Seize Favorite Daughter, Part One Originated By Paula Margulies EBook

provided via the author in exchange for an honest review, All opinions expressed are mine alone,

At a Glance/The Cover:
For those who know me, I absolutely love historical fiction, especially when they have to do with romance, I especially like the ones set in the Victorian/s time period or the medieval with princes and queens, because the guys were such gentlemen, :

But this one isn't, It goes even more back, And I'm totally totally fine with that, In fact, I encourage it, Because I also love to read about stories that no one is really sure of in history, For example, the lost colony novels, Love those. No one knows what happened to them, but one could imagine,

In this lovely novel called Favorite Daughter, we read about Pocahontas' early life as little girl and watching her grow up into a young lady meeting the European explorers for the first time.


The Characters/My Opinion:
Pocahontas The narrator of the story, Was definitely fun to see things in her point of view, Talking about her life as the Powhatan chief's favorite daughter, becoming a woman, being betrothed, It's the side of the story we, as Americans, never truly saw it in,

Kocoum Kocoum is Pocahontas' fiance, The Powhatans have this ceremony where the girl chooses the suitors she wants for her husband, Kocoum was a very expressionless, stoic boy, He seems super calm and very warriorlike, For some reason, I find an attractiveness part of him, I actually want Pocahontas to like him and end up with him, I really did. He may seem super cold on the outside, but he's so sweet inside,

Pocahontas actually didn't want to marry him, Not at all. She didn't want to get married, She just wanted to learn more about the English explorers, But I enjoyed seeing Pocahontas' and Kocoum's romance blossom, Really enjoyed that part. Although there are some "adult" scenes in here,

John Smith Of course, the famous John Smith, He was nothing like the Disney movie type, No blond hair. Apparently, he has red hair and facial hair, And a bit inappropriate. Nothing like the young, blond, strong, tall man in the Disney movie, This guy is short, but super friendly, His personality definitely seemed like a friend type, I do not know if Pocahontas has any feelings for him,

It seems as if Pocahontas is really interested in him, And she is. But I do not think it's love, It seems like it at first, because even Pocahontas can't tell, But as time passes, it seems like Pocahontas knows Kocoum is her lover and she's just "interested" in John Smith and his culture,

Of course, following as least the real historical timeline, we know that Pocahontas marries none of them, In fact, I actually searched online for this, cuz I was super curious, Kocoum might not even have existed, Historians are not sure if Pocahontas was really engaged in the beginning, They think it might have been John Rolfe, Or nothing at all.

In Favorite Daughter, it ends with a somewhat open ending, This ending allows for the second book to tell Pocahontas' story in the history books, The part where she got captured, The part where she turns Christian, etc,

Overall Thoughts:
Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely, I would love to read Part Two and see what happens in Pocahontas' life later on, I want to see how Pocahontas changes and find out what happens to the Powhatan tribe,

: For historical fiction lovers, here's one for you!

The Rating::,

Happy Reading I think the subject matter is intriguing and I enjoyed becoming immersed in the Native Americans'at least this tribe'sway of living, But I grew tired of some things,

I'm not a big fan of present tense, I've been able to enjoy it in the past, but the book has to grip me so strongly that I can ignore the present tense and that just didn't happen.


I found Pocahontus's obsession with "Chonsmit" weird to the point it made me uncomfortable, A young girl's infatuation Lust I'm guessing he's much older than her and this just bothered me, especially when she thought of him while lying with her beau.
I was confused about what exactly she was feeling for Smith, But then I'm not sure she knew either, All I can is I just plain found it disturbing to the point it began ruining the story for me, I was rolling my eyes and scoffing and just wanting her to stop it already,

My last quibble is at times I found the book too descriptive and wordy, I could skim an entire paragraph or two and not miss anything important,

I enjoyed parts of it too though, don't get me wrong, I liked reading about the customs of the tribe, their ways, their warriors, and just the history of white man coming and bothering them, I also liked Pocahontus's characterexcept for her weird Chonsmit obsession, I'd have preferred less of that and more of her awkward romance with her warrior, That seemed more realistic to me, especially with her being at such a young, confused age, I also liked the relationship she has with her father,

But overall, this just wasn't my thing, I was not entirely satisfied with Paula Marguliess Favorite Daughter, Part One, Certain aspects of the novel informed and entertained me, Other aspects disappointed.

I commend the author for her selection of subject matter, Historians know very little about Algonquian tribes that lived near the Atlantic coastal waters in the lateth and earlyth Centuries, Their knowledge is limited to what English explorers and colonial leaders chose to report, The story about Pocahontas and John Smith that most people are familiar with for instance, Pocahontas throwing her body over Smith to prevent his execution is Smiths version of what happened.
Historians question Smiths veracity. The author has written a somewhat different account,

I compliment her additionally for detail she provides about Virginia Algonquian

life,

I was interested in the food the Algonquian Americans ate and how it was prepared, The way the women carried water in large, hollowed out gourds and in deer bladders and how at least the elite villagers dried their hands on downy bird feathers intrigued me.
The authors detail about ceremonial dances was informative, For example, a successful group hunt was replicated afterward in the village by its women, representing the hunters, surrounding the men, dressed to represent the hunted, Closing upon the increasingly clustered “animals,” the “hunters” sang songs that urged the prey to surrender,

How the Algonquians identified objects entirely foreign to them and how they identified the passage of time was also intriguing, The Atlantic Ocean was called “the Great Waters, ” An English sailing ship was a “swan canoe, ” A musket was a “firestick, ” A years passing was called a change of leaves, A month was a new full moon,

I appreciated the authors portrayal of Powhatan, He is not the stereotypical fierce warrior, intimidator, and intractable enemy of the Jamestown settlement as he is often depicted, Fairly early in the novel the author has Powhatan say this to Pocahontas,

“In my sixty years, Ive seen our people flee, to lie in the cold woods, feeding upon nothing but acorns and roots, with no rest, little food, and poor sleep,” he says.
“Weve prevailed, but weve lost many, and still the outsiders return, If our people are to survive, we must learn to live with the intruders, Its only through friendship and trust that we bring safety to the people, ”

Finally, the authors narration of events leading to John Smiths capture and his averted execution did engage me, Part of the appeal was the natives lack of knowledge about the Tassantassuk the outsiders, i, e. the English. How Powhatan chose to engage the English, recognizing that every option had its risks, encouraged me eager to continue reading,

Much as I liked certain aspects of the novel, I was not satisfied with the entirety of it,

First, although the authors narration is professional enough throughout, in no specific place did I consider it exceptional, I did like many of the similes Pocahontas uses because she relates sensory impressions to facts of nature,

“still as stones at the bottom of a river”
“limbs twisted like the oak tree”
“her arms and legs brown and smooth like the skin of a water snake”
“his hair hangs to his shoulders like wet vines”

I felt, however, that her presentation of sensory description in scenes involving dialogue could occasionally have been more precise, more what the senses actually experience than what the mind easily generalizes.
The narration in the example below is a good example, It is adequate, not exceptional,

The urge to run after him is strong I take a step in his direction and then stop when I see Winganuske her fathers newest wife at the door of my fathers house.


“Whats the matter, Pocahontas” she murmurs, “Is your future husband leaving you already” The smile on her face does not match the tone of her words,

“He is not my husband,” I mutter, the skin on my cheeks burning,

“And whose fault is that” she asks,

“You dont know anything about me and Kocoum,” I say, my lips quivering and my voice shaking in my throat, “Why cant you leave us alone”

Second, I am not a fan of first person narration, Pocahontas tells us her thoughts, feelings, understandings, and actions, At the beginning of the novel she is elevenyearsold, Her primary conflict, once we get past Smiths averted execution, is her difficulty in making a lifechanging choice, Should she marry her handsome suitor with whom she has had sex and thereafter immerse herself entirely in the ways of her culture or pursue her remarkable opportunity her friendship with Smith to grow beyond the limitations of her culture by learning what the strange, intriguing Englishmen could teach her It is a worthy conflict around which an engrossing historical novel could be constructed, but I felt the author fell short of accomplishing that.
Maybe her forthcoming second installment Part Two will succeed Instead, we read repeated questioning of whom she really loves, the suitor or Smith, The novel ends without any progress being made toward resolving the conflict, To pad content, the author invents other conflicts: her fathers newest wife clearly dislikes her her best friend disappears after Powhatan chooses the girl to sleep with Smith, a native custom afforded guests.
After Smith is released by Powhatan to return to Jamestown, I lost interest in the novel, The only question that I wanted answered was how much more would Powhatan tolerate being used by the English before he accepted the fact that he could not live next to them in peace.
Utilizing third person points of view that focuses on Powhatan and Smith as well as Pocahontas would have dramatized better the second half of the novel,
.