Review of Strong Heart

[Yonela Pondo]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Strong heart is an exciting story that manages to capture one's attention from start to finish. From the very first chapter I had an eagerness to get to know the characters and the situations they were in. The story, in third person perspective, follows the journey of Tom, his Friend and his daughter William and Myra, and a granddaughter he never knew he had, Sarah. They all go on a camping trip that was planned before Sarah's unexpected arrival to find and honor Tom's grandfather's grave.

The story highlights the importance of preserving and respecting ancient lands and how wrong it is for corporations to defile these lands for what they want to gain from it. It also brings about an element of magic and mystery when the character Sarah comes back with an unbelievable story after going missing in the woods for more than a week. This is all beautifully tied together with meticulously researched historical information about Native Americans in the book. Truly a very good read.

I really enjoyed how the author described the setting. It was very easy to mentally go to the places that were described and be in awe of it's beauty or uncomfortable due to the conditions. Very beautifully done. Another part I appreciate is that the author created an atmosphere that was rooted in the spirituality of these ancient lands by incorporating a story within a story. This element is first introduced through Sarah's encounter with a bear that has been extinct for many years. This gives the reader a little leeway to start thinking that Sarah's presence in the camping trip could maybe have been fated.

The only thing I disliked in the book was how there were a few inconsistencies in Sarah's story. Like how she named the captors and the other victims, but they referred to each other by those names, even though she never revealed the names to them. I feel this confusion could have been avoided by slowly revealing their names as the story progressed and then using descriptions and character or physical traits to identify them.

I give Strong Heart 4 out of 4 stars because the author managed to captivate me with a lesson in history and spirituality and allowed me to be emotional through the growing love between the characters. I think this story would appeal to a huge range of readers due to it being so intricate yet very easy to follow.

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Strong Heart
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