Vaillant, John

A timely exploration of an increasingly frequent natural disaster. The human-centric story at the center will keep less academically oriented listeners engaged and, perhaps, pondering how close they’ve come to recent fires.

Highly recommended. ["This terror-laden story will remind readers of Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway," read the starred review of the Houghton Harcourt hc, LJ 9/1/14.]

This terror-laden story will remind readers of Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway. Vaillant, whose nonfiction has focused on the destruction of the natural environment (The Golden Spruce) and native peoples' religious relationships with their creatures (The Tiger), combines these issues in his novel. Genetically modified corn, the Oaxacan worship of the jaguar, and archaeology are all factors in Hector and Cesar's flight north. One caveat for readers is the extensive use of Spanish, which is partially explained but may be challenging. [Previewed in "Books for the Masses," Editors' BEA Picks, LJ 7/14, p. 31; Prepub Alert, 7/7/14.]

Vaillant follows up his award-winning first book, The Golden Spruce (2005), with this exciting and dramatic account set in the far southeastern Russian province of Primorye, a unique, biodiverse region containing the last remaining natural refuge of Amur (Siberian) tigers...