Title: A Past Life: As Told By Brave Hawk
Author: Don D Sylvain
Publisher: Toplink Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1947620049
Genre: New Age & Spirituality
Pages: 158
Reviewed by: Allison Walker

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This is not Don D Sylvain’s first life. He has lived past lives and through the help of a medium dreamed visions which revealed to him the story of one of these. His novel, A Past Life, chronicles the life of a man he was before he was Don. Bird is a young man growing up in early America. As a youth, he lives a charmed life on a farm with his mother, father, aunt and adopted brother. He spends his days farming, hunting, trapping and learning trades. As he grows older, he begins trading and is adopted into the Arapahoe tribe. There, Bird becomes Brave Hawk, marries and learns the Indian traditions. Overall, the novel feels hurriedly which lends to the story being basically a stream of consciousness with no chapter breaks.

The jacket of the book is vaguely misleading, referencing Sylvain’s interactions with a medium and his discovery of his previous reincarnations, yet the content of the book is not about Sylvain at all, but rather about the life of Brave Hawk. Because of this, A Past Life has the feel of a Little House on the Prairie novel: easy and entertaining, a children’s story about life in early America. Mention of Sylvain’s spiritual exploration into his past lives would make his novel stand apart.

The novel’s acknowledgment chapter is absolutely crucial to understanding the purpose and title. While the story contains some minor adventures, there is no true climax or literary events to the novel. However, in the novel’s acknowledgment, readers learn the content is a recollection of the author’s previous reincarnation. The reason there is no true climax is because such a thing doesn’t usually happen in real life. Like a true journal, A Past Life is a series of mini adventures which propel Bird through his personal journey towards becoming Brave Hawk.

Regardless your opinion of reincarnation, Bird’s story is fun and historically believable, if not exaggerated in the way stories are sometimes made a little more exciting. All in all, the premise of the book is sweet, if you grant poetic justice for the author’s nonconformity with his use of wordsmithing in his own way. You may not believe in reincarnation, but this book will make you question if it is possible.