Ravings of a Textual Deviant

The Year the Cloud fell is the first book in Kurt Giambastiani’s Fallen Cloud Saga. It’s set in an alternate Western Expansion, in which the topolgy and natural history are quite different from the ones we know. With a Gulf of Mexico that has moved well up the Mississippi and a landscape full of dinosaurs, President George Armstrong Custer is a fairly minor departure. In a nutshell, the United States finds itself in conflict with the unincorporated Cheyenne nation–a nomadic culture that is based on domesticated dinosaurs. President Custer’s son, Army Captain George Jr., finds himself in the middle of the conflict when his exerimental reconaissance zeppelin crashes in Cheyenne territory.

Giambastiani has done loads of research into Cheyenne culture and paleozoology. His dinosaurs incorporate some of the most recent developments in the field, and there’s not a noble savage in sight. The characters develop believably, and there’s plenty of excellent detail without too much overt exposition. My sole complaint is that the story obviously ends with a sequel in mind. There’s nothing wrong with writing a series, but I prefer each book to be self contained, even if all the loose ends aren’t wrapped up. The Year the Cloud Fell is very much a first act, but it’s a good one that left me wanting more.

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