Pump Up Your Book blog tour: Promised Valley Rebellion

Welcome to another Pump Up Your Book blog tour. This week, the focus is on the book Promised Valley Rebellion, by author Ron Fritsch. To learn more about this tour, go to the Pump Up website.

From the back of the book:

 

Prehistoric farmers inhabit a fertile river valley they believe their gods promised them in return for their good behavior. Their enemies, hunters roaming the mostly barren hills beyond the mountains enclosing the valley, believe their gods gave it to them. When the farmers’ king refuses to allow the marriage of the coming-of-age prince to the daughter of the farmer who saved the king’s life in the last war with the hunters, her brother decides he has to help his sister and the prince, his boyhood friend, correct the flagrant injustice.

About the author:

Ron Fritsch grew up in rural northern Illinois. His parents were hard-working tenant farmers who passed their love of reading down to their children. The children also enjoyed the deep, wooded valley near their home and the creek meandering through it, flooding over the banks in the spring. The family lived by the season for planting and harvesting, similar to that of their prehistoric ancestors.

Ron earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Illinois, majoring in history with a minor in English literature. He went on to get a law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. He lives in Chicago and is currently writing and publishing a tetralogy asking whether history and civilization might have begun and proceeded differently than believed. It’s his way of sharing his story with the world.

To learn more about Ron and his book Promised Valley Rebellion, visit the website. You are also welcome to stop by Ron’s blog and add your thoughts.

Just my opinion:

This is probably one of the most interesting books I’ve read in a long time. Somewhat styled after the novels of Jean Auel, Ton Fritsch weaves a tale of two separate “tribes” during the prehistoric age – the hunters and the gatherers. The hunters live in the hills, while the gatherers are in a fertile valley and ruled over by a king.

There seems to be a fairly equal caste system among the valley people, although some rules are imposed to give the royalty an upper hand. For example, the king can control who marries each other, especially when it come to those with higher status who want to mate with someone from the regular citizenry. In those cases, there are definite boundaries that simply aren’t crossed.

When the king’s son falls in love with a girl who isn’t of the right class, the king and queen put their collective foot down. This causes dissension and rebellion.

As I first began to read this novel, I could see where some would compare the hill people to the Neanderthals and that has been mentioned by others. If you visit Ron’s blog, however, he addresses this very question and explains why it’s not possible. I really appreciate how Ron takes these types of queries and discusses them to provide a better understanding of his book. Also, he provides a list of characters on his website following a review by Kirkus Discoveries that suggested that would make the book easier to read.

Yes, at first, Promised Valley Rebellion can be difficult to follow, but Ron does a good job of telling his tale so that you catch on fairly quickly. It’s a nicely written book and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.