzard joke. 

- Another scene(s) I think I always remember when I think of the book is where Goran sees Dela for the first time, and just is like: "The most beautiful woman I have ever seen."  

- And where Har is like "Please don't tell me that's what I look like when I look at Virginal" when he's seeing how Goran looks at Dela.

Nancy: I agree, again, with Carly. The scenes with the many "monsters" were very effective, as each held a specific menace and conjured up a great movie-like scene in the mind's eye. The first was the cleverly word-played Wampus Cat (catty-wampus is a term for off-kilter, askew), which is a vampire-like huge cat (and a folklore legend) that brings together the young Daniel Boone and Goran the Ranger as they engage in their first battle against the monster. 

6. Who was your favorite character and why?

Carly: In terms of the main characters/characters that had pov's (points of view), then Goran. Maybe a little basic, but I thought he was really well-written, and it kind of paralleled the colonies breaking away from England. 

In terms of the more minor characters, Ailee (Goran's sister) and Queen Virginal are my favorites.

For Ailee, she's kind of the epitome of "home" for Goran, even if I doubt that most siblings are actually like that (glares in brother's direction) but hey, maybe they were like that and just grew up, but she's a really sweet character, and I hope in the next books she can come back, because it'd be interesting to see how she sees everything, and  what she decides to see. 

For Virginal, well, one, she's a total b-a like, slay!!! Queen!!!! But also how she's the type to just not mind getting her hands dirty, in another book series, a lot of the female characters I love are like that. She's that right mix of amazing! and cool! and wow! and well, actual person with struggles and flaws and such, although we didn't get to see much of that, with not a lot of scenes with her.

Nancy: Agreed, Goran and Har are very good atypical "leading men" in that they both have a love interest and each has difficult decisions. And the female characters all play more than "supporting cast" roles in shaping the story. I also liked Hood's presenting most of the main characters with moral decisions. Choosing a side in the various battles in the colonies could not have been easy - some had history in Europe or in the fairy world, alliances of the many tribes within and among them, and personal friendships forged in survival and battling monsters.

Hood doesn't make it easy on his young readers, and though he never talks down to them, or lets his characters off the hook, he guides us through the many and complex thoughts one needs to consider when making a life-or-death, friend-or-foe decision.

7.  Which character didn't you like and why?

Carly: Bren, cause he's the main villain(ish?) But to elaborate, I'll admit he's a good villain, because I HATE HIM!!! He's a manipulative, scheming little rat and I really hope the author doesn't do an "oh he's just misunderstood" in the second book, if he appears. He's basically really fun to hate.

Nancy: Again, agreed. The villains, monster, fairy and human, are excellent baddies. They are given room to make their choices, and because they choose selfishly, we can see them as villains without remorse. I did suggest to Carly that if the writer chose to continue with them, he *could* write them a change-of-heart scene, which is not the same as a "he's misunderstood" scene, and thus move them out of the bad-guy camp. 

Hood has written two more books in the cycle, including "Forest Folk" and "Water Folk." I, for one, am looking forward to returning to The Shimmer, The Blur, and the world of the folk!