Kliatt

Giambastiani continues his alternate historical fiction saga (other volumes are The Year the Cloud Fell and The Spirit of Thunder) in Shadow of the Storm. George Armstrong Custer II, believed dead, is very much alive and still living among the Cheyenne. His life has continued, courting the lovely Speaks While Leaving and participating in daily life. When he rescues a castaway, he little suspects that he will be involving himself in a plan that would bring him face to face with his father, George Armstrong Custer, president of the United States. Crossing the storyline is Cesare, a young Italian immigrant who loses his whole family while trying to make it to the Land Rush and whose disaffection is a threat to Custer. Giambastiani's writing is lively and vivid with strong characterizations and a riveting plot with sufficient back-story to make it stand alone very well. Even more interesting, Giambastiani's book is about alternate geography as well, one in which the inland sea did not disappear and some dinosaur species; now trained as riding mounts for the Cheyenne; survived. A good pick for all libraries.

—Donna Scanlon

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Booklist

George Armstrong Custer II, son of the U.S. president and an accomplished Cheyenne warrior, arrives in Washington as an ambassador to the U.S. in a joint effort with the New Spanish aimed at protecting the Cheyenne Alliance from U.S. expansion. Unfortunately, a young immigrant, Cesare, who was sucked into underground politics after losing his family in the West, ruins attempts at U.S.-Cheyenne rapprochement with an attempted assassination of President Custer. Balancing abundant action with enough period detail to overcome historiographic qualms, and sustaining the memorable dual portrait of Custer pere and his wife, Libbie, drawn in its predecessors, the third book in Giambastiani's series set in an alternate world where dinosaurs survive in historical North America to become the steeds of the Cheyenne is a solid piece of work. After re-suspending disbelief, faithful series readers, in particular, will enjoy the adventures of young Custer.

—Roland Green

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