THE ELK WHISTLE WARRIOR SOCIETY

By Rick Revelle. Toronto: Dundern Press, 2023.

Good but clumsy.

This novel tells of the exploits of a society of Native women and their male supporters who right wrongs perpetrated against Native women and children.

I will not get into the fact this book predictably talks about things like "colonialism", residential schools, has a myopically unfavourable view of conservatives, more or less advocates for women running things, and has nothing good to say about Christianity. Instead, I will discuss "The Elk Whistle Warrior Society" from a literary standpoint.

First, the book gives a great sense of place. Whether the setting is Kingston, Ontario, various places in Western Canada, or the southwestern United States, you feel as if you're there.

Second, I like the fact this book reminded me of a classic novel in that there is not much of a plot but that, rather, the story consists of a few episodes with a bit of plot to provide basic explanation.

Third, the idea is intriguing and one that can be gotten behind. Reminiscent of Stony Man and Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan books, many times the justice system is too messed up to provide its namesake and one longs for a secret group of folks like these ladies and gentlemen.

Now, for the cons:

First of all, do publishing companies employ editors anymore? There are sentences in this book written in a different tense or person than the rest of the chapter. Also, there is an inconsistency in a later chapter about whether or not the lawn and maintenance man for a safehouse drinks.

Second, the book opens with an introduction explaining the founding of the Society. This would have been better handled through a prologue. Besides, some of the information contained in this introduction is exposited by characters within the main body of the book.

Third, the book contains a section in the front matter of testimonies from people who know the author, rather than the usual "praise" section. This was put out by a major publisher: could they not get any critics to provide reviews?