I think this is my favourite Boyden tale. While Three Day Road is, perhaps, a better written book, this is a story closer to my heart: a tale of early contact between First Nations and Europeans and the devastating effects of disease and cultural change that contact wrought. It is a tale of the beautiful worldviews and complex social structures of the Ouendat, and the brutality of their warfare with the Haudenosaunee. As usual, Boyden doesn't pull any punches in his descriptions of the horrors people can face, and that makes this a difficult read, at times. However, it is Boyden's talent for bringing events to life that make his work so compelling.