First Americans Books In Order

Publication Order of The First Americans Books

The First Americans series is a popular book series of historical fiction, fantasy, and alternate history books written by a renowned American author named Joan Lesley Hamilton, under the pen name of William Sarabande. It is comprised of 11 books in total, which were released between the years 1987 and 2000. Author Sarabande has described the life and struggles of a clan of Native Americans in this series. The debut novel of this series is entitled ‘Beyond the Sea’. It was released by the Bantam publishers in the year 1987 in the Mass Market Paperbacks publication. The central characters of this book as described by author William Sarabande include Torka, Lonit, and the old father of Torka named Umak. Even though Umak’s age is just 45 years old, he is considered old because according to the prehistoric standards people of such age were not considered as young. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that Torka’s father, Lonit, and Torka are left as the only survivors in a small tribe after a huge enraged mammoth unleashed its wrath on them. Now, as the three of them are the only ones surviving, they need to be together as a team and find out a different place for living.

They are required to do so if they have to get back on their feet again. However, the road ahead of them seems to be pretty hard as the place is filled with dangerous animals and people everywhere. During the journey, Torka continuously grieves his children and his beloved wife. He sees Lonit with a feeling a repulsion. Now, Lonit has always been used to such strange looks from people because of being considered as an ugly person. The only thing that she hopes now is to be useful to the other two somehow so that she can travel with them. And with this hope only there is a chance that Lonit can survive for a longer time in the difficult times. In spite of being treated harshly by Torka, Lonit sees him with care and affection. Lonit tries to hold her heart in the place that is right for everyone and works very hard throughout. On the other hand, Torka does not stop from being a jerk to her.

The depiction of Torka by author Sarabande is like that of a steady, strong, and a decent man with several flaws in him. He remains loyal towards a fault, which turns out to be in his own favor. Torka’s father, Umak, has an egoistic nature and becomes superficial at times, but he also has a pure heart with no ill feelings towards anyone. While moving in search of a suitable place to live, the 3 survivors come across a small boy named Karana. He turns out to be an interesting character. Karana showcases his backstory and depicts the abilities that nature has provided him. This keeps the three people entertained during their travel.

Overall, the book is about the idea of survival in unsuitable conditions. As opposed to the common notion that prehistoric tales describe the advancing and the progress of the tribes, this story shows a huge number of deaths of the Native people. The book contains numerous disturbing scenes such as violence, deaths, sex, rapes, and other such things. On the whole, the book tells a great story that has succeeded in finding a vast number of audience across the globe.

The second installment of the First Americans series is called ‘Corridor of Storms’. It was also released by Bantam in 1988. The primary characters mentioned by the author in this novel include Torka, Navahlk, Karana, Lonit, and a few others. At the beginning of the story of this book, it is depicted that Torka has turned into a great heroic hunter and has taken in Lonit as his new wife and Karana as his adopted son.

Torka and his family members seem to have come from a land where men are forbidden to dwell and survive. A place where the spirits speak and mountains walk is nowhere inhabitable for anyone. So, Torka decides to take the remainder of his tribe and moves to the tundra glaciers. After reaching there, he gathers all his men and leads them to a winter camp, where several other bands join them with the sole objective of taking down the mammoth. But before doing so, Torka and his people come across a more dangerous evil in the form of a magic man named Navahlk. This wild man vows to cause cruel destruction to Torka.

Now, if they wish to survive, they must draw strength from the courage of a brave little boy, who will attain manhood and lead them to the dawn of a new age through the eye of his mind. After moving from their destructed tribe, Torka and the other survivors take shelter in a valley and live there for a period of 3 years. They only decide to move out and gather the other tribes when a woman faces troubles in her pregnancy. Karana does not seem to be happy with this excursion. When he sees the other people gathered together, he recollects the violence that the some people in the gathering had caused.

Also, some among them feel happy to see Torka alive and several others want him dead at any cost. Although Torka is bold and brave, he does not seem to have a good sense. When people constantly warn him to do end up doing a particular thing, he will do it anyway thinking that it is going to be in the best interest of his women. Among the survivors in the tribe, only Karana is the only one who has sense. However, he too becomes a little more brash sometimes. Navahlk is the most evil in the group. He possesses all the negative characteristics in him that force people to dislike him to a great extent.

The way author Sarabande has penned this novel is excellent. The readers get a feeling of excitement while reading this story. Even though there are certain areas in the novel that appear to be the repetition of those in the first installment, the story offers a great and enjoyable read. Due to these reasons, it succeeded in gathering a huge number of readers from various parts of the world. This eventually led to the book’s success.