People of the Weeping Eye by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Old White is also known as the Seeker, as he began wandering long ago after killing his brother in an argument. Since then, he has travelled the entire world, from the frozen north to the hot and humid southern jungles, looking for truth everywhere he goes. Now, he is a shaman, but one who no longer truly believes in the Gods. Power, yes, the Gods, no.

He comes to Red Wing town seeking a girl who is so powerful, she has been calling him for hundreds of miles. She is a contrary, and her actions and sayings have caused a war between the people of her own village and those of another. Both want her gone, but the neighboring village wishes to kill her. Old White offers to resolve the situation by removing her far to the south so she can bother neither village again. His offer is accepted, and Old White takes him with her, staying with several women of power he knows along the way.

Along the way, they meet Trader. Trader has no other name, or will admit to none. He was once content to simply trade, moving from village to village, seeing where the next trade takes him. But with his find of a huge piece of copper that makes him wealthier than most people can grasp, he now has different ambitions. But Two Petals, the Contrary, thinks he is important. So he and his Dog, Swimmer, join up with Old White and Two Petals for a trip to Old White's home town, Split Sky City, where Old White needs to do something that will end up changing the entire world and its future.

In Split Sky City, the old decisions are coming home to roost. Morning Dew, of White Arrow Town, rejected the Minko, or Warrior Leader Smoke Shield. This, along with an insult to their village, causes the Sky People warrior to abduct both her and her husband Screaming Falcon Mankiller shortly after their marriage, along with a number of other important people from her village. He takes Morning Dew as his slave, using and abusing her, and portions out the other female captives among the other warriors who went along on the raid. The men he stakes out in the center of the village to die, kept somewhat alive so their deaths take even longer.

But while Smoke Shield's other wives give her the secrets on how to lose his interest, Morning Dew learns to survive, and does a service to her people by killing her husband and all the male captives, then removes their genitals. Since they cannot conceive that she could do such a thing, their only remaining choices are another tribe. As Smoke Shield cruelly tortures members of the tribe he thinks responsible both for the names of the person who killed the captives, and the whereabouts of a man who sought to warn the men of White Arrow of the raid, he gets closer and closer to a cruel madness.

But can Trader, who is the brother who thought he'd slain Smoke Shield long ago during his warrior initiation, replace this maddened warrior who was once his brother? And what will Old White have to do to save the world and the future? The story will continue in the next book, People of the Thunder.

I usually love the "People of the..." books by the Gears, but this one seemed especially unfinished to me. Okay, there is the fact that this is only the first part of a longer tail, but I think the ending seemed extremely abrupt, and the story just seemed to stop. I think they should have done a better job of drawing this story to some kind of conclusion, so it was hard for me to like. Honestly, better to have a hugely long book than just stop in the middle of the story like this one did.

Yes, I do want to read the rest of it, but given how many months apart these books are usually published, I may not remember much of the finer points of the story when the next book finally comes out. That being said, the characters are finely drawn, though I do think the "Brother kills/hurts/maims other brother" was a bit overused given that most of the major characters have this in their background. Though in the case of Trader and Smoke Shield, the other brother survived, though not for lack of trying!

Two Petals is more of an enigma, and I am wondering exactly what role she will play in the final outcome, as much of her plot thread in this book seems to be growing into and understanding her role as a contrary, as well as to learn to touch her power. And while she does learn a lot, she still hasn't done much interesting stuff by the end of the book.

So, for now, this will have to be an unfinished review. Intriguing beginning, and I want to see the end, but the strange cut-off-in-the-middle ending rather spoiled the book for me.