Anthropology professor Terry Castro, leading a summer-school program in the Peruvian rain forest, stumbles upon a lost tribe of tall, white-skinned warriors from the time of the Incan empire.

A simple mistake leaves Castro poisoned by a dart he dug out of a tree near his observation hut. He is airlifted back to America where his body languishes in a coma because no one knows what poison was on the dart.

The professor’s sponsor has been seeing a psychic medium, Carrie Waters, to help him resolve some family conflicts. He asks Waters to “counsel” the comatose professor, to see if she can tune into anything Dr. Castro might be thinking that would help them find an antidote.
While experimenting, they find that the poison has an interesting side effect; it can also triple life expectancy.

That discovery triggers a series of events that threatens his life and the extinction of the tribe. A pharmaceutical company involved in researching the poison arranges another expedition to get more samples of the substance from the white-skinned tribe. Vikter Glass, who is managing the pharmaceutical company, goes all out to acquire the new substance, even bringing the Russian mob to Peru to get his samples.

Rob Jung is a great storyteller. I loved the exotic setting, and the tale of the lost Chilco “cloud warrior” tribe is unique, fusing the past with the present. The search for the ancient Incan tribe by a team of Americans is the opening of the book, but the author has crafted the Incan’s equal surprise in encountering the strange interlopers, their looks and their habits. Woven throughout is a thread of psychic spiritualism that works well within the story because it’s based on the native’s beliefs. The addition of the “civilized” world’s ruthless quest for power and domination stands in stark contrast to the Chilco’s beliefs and practices. This fusion of anthropology and the paranormal kept a somewhat standard thriller plot engaging and suspenseful.

Cloud Warriors is Jung’s first novel (published at age 75!). I recommend it, and look forward to his next.

Thrilling and fast paced. A real page turner that leaves you wanting more. I would recommend this book and can't wait to discover more from Rob Jung.

This novel is a good one that I’ve read this year! The characters are so dynamic yet relatable. I loved the flow of the story. It held my attention the whole time.

Great novel, highly recommend for those who enjoy the genre. Will be recommending for immediate purchase.

Book Review of Cloud Warriors
Title: Cloud Warriors
Author: Rob Jung
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing Ltd, Roundfire Books
Publish Date: February 22, 2019

Book Blurb: “The picture did not change for several moments until, like apparitions, three naked, white-skinned men materialized in the clearing long, narrow sticks were strapped across their backs and each wore a scabbard-like pouch against hi ship, held in place by a thin cord that encircled his waist. One wore a leather pouch on a similar cord around his neck” Location 1304 of 3460
Book blurb: “The once-mighty Chilco had fallen. The nation of towering, fair-skinned yellow-haired people that lived high in the Andes Mountains amongst the clouds, whom the entire Incan nation knew were blessed by the gods were no more?” Location 103

Summary
The College Expedition
Cloud Warriors was an engrossing read for me. I learned a little about a lost people conquered many years ago. Professor Terry Castro and a part of his class, four students to the jungle to observe new people in their natural habitat. They were thought to be the lost tribe of the Chilco.
The Chilco were characterized by their fair white skin; in the Peruvian American that is not common in the jungle. As Professor Terry Castro observed them the men must have caught their scent or wind of it and sent an arrow straight into a tree where the professor hid in a blind. A blind is an enclosure where hunters and birdwatchers stay to watch their observed object hopefully unnoticed. Afraid for his students he slipped away to tell them to go back to the camp. On his way back he remembered the arrow, which he thought might be poison was a good archaeological find. Professor Castro returned to the blind finding the arrow, he pulled it out and examined it; in his examination, he accidentally cut himself. The men came back and waited. Certain they wanted the arrow back Castro returned it to them.
The Chilco
Amaru Topac was the shaman of the Chilco. His time as the elder was drawing to a close. During a vision, his tribe was attacked. So, he moved them to a safe place to stay. At daylight, they traveled. At night, they slept in the trees. With them, the tribe kept the seeds. The seeds were a well-kept secret of the Chilco. Only the shaman had control of them. With it, they made the poison that allowed them to kill their prey but not damage the animal enough so it was safe to eat. It was a poison called curare.
Once they were safe for a while, Amaru began to train his son, Urco, to replace him. They were about to be invaded by white people and once again their lives would change.
The College Expedition
Professor Castro upon getting back to camp fell ill. So he took some medicine and went to his tent to rest. The next morning the students found him lying down with his eyes wide open. Fearing the worst, the students got the camp supervisor who checked Castro out and found him to be alive. But he was sick and hot. They checked him over and thought it to be poison. Unable to treat him at the camp, they flew him to the nearest hospital.
After running tests on him the hospital determined it was poison and treated him for that. But, without knowing the exact poison it was hard. The hospital staff thought it might be curare poison because they had a run in with the nation but, it was usually fatal within a short period of time. The professor had survived past them. The antidote was physostigmine and that was administered to the professor. He was then placed on a ventilator. But the hospital was ill-equipped to handle him and he was transferred to a Lima Hospital.
A visitor to Professor Castro spoke with the man responsible for him being there. He requested he be transferred to a hospital in San Francisco. It was arranged and the professor was moved.
In the meantime, Day Pharmaceuticals was heading for financial ruin due to failed drug trials. They may take the stock public to mitigate the losses and spread the trouble. At the same time, the company wanted to announce a new drug that is in trials or due to start soon. Day backed the trips to Peru in hopes of obtaining a new usable drug to help cure humanities ills.
Carrie Waters, a relative of Leon Day, also a medium thought she could help by contacting Terry Castro. In doing so, she found in his spirit a kindred self. But also started a journey to find curare which might actually be a cure and a poison. In order to get it, she had to go to the forests of Peru to the Chilco. Here is a twist. Professor Castro has a heart attack and starts to live outside of his body upon his entering the new hospital in Lima. He then takes a trip to Peru because the doctor felt it wasn’t poison that was hurting him. There were traces of other poisons and chemicals in his system along with the curare. They felt this might be why he survived. That along with his previous medical condition, plus paralysis has had a long term effect which may ultimately end in his death. And also he had fallen in love with Carrie and wanted to help her find the curare and possible cure.
With the help of Castro’s spirit, Carrie was able to talk to Amaru. This was to get the antidote directly from the party that poisoned him. What she observed was the properties of curare to increase longevity. She told this to her Uncle who sent soldiers to Peru to obtain the curare. A mission sent to get it succeeded but failed to rid of witnesses.
Professor Castro died at the end of the novel but not before achieving what he set out to do. And that was to help Carrie, find the curare and find out what might save his life although he felt it wouldn’t.



Analysis
I liked the book. I gave it 4 ½ stars. I learned a little about Peru and a tribe there called the Chilco. I also found the story to logically follow as well. You can make connections between certain events. What I didn’t like was how it ended. Was it realistic enough or too realistic? I would have rather that no one died and the antidote for the curare the tribe made given without bloodshed. At the same time, I wish the curare had never been discovered by the injury to Castro to have life-sustaining properties and become the golden chalice of the pharmaceutical world in this novel. I do recommend this read highly.

Disclosure: I received this book to complete a book review from the publisher’s agent. No money has been exchanged.

This is just okay, one of those books that leaves you wondering why you bothered. The characters are under developed, the sex with a coma patient distasteful and unnecessary, and overall, there's not a lot of substance here.

On the upside, it's a quick and easy read so if you need a bit of brain candy, you could do worse.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

This book provides a pretty good portrait of the clash between ancient and today’s civilizations. During a summer-school program in the Peruvian rain forest, anthropology professor Terry Castro finds remnants of a tall, white-skinned warrior nation, who have probably been around since era of the Incas. Then, an unfortunate accident leaves Terry in a coma from poison delivered by an arrow, so Terry is airlifted to a hospital at home. A careful examination of the poison at the hospital shows that the poison has an interesting side effect: it also can prolong life. Because Terry is too sick to return to the rain forest, the pharmaceutical company involved in examining the poison, arranges another expedition to get more samples of the substance from the white-skinned tribe. About this time, a medium, Carrie Waters, enters the picture. Carrie tries to make contact with the comatose Terry and succeeds. Now, there is a fascinating connection to her mind and that of Terry and of the tribe back in the rain forest. However, there is a villain in the story, Vikter Glass, who is managing the pharmaceutical company and only wants to milk the new substance for whatever he can. Vikter pulls out all stops, even bringing in the Russian mob to go to Peru to get his samples. The book goes through many twists and turns, as the author weaves his intrigue throughout the story of the “miraculous” substance the white-skinned tribe has—that may just be the biggest discovery ever.

The author has managed to weave a unique tale, fusing the past with the present, along with some new angles, the substance, and the medium Carrie Waters, thrown in to bring it all together. This is definitely an interesting, unique novel with a fascinating plot. The story is fast-paced, moving along at a nice clip. It got so I was reluctant to put it down, as absorbed as I was in the story. I think the author has managed to include just enough unique and different elements as well as pure intrigue to keep the reader’s attention. It also shows his creativity and background or, at least, the ability to research well. I think any reader would find this one a fascinating read, even though he/she may not always go for this sort of story line. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

Cloud Warriors by Rob Jung is a modern fantasy. The title refers to indigenous people who populated the mountaintops of Peru, i.e. living above the clouds. Their skin was light, hair blond, eyes blue, and they were very tall, over six feet, slim builds. They were fierce warriors, blowguns being their go-to weapon. Their chieftain was also their shaman and communicated with the spirits of their ancestors for guidance. When an American university research team encounters three members of the tribe, the lead professor is injured by a dart that he dug out of a tree near their observation hut. He is airlifted back to America where his body languishes in a coma because no one knows what poison was in the dart so cannot administer an antidote.

His sponsor is Leon Day, a former football player turned multimillionaire pharmaceutical owner who wants to do good for humanity. Leon has been seeing a psychic medium to help him resolve conflicts with his dead brother and he asks her, Carrie Waters, to “counsel” Dr. Terry Castro, the comatose professor, to see if she can tune into anything Dr. Castro might be thinking that might help them know for sure what happened.
As I said, the story is a fantasy, but it is a great read for escapism. It is well written and the character development is pretty good, though a bit contrived in spots. Besides the quest to save Dr. Castro’s life by finding an antidote, the relationship between Castro and Carrie blossoms until his ex-wife steps into the picture.
The format of the story is that it is in present time but it alternates between the action in America and the Chilco, the cloud warriors, in the rainforest of Peru.
It was a pleasant read and intriguing despite the outlandishness of a medium and a comatose man falling in love. I would recommend this book if you enjoy good writing, characters that “grow” through the dilemmas they face, and multiple plot lines that are resolved at the end. 4 stars - Thank you for letting me read this book.

Anthropology professor Terry Castro, leading a summer school programme in the Peruvian rain forest, stumbles oupon the remnant of tall, white skinned warriors from the time of the Incan empire. But, when a simple accident leaves Castro poisoned, a series of events are set in motion that threatens his life, and the extinction of the tribe. With the help,of a young medium, Carrie Walkers, Castro tries to find a remedy and discovers the poison also has the capability of tripling life expectancy.

This novel won't be for everybody as there is some explicit sex secnes. There are many twist and turns in this suspense novel. The book has it all, a greedy CFO, the Russian mafia, a wealthy couple who own a pharmaceutical company and a few more, just confused me a little bit. The setting was beautiful. You will set off on a little adventure while reading this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, John Hunt Publishing Ltd and the author Rob Ju,ng for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book of surprises in that the storyline did not roll it in any way that I had expected. It is a story of many layers and several plot lines. The search for an ancient Incan tribe by a team of Americans is the opening of the book but the author has cleverly crafted the Incan's equal surprise in encountering Americans, their looks and habits. Interwoven through this is a thread of psychic spiritualism that works really well. Most surprising of all to me - I really hadn't expected this from the blurb is the third string to this books bow - the desire for power and domination.

I thought it was really well written with great characterisation and interaction between the characters and the plot lines. It also nicely raises some moral questions in tying everything together at the end.

It never lost its pace and narrative drive in fact I wanted more detail particularly on outcomes for the Uncle character

I can't remember reading anything like this before, Cloud Warriors is different and intriguing. Not my normal read but I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't stop reading.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

This is not normally the type of book I would read but I was immediately caught up in the action. Terry Castro leads a group of students in Peru and is unexpectedly poisoned by an arrow which leaves him in a coma. Medium Carrie feels an instant connection with him and works desperately to connect with his mind to find the answers to how and why the poison works. Interspersed with the Shaman's tribe and family, we see how the "poison" is also used to extend the lives of his people when taken internally and not injected into the bloodstream. But corporate greed comes into conflict with the tribe as of course many believe that things must always change and advance. An interesting look at an ancient culture as it comes into conflict with science.

Cloud Warriors is a thriller dealing with the results of an anthropological expedition to the jungles of Peru. It's also the debut novel of author Rob Jung. I was interested in the anthropology aspect which included shamanism and plant lore. So I requested a free review copy in advance of publication from the publisher via Net Galley.

The anthropology expedition to the Peruvian jungle that interested me was facilitated by funding from a pharmaceutical company helmed by a CEO who was rather improbably portrayed as a saintly idealist in an industry that is widely considered the most shameful example of corporate greed. Naturally, he had a stereotypically villainous employee who was conspiring against him. This employee is the one who provides the conflict that makes The Cloud Warriors a thriller.

I thought this improbable CEO was a great character even though I didn't believe that he could exist in the real world. He cared more about people than profits. That's a lovely idea.


Other readers might consider the medium Carrie Waters just as improbable because she isn't a fake practitioner. Since most mediums in novels turn out to be fake, I often avoid books that contain mediums. Those fake mediums are a predictable plot element. Carrie had some predictable traits, but she was also honest, loyal and caring. I enjoyed Carrie's gift. It allowed her to be in contact with both the spirits of the dead, and living characters who were in a shamanic trance.

These characters were shamans of a fictional indigenous people who were lighter skinned than other indigenous groups in Peru. They were referred to as a "lost white tribe". Adam Starling, the head of the anthropology department at the university involved in the Peru expedition, was apparently obsessed with light skinned indigenous peoples in parts of the world where the majority of the population are non-Caucasian. I found this disturbing because his focus on finding these "lost white tribes" seemed likely to be based on an unconscious belief in white supremacy. I do need to point out that Adam Starling is not portrayed as a sympathetic character. He is described as being motivated by fame rather than expanding our knowledge of human cultures. He is considered unsavory, but I think he may also have been a racist.

Cloud Warriors is a novel intended for adults. There are some explicit sex scenes included. There was one that bothered me because it was a breach of professional ethics, but that scene illustrated the immaturity of the male character involved. He goes through a process of growth during the course of the narrative.

This fusion of anthropology and the paranormal with a somewhat standard thriller plot kept Cloud Warriors engaging and suspenseful. This is a very credible debut novel for Rob Jung. I will enjoy finding out what he does next.

This is Rob Jung's first published book and it is a good introduction for the new author. The book is a fast read, has a very interesting theme and incorporates several factors that normally do not appear in most novels. Terry Castro, an anthropology professor has been leading summer school programs into the Peruvian rain forest. In his latest trip he literally stumbles upon an unknown tribe of tall, white skinned people. They flee the site where the quick contact takes place but not before a freak accident causes Terry to become infected with the poison that the tribe uses to facilitate hunting when he touches a dart aimed near him to scare him off. He is airlifted from the area and put in the hospital back home.
As the infection he received via the dart is analyzed it is found that an interesting side effect of the poison used could be to prolong life. Terry is too sick to leave the hospital but the Pharmaceutical company examining the poison arranges another expedition to Peru in order to obtain samples of the material used by the white skinned tribe. The novel brings in many factors that cause the story to become a very wide spread tale of high adventure. First, and of great importance a medium is brought into the picture in order to try and make contact with the comatose Terry Castro. Carrie Waters, the medium, does make the connection and even beyond that a connection to the tribe in Peru. A beautiful love story takes place literally between Terry and Carrie's minds and even succeeds when Terry's ex wife shows up to help take care of him.
We meet the arch villain of the piece, Vikter Glass, who is managing the Pharmaceutical company and only wants to milk the drug for great profits and a personal fortune. He actually brings in the Russian mob sending some of their agents to Peru to get a sample of the poison first and deliver it to him.
Mr Jung manages to tie all the factors he brings into the story quite well. The book is one that will keep the reader glued to the pages until finished. He or she will come to the realization that they have read the first novel of a man with an excellent imagination and be ready for more in the near future.

A tribe of survivors from the Incan empire has managed to stay undiscovered for hundreds of years until an energetic anthropology professor, Terry Castro stumbles upon a footprint deep in the Peruvian forest. Determined to find these well-hidden warriors, he sets up cameras, but once he has their attention he doesn’t respect the wisdom of their artillery. The blow dart they shot towards him was coated with poison. After running his finger along the sharp edge, he becomes deathly ill, dropping into a deep irreversible coma.
Back in the States, adding to the intrigue of the developing plot is the loving and wealthy philanthropist couple footing the bill for the expeditions, the crooked and sinister employee that has the unsuspecting elderly couple wrapped around his finger, and his young niece Carrie a medium who can connect with those who have passed on.
The pace is quick; the highlight of the book is the forgotten tribe and their rituals. The sappy part is the instant love Carrie feels for comatose Castro and the catfight jealousy Castro’s ex feels towards Carrie. Besides that angle, everything else about this book is exciting and fast paced. The storyline doesn’t fall along like you presume it would; it takes some brave turns which makes it more realistic. Not everything comes up roses in the end, but it’s a satisfying and well-grounded way to end a story that couldn’t, in all respects, end well.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to John Hunt Publishing for making it available.)

Thank you NetGalley and John Hunt Publishing for the eARC.
Wow, I loved this book! Such a unique read...a long lost tribe of blond, blue eyed warriors is discovered in the Peruvian Rainforest by an archeology professor and his pupils. The tribe is on the verge of extinction when the professor is accidentally poisoned; it threatens not only his life but the fate of the tribe. A medium tries to find a remedy and voila..the poison seems to have the ability to triple life expectancy. The pharmaceutical world gets involved and the threat to the tribe and even our world looms large, posing all sorts of ethical questions.
I loved the setting, so exotic. With a hint of the paranormal this story took me out of myself. An adventurous trip, with a good cast of characters.
Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed this believable thriller about a tribe of forgotten natives hidden in the Peruvian rainforests. The plot was fast paced and I could not put the book down. Characters were well thought out. Looking forward to Jung's next book.

A long-rumored tribe of tall, blond, blue-eyed peaceful jungle dwellers, a comatose anthropology professor, his ex-wife, a wealthy couple who own a pharmaceutical company, a greedy CFO, National Geographic, and the Russian mafia are all major characters in this creative novel held together by the thoughts and actions of a very believable medium. The search for curare and the hope that it can restore health and/or extend life pushes the plot forward in an enjoyable and informative novel. Already looking forward to the next Rob Jung release.

An amazingly literate, engaging novel with a unique premise and characters with whom you immediately empathize. I loved the locale, as well as the myths surrounding the Cloud People -- a tribe of huge, pale-skinned, blonde, blue-eyed people supposed to have lived deep within the Amazon jungles. The paranormal activity was also presented without going overboard and into completely unrealistic territory. Highly recommended, and definitely not the last book by Mr. Jung that I'll be reading.