Journeys across Niagara: The Flute, the Feather, and the Drum by D. K. LeVick weaves historical stories of the Falls into the novel's main plot about a group of teenagers in the 1960s. The stories set in different periods of the Niagara Falls include covering a musician living on the island, the Underground Railroad and fighting between the Whites and Native Americans. The stories are fit into parts of the 1962 story about teenagers going down to the falls when they are frozen.
The teenagers are inspired to go out on the ice bridge of frozen Niagara after seeing old photos and hearing stories of when in the past people were allowed out on the ice. Getting down does take some effort, but the real struggle is getting back out of the gorge. While it makes sense how it takes them a while to get out, parts of it just move very slow and it is just a constant rehash of a whiny one, a somewhat crazy one, and various leadership. Basically, the dialogue felt excessive and made it hard to really get into reading it for more than a little at a time.
Overall Journeys across Niagara is hard to recommend. At the same time, though, the historical stories set inside it are rather interesting, especially if your unfamiliar with the history and legends of the region.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through the BookSneeze book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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