Ron Fritsch
Published: 2010-11-01
Total Pages: 275
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In Ron Fritsch’s four Promised Valley novels, prehistoric farmers inhabit a fertile river valley they believe their gods promised them in return for their good behavior and obedience. Their enemies, hunters roaming the mostly barren hills beyond the mountains enclosing the valley, believe their gods gave it to them. Promised Valley Rebellion, the first book in the Promised Valley series, is a story of forbidden love. 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. That decision leads them and their allies into a youthful rebellion against the king and his officials, who rule the kingdom from their bluff-top town. The far more numerous farmers in the villages below, who despise the officials but not the king, and who admire the prince, are in a position to determine whether the rebels will succeed or face execution for treason. Kirkus says “the story encourages the reader to ponder the universal elements of the tale” and calls the prehistoric world of the novel a “strange, primitive world that feels winningly real.” The US Review of Books says the novel “is a good tale that feels real, with a strong promise and a good twist at the end,” and a “good book to read by the fire in wintertime.” Promised Valley Rebellion is the winner of the gold medal in the Literary Fiction category of the 2010 eLit Awards competition. Promised Valley Rebellion is the first-place winner in the Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Fiction category of the 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards competition. Promised Valley Rebellion is the winner of the silver medal in the Historical Fiction category, and a finalist in the General Fiction category, of the 2011 Readers Favorite awards competition.