You hinted at the importance of the setting in the summary, so I’d like to talk about that for a while. But I'll stop there since this is a review and not a comparison lol Though that will happen from time to time even though, like you said, it's unfair. And just the feeling of holding Into the Wilderness conjures up memories of reading the Outlander novels since like you said both are very much epic stories though in comparing the two I would say Into the Wilderness is not as 'epic' in terms of heroic, impressively great and majestic as Gabaldon's Outlander. Camille, I think you felt a little differently?Ĭamille: Actually I pretty much felt the same thing Viv =P I read it completely separate from Gabaldon's Outlander though there was just no helping the comparisons, what with Donati mentioning Gabaldon in the 'Authors notes and Acknowledgments' pages (yes I read those lol). Also, I read Into the Wilderness as a straight historical fiction (it is advertised as such) rather than Outlander which was just a crazy mix of things haha. Personally I can't help but feel that to compare it to Outlander is slightly unfair (though I can and will compare if asked, despite my love of Outlander), so when I started this book I kept the two distant and in the end I think each book has its own merits. Even though I've only read the first book of either series I can see the similarities - the epic storyline, the adventures, the history, the sheer length of the book - and I guess what brought up this comparison were the many reviews on Amazon and on the book itself. Vivian: For some reason, it struck me as we were discussing this earlier (before we decided to do this review) we kept comparing this to Diana Galbadon's Outlander series. This is also cross-posted to romancenovels So we're going to get started :) NOTE: There will be some minor spoilers (seriously, almost nothing at all), but we've whited them out so you can decide whether or not to scroll over them to highlight and read them yourself. Although, uhh yeah it's no mystery who she chooses- which leads to more controversy- there's adventure and an overall sexy time in the woods. Both men want her as well and the technical aspect of the novel explores 'ownership' in terms of the Kanyen'kehaka (Mohawk) way versus white man law (think Pocahontas when she sings to John Smith 'the earth is a dead thing you can claim' but I digress) and as Elizabeth chooses between the two men the problem is 'do they want her as a woman or a means to an end in obtaining the land through marriage?'. At first only devoted to setting up a school for the children, with herself as teacher (what a scandal!), she's drawn into more conflict when she realizes one part of the land her father owns, Hidden Wolf Mountain, is desired by both Nathaniel Bonner and local doctor, Richard Todd. She re-named the Nathaniel of the film Daniel/Dan'l (more likely a throwback to the actor who portayed him, Daniel Day-Lewis) and instead his son, the main hero of Into the Wilderness is named Nathaniel.Įlizabeth Middleton arrives from England to join her father in the small town Paradise in the back woods of upstate New York, 1792. More like Donati used the 1992 film as an inspiration, a spring board of sorts. But here we go: This novel is often mistakenly thought of as a 'sequel' to the 1992 movie The Last of the Mohicans but it really is not. Spanning over 800 pages, it's definitely hard to write a summary. We both read Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness around the same time (Camille has the added treat of having read the sequel, Dawn on a Distant Shore, already for you girls) and thought it terrible, indeed, outrageous, that this book hasn't been tossed around more in Romancelandia before this through word of mouth, as it's been out since 1999! Granted this novel is shelved in fiction rather than romance, but it's undoubtedly romantic, promise. This is modeled after "conversational/dueling reviews" on Dear Author. So today we're doing something a little different. Hey everyone, this is envyious aka Camille and dreamilywistful aka Vivian. Genre/Historical Period: 1700s Post-Revolutionary New England
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