Reviewed by Stefan Vucak for Readers' Favorite

Many Wolves and his hunting companions, a red wolf and a hawk, have spent eight winters in the wilderness avoiding capture by Thorn Bird. The forest is his home, and his companions are his brothers. On one of his hunts, he spots a white man on a horse, but the stranger eludes him. After several days, Many Wolves is captured by Malone and taken to Thorn Bird’s village where he is brutally tortured. Sickened by this display, Malone frees Many Wolves and they flee to another village.

Thorn Bird – Mestizo – dreams he is riding with his father, Laughing Crow, and his brother, Walks on Feathers, across a prairie one moonlit night, but is unable to catch them. When he wakes, he remembers his father’s taunt, ‘Cleanse your blood.’ It was always the same message. He knows he will have no peace until he avenges himself against Many Wolves for killing his father and brother. His obsession blinds him to everything else as he thirsts for the blood of his enemy. Even when he finds that Many Wolves did not kill his father, this does not stop him from his quest, or his promise to punish Malone for his treachery.

Reading the first page of Mestizo, J. Bradley Van Tighem captured my attention in this eloquently written story, drawing me into the enchanting world of a man eking out a living in the wilds, more a native than a white man, but under the shadow of an Indian who is hunting him. Van Tighem paints an enthralling picture of Many Wolves and his companions as they hunt, making me believe I am there, aware of the forest, its sounds and creatures. In contrast, Thorn Bird is a troubled soul, tortured by his drive for revenge. I understood his drive, but wished that Van Tighem could have injected some magic and poetry into his character that he gave Many Wolves. Mestizo opens a small, but vivid window into the lives of native American Indians before the encroachment of the white man wiped away the magic. This is a fascinating book that will leave readers thoughtful.