Reviews
"A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."--Publishers Weekly "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant's brilliant non-fiction about humankind's tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar's Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter "John Vaillant's revelatory nonfiction is catalyzed by eloquent prose and exuberant curiosity. In his first novel, The Jaguar's Children , Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. With a desperate young immigrant as our companion, we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Perilously close to death, we navigate the hallucinatory map of the mind where those who endure still hope to discover one thin thread of light leading from terror to survival. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion." --Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass, "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant's brilliant non-fiction about humankind's tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar's Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." -John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is-a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." -Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter "John Vaillant's revelatory nonfiction is catalyzed by eloquent prose and exuberant curiosity. In his first novel, The Jaguar's Children , Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. With a desperate young immigrant as our companion, we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Perilously close to death, we navigate the hallucinatory map of the mind where those who endure still hope to discover one thin thread of light leading from terror to survival. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion." -Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass, Advance Praise for The Jaguar's Children : "Vaillant writes with power and emotion, affection and respect for the Zapotec people and lands...An eloquent literary dissection of the divide between the United States and Mexico." -- Kirkus , starred review "Vaillant, whose international best sellers include The Golden Spruce (a Governor General''s Award winner) and The Tiger , a memorably burning-bright book, turns to fiction with results that are 'riveting.'"-- Library Journal , starred review "Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness."-- Booklist "A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."-- Publishers Weekly "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird''s Daughter "Like Upton Sinclair''s The Jungle , John Vaillant''s The Jaguar''s Children will be read for a long time to come. It is a major social novel." - Philipp Meyer, author of The Son and American Rust "Like all great castaway stories, John Vaillant''s stirring novel is a tale of Betweens. His characters, stranded inside an abandoned water tanker somewhere on the frontier, are between life and death; north and south; between the rich culture of their home, and a voracious pan-national corporate culture that will devour it. They are messengers with big news, and they are stranded in a nightmare of limbo. The novel had me from the first page. The premise is gripping, Vaillant's language has the clear, inarguable ring of a knuckle knocking against a steel drum, and the story telling is rich and lyrical. It is a brave work." --Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant''s brilliant non-fiction about humankind''s tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar''s Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner "In The Jaguar''s Children we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Here, John Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion."--Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass , "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant's brilliant non-fiction about humankind's tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar's Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." -John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." -Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is-a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." -Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter "John Vaillant's revelatory nonfiction is catalyzed by eloquent prose and exuberant curiosity. In his first novel, The Jaguar's Children , Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. With a desperate young immigrant as our companion, we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Perilously close to death, we navigate the hallucinatory map of the mind where those who endure still hope to discover one thin thread of light leading from terror to survival. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion." -Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass, Advance Praise for The Jaguar's Children : "A terrifying border tale...though the geography of the story is that of Cormac McCarthy, the plot shares more territory with Edgar Allen Poe...an end that is improbable, dripping with irony, and entirely satisfying. Border fiction has a new top-shelf title." -Jon Billman, Outside "Vaillant writes with power and emotion, affection and respect for the Zapotec people and lands...An eloquent literary dissection of the divide between the United States and Mexico." -- Kirkus , starred review "Vaillant, whose international best sellers include The Golden Spruce (a Governor General''s Award winner) and The Tiger , a memorably burning-bright book, turns to fiction with results that are 'riveting.'"-- Library Journal , starred review "Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness."-- Booklist "A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."-- Publishers Weekly "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird''s Daughter "Like Upton Sinclair''s The Jungle , John Vaillant''s The Jaguar''s Children will be read for a long time to come. It is a major social novel." - Philipp Meyer, author of The Son and American Rust "Like all great castaway stories, John Vaillant''s stirring novel is a tale of Betweens. His characters, stranded inside an abandoned water tanker somewhere on the frontier, are between life and death; north and south; between the rich culture of their home, and a voracious pan-national corporate culture that will devour it. They are messengers with big news, and they are stranded in a nightmare of limbo. The novel had me from the first page. The premise is gripping, Vaillant's language has the clear, inarguable ring of a knuckle knocking against a steel drum, and the story telling is rich and lyrical. It is a brave work." --Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant''s brilliant non-fiction about humankind''s tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar''s Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner "In The Jaguar''s Children we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Here, John Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion."--Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass , Advance Praise for The Jaguar's Children : "[Vaillant] turns to fiction with results that are 'riveting.'"-- Library Journal , starred review "Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness."-- Booklist "A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."-- Publishers Weekly "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant's brilliant non-fiction about humankind's tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar's Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner "In The Jaguar's Children we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Here, John Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion."--Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass , "John Vaillant's revelatory nonfiction is catalyzed by eloquent prose and exuberant curiosity. In his first novel, The Jaguar's Children , Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. With a desperate young immigrant as our companion, we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Perilously close to death, we navigate the hallucinatory map of the mind where those who endure still hope to discover one thin thread of light leading from terror to survival. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion." -Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass, Advance Praise for The Jaguar's Children : "Vaillant, whose international best sellers include The Golden Spruce (a Governor General's Award winner) and The Tiger , a memorably burning-bright book, turns to fiction with results that are 'riveting.'"-- Library Journal , starred review "Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness."-- Booklist "A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."-- Publishers Weekly "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter "Like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle , John Vaillant's The Jaguar's Children will be read for a long time to come. It is a major social novel." - Philipp Meyer, author of The Son and American Rust "Like all great castaway stories, John Vaillant's stirring novel is a tale of betweens. His characters, stranded inside an abandoned water tanker somewhere on the frontier, are between life and death; north and south; between the rich culture of their home, and a voracious pan-national corporate culture that will devour it. They are messengers with big news, and they are stranded in a nightmare of limbo. The novel had me from the first page. The premise is gripping, Vaillant's language has the clear, inarguable ring of a knuckle knocking against a steel drum, and the story telling is rich and lyrical. It is a brave work." --Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant's brilliant non-fiction about humankind's tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar's Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner "In The Jaguar's Children we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Here, John Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion."--Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass , "Searing story of an illegal immigrant abandoned in the Arizona desert...Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness." -- Booklist "A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."-- Publishers Weekly "Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness."-- Booklist "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant's brilliant non-fiction about humankind's tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar's Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter "John Vaillant's revelatory nonfiction is catalyzed by eloquent prose and exuberant curiosity. In his first novel, The Jaguar's Children , Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. With a desperate young immigrant as our companion, we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Perilously close to death, we navigate the hallucinatory map of the mind where those who endure still hope to discover one thin thread of light leading from terror to survival. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion." --Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass, Advance Praise for The Jaguar's Children : A Library Journal Editors' BEA Pick February 2015 Indie Next Title "A terrifying border tale...though the geography of the story is that of Cormac McCarthy, the plot shares more territory with Edgar Allan Poe...an end that is improbable, dripping with irony, and entirely satisfying. Border fiction has a new top-shelf title." -Jon Billman, Outside "Vaillant writes with power and emotion, affection and respect for the Zapotec people and lands...An eloquent literary dissection of the divide between the United States and Mexico." -- Kirkus , starred review "Vaillant, whose international best sellers include The Golden Spruce (a Governor General''s Award winner) and The Tiger , a memorably burning-bright book, turns to fiction with results that are 'riveting.'"-- Library Journal , starred review "Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness."-- Booklist "A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."-- Publishers Weekly "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird''s Daughter "Like Upton Sinclair''s The Jungle , John Vaillant''s The Jaguar''s Children will be read for a long time to come. It is a major social novel." - Philipp Meyer, author of The Son and American Rust "Like all great castaway stories, John Vaillant''s stirring novel is a tale of Betweens. His characters, stranded inside an abandoned water tanker somewhere on the frontier, are between life and death; north and south; between the rich culture of their home, and a voracious pan-national corporate culture that will devour it. They are messengers with big news, and they are stranded in a nightmare of limbo. The novel had me from the first page. The premise is gripping, Vaillant's language has the clear, inarguable ring of a knuckle knocking against a steel drum, and the story telling is rich and lyrical. It is a brave work." --Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant''s brilliant non-fiction about humankind''s tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar''s Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner "In The Jaguar''s Children we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Here, John Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion."--Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass , Advance Praise for The Jaguar's Children : "Vaillant, whose international best sellers include The Golden Spruce (a Governor General's Award winner) and The Tiger , a memorably burning-bright book, turns to fiction with results that are 'riveting.'"-- Library Journal , starred review "Vaillant's timely first novel captures both the straitened circumstances of hardworking campesinos and the humanity and raw desperation of a man slowly giving in to hopelessness."-- Booklist "A dramatic, tense novel...the importance of its themes, which closely mirror life, cannot be doubted."-- Publishers Weekly "John Vaillant is in the business of writing masterpieces. But this first novel will make his many followers fall over in shock. Vaillant sees the tragedy of human predation on the border for what it is--a real-world horror worthy of Stephen King. This book rushes at you relentless as a nightmare and doesn't let up until it kicks out the walls. Settle in. You're going to need a stiff drink. Make it ice water." --Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway , Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter " The Jaguar's Children is devastating. It's at once a literary mystery, an engrossing tour de force, and a brilliant commentary on humanity's role in the physical world. The voice that echoes out from that abandoned place Vaillant so masterfully creates won't leave me." --Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road and The Orenda "I have long admired the visceral storytelling and moral complexity of John Vaillant's brilliant non-fiction about humankind's tragically ambivalent relationship with the natural world. Now he brings his abundant literary gifts to a debut novel set in a very real borderland in which human beings are themselves treated like animals. The Jaguar's Children is a beautifully rendered lament for an imperiled culture and the brave lives that would preserve it. You should read it." --John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and The Commoner "In The Jaguar's Children we enter the dangerous borderlands between countries and generations; myth and magic; human community and the vast, infinitely mysterious, wild environment. Here, John Vaillant proves that his heart and imagination are as expansive and fierce as his radiant intellect. Never have I encountered a writer with more energy or compassion."--Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts , The Voice of the River , and Girls in the Grass
![The Jaguar's Children [ Vaillant, John ] Used - Good](https://ir.ebaystatic.com/rs/c/prpweb-src-images-space-98af7172.gif)