This is the first book I have read by the author, Kent Nerburn. But I will definitely be on the lookout for any future fiction books he releases. While a long book ... 506 pages ... the winding tale of life as a Native American in the 1950s, family, loss, fear, adventure, and hope will have you pulled into the story. While the two Lakota boys, Levi and Reuben, are the primary characters, you will meet some amazing people along their journey. And as you travel through their pages each of the characters’ stories are revealed. I was given the opportunity to listen to the audiobook edition of this book. The myriad voices which brought each character to life allowed me to visualize them and the setting of North Dakota. A story of lives woven together into a tapestry that will have you captured from the first moment you open the book and absorb the words. A must read book!

Thank you to NetGalley and New World Library for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

Fiction
Historical Fiction
Native Americans

Thank you to Netgalley for this audiobook!

I enjoyed this book so much, the audio was wonderful. I enjoyed the narrator who voiced the two boys the most, but all were very good to listen to.

The story itself was very engaging and I was sucked in after the first 5 minutes of the book. The author did such a great job of weaving together the stories of each of the characters and provided so much depth for each of the characters and the writing was beautiful. You were rooting or the boys to make it through their journey and back home the whole book. If you are a fan of William Kent Krueger's book This Tender Land, I think you will enjoy this one as well.

Lone Dog Road is a unique, tender journey with two young Lakota (Native American) boys. A journey where lessons are learned about what it means to be a man which include serving others; honouring your elders, and sacrifice.

The characters are fascinating and each has their own calling to discover. There is so much packed into this powerful novel; it is a story of courage, wisdom, healing, protecting what is sacred, finding strength, uniting with brothers, learning to live with hope and peace.

Lone Dog Road is not a particularly fast paced story, but absolutely worth reading with a little patience because there are interesting lessons here for everyone, not just about the Lakota culture, but also about mankind as a whole. The excellent audio narration held my attention throughout this moving journey.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for an audio copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed this book. It's about two Lakota boys who go on a journey to preplace their grandfather's broken pipe. They are also running from the men who want to put the younger brother in school. As they travel, they create a found family that will offer supports that their single mother and grandfather can not.
What worked for me: the flavor of it. I enjoyed the writing style and the subject matter. The narrator did a good job, although occasionally, the background pitch would change slightly. The characters were all very distinct and the narrator made them sound different. Character development was strong.
What didn't work for me: Really just the changes in background noise on the narration. I really enjoyed this book. It might be considered a slower paced novel but I enjoyed the journey.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Kent Nerburn for the early access audiobook.

What a tale of growth, discovery, adventure, hurt, pain, and love. This novel and audio production was so well done. The tale wasn't just about the Levi, it was about every person that he encountered on Reuben and his journey on their own. Everyone on the boys' road to retrieve the stone and return home had something in their heart and soul that needed filling. Nerburn didn't disappoint in any of his characters' storyarcs. Giving time for each of them to open themselves to the reader and bare their souls for their life's anguish, troubles, and hopes.

I appreciate the way the book was read from the different voice actors as well. Each character was brought to life by the actors.

**⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: *Lone Dog Road* by Kent Nerburn**

*Lone Dog Road* is a poignant, beautifully written coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of a dark chapter in American history. When 11-year-old Levi and his 6-year-old brother Rueben are warned by their mother to flee government agents intent on sending them to an Indian boarding school, the boys embark on a perilous journey that becomes a powerful exploration of identity, resilience, and love.

Levi, wise beyond his years, takes on the role of protector for Rueben—a tender, gentle soul clearly unsuited for the harsh realities of government schooling. Along their path, a diverse cast of characters steps in to help them in times of need, creating a compelling tapestry of human connection, survival, and redemption. These encounters bring depth and warmth to the narrative, offering insightful commentary on the human condition and the quiet strength found in unexpected places.

The audiobook version enhances the experience even further, with a full-cast narration that brings each character vividly to life. The performances are exceptional, immersing the listener in every emotion, moment of danger, and spark of hope.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. This is a story that stays with you, a thoughtful and moving journey that I highly recommend.

Lone Dog Road is one of the loveliest books I've read.  I read the beautifully narrated audio version of this story about Levi, aged eleven and Reuben, aged six who are forced to run from their home when the government agent who grabs children to send them to the Indian boarding school fixes his eye on Reuben.  It is 1950. Two Fingers, the agent, is half Lakota, half white.  He is a mean, heartless man and when he comes to the home where the boys live with their mother and great-grandfather live, he gets physical and breaks their great-grandfathers pipe (channunpa). Two fingers even arrests their great-grandfather to further pressure the family to give up Reuben.  The family protests that Reuben is "wrong-headed" and cannot survive in the boarding school.  Levi can and does. Their grim, hard to like and hard to see as nurturing mother sends the boys off to jump a freight train. She gives Levi instructions to go where no one could expect to find them.  She emphasizes that Reuben's safety and wellbeing is in Levi's hands. A huge responsibility..  The publisher lets out Levi's secret that he has decided to travel with Reuben to the pipestone mines in Minnesota to get the material needed to replace his grandfathers channunpa. Meanwhile, their mother and great-grandfather decide to trust and send Two Finger's very regretful new assistant out to find the boys.

Two little boys find love and help in so many unexpected ways, first with a white man, Carl-Martin, and his indigenous wife Lillie, along with a really fun character, their old dog who brings smiles off and on throughout the book.  They tease out the boys plan and send them for guidance to Lillie's best friend, an elderly indigenous woman who understands and has lived the old ways more than Lillie did growing up. She partly helps them figure out whether to go on by using a turtle.  Turtles happen to be my personal totem and they ended up playing a huge role in the rest of the story, which was moving and mystical in equal measure.

As they continue their treacherous journey, the boys also meet Brother Benjamin, the first Black man they have ever seen.  We learn that Reuben's gift for almost total recall extends to Brother Benjamin's way of earning his living. Another sweet, sweet part of this story. It's not that Nerburn makes this look all easy and only good things happen.  This is a scary and challenging journey for the boys and having met them, their helpers become deeply worried about their welfare and whether they will make it.  As well they should.....  Yet, over and over kindness is there, as if a circle of light surrounds them.

Lone Dog Road is a story with tremendous heart, with much to tell us of the old ways, with conviction that those who have lost their way can find it again.  All without seeming sappy, unbelievable or shallow.  It is in fact as deep as Anne Frank saying,  "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart ... I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.”

This novel is one that should become a classic.  Totally moving, absorbing and hopeful.

📕 Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ 📕

Title: Lone Dog Road
Author: Kent Newborn
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Format: 📖
Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Pub Date: June 3, 2025

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the chance to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved reading Willam Kent Krueger books and when I saw this I thought it might be along the same vibes. Wow the audio of this book was amazing and the full cast brought this book to life. What a journey Levi and Ruben go on to not only escape being taken to an Indian boarding school, but their long journey to replace their grandfather broken channunpa. I learned so much about the ritual and spiritual importance of a channunpa and how much pride it is for these boys to replace it. This story is filled with humor, grief loss and spirituality. The intersection of races of Lakota and the White people who have wreaked havoc on their people is so well done. The ending is so uplifting and brings together a wide cast of characters that is wrapped up so beautifully.

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

I was unable to finish this book because the cruel man who loved to tear children from their families to send to Indian schools seemed just to similar to ICE agents today. My best wishes to the author on this book but I just couldn't bear the topic at this time.

Two Lakota boys run from Government agents in an attempt to escape being sent to the horrific Indian Boarding schools. On their journey Levi, age 11, and his little brother Rueben, age 6, meet many people who help and guide them on their journey. This is about the family you are given and the one you make. The boys journey becomes a quest to find sacred stone to replace their great- Grandfathers Channunpa pipe broken by Two- fingers, the terrifying government agent. This is a story that will wrap you up and draw you in like a warm hug.
Beautiful prose. Beautiful story. I loved every minute!

Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in audiobook format.

Kent Nerburn’s Lone Dog Road is a haunting, lyrical journey of moral reckoning and cultural collision, rendered even more powerful in its audiobook form by a cast of narrators who breathe life and gravitas into every sentence. This is a novel that invites you to walk it, to wrestle with it, to stand still in its silences and ask what it means to truly bear witness.

Set against the deep quiet of the American Northwoods, the story follows an unnamed narrator who’s summoned by an enigmatic Native elder named Benais, with a simple but loaded proposition: drive him and a mysterious young woman named Minnie across the Dakotas to a destination unnamed. The road becomes more than asphalt—it becomes trial, testimony, and transformation.

Nerburn, known for his sensitive portrayals of Native American voices (Neither Wolf Nor Dog still reverberates), handles the narrative with respect and lyrical grace. The dialogue doesn’t lecture—it lingers. And on audio, that restraint feels like a gift.

Tanis Parenteau’s performance as Minnie is a standout. There’s a steady fire in her voice—a delicate tightrope between steel and sorrow. Matt Haynes captures the vulnerability and inner friction of the narrator, while Lynch Travis and Benjamin Callins round out the cast with rich, grounded tones that layer meaning into the pauses and undercurrents of Nerburn’s prose.

What makes this audiobook so distinct isn’t just the story—it’s the experience. Listening feels like sitting in the back seat of that car with Benais, caught between revelation and reverence. There are no easy answers here—just echoes and questions that trail you long after the last word is spoken.

In a world hungry for loud declarations, Lone Dog Road chooses depth over noise. It’s a quiet reckoning. And on audio, it’s unforgettable.

Flawless.

I felt that it wrapped up a little too nicely, with everyone who had a lesson to learn learned it, but on reflection I realize this is just a story about Native Americans that has a happy ending. Why have I never encountered one of those before? Instead of being another horror story about residential schools, it's about growth, resilience, courage, chosen family, and atonement. Of course, the intergenerational trauma experienced by the Native characters from residential schools is part of the story, but it's not the main focus.

The story starts with two Lakota boys who are put on a train by their mother to flee from residential school snatchers. On their journey they meet an incredible cast of characters - the depth if the characterization was the most phenomenal part of this story. Every character was whole and real.

I listened to the audiobook. It was narrated by a full cast, which really helped draw me into the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This is the story of two young Lakota boys in the 1950s running from the government official sent to “nab them” for Indian School (an abomination of forced assimilation into 'regular' society). Rather than this being a retelling of Indian School horrors, the boys take the reader on a journey of discovery where the boys meet caring and concerned strangers, many diverse people, each broken and flawed in their own unique way yet made whole through the healing of their collaboration.

This is an unusual and very well written story with strong characters. This is a sort of slow burn literary fiction that is very enjoyable.

Perhaps I read too many murder mysteries and thrillers where bad people do bad things again and again. This is not that type of book. In fact, this is a novel rooted in optimism and believing in the best of humanity. It’s the story of two young Lakota boys in the 1950s running from the government official sent to “nab them” for Indian School (an abomination of forced assimilation that whites are still atoning for… along with slavery, land grabs, internment camps, etc.). But instead of this being a retelling of Indian School horrors, the boys take us on a journey of discovery where we meet caring and concerned strangers who help guide them. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But cynicism aside, this is a beautifully written (and very well narrated) audiobook that kept my interest. I enjoyed learning about some Lakota and Dakotah traditions, how “mixed” marriages were shunned along with their offspring, and the fierce storms of the west and Midwest. As the title suggests, there are paeans to dogs too. 4.4 stars rounded to 4.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @DreamscapeMedia, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook of #LoneDogRoad for review purposes. It is currently available.

3.5 stars rounded up. Beautifully written — evocative, atmospheric, and full of vivid, cinematic moments. But for all its lush language, it’s far too long and light on actual plot. I kept hoping for more movement or tension to match the mood. Worth reading if you love getting lost in prose and don’t mind a story that wanders more than it resolves.

I felt a little bit like I was listening to a William Kent Krueger novel and even this story had similarities to This Tender Land. It’s an interesting story about a time period where Indigenous people where treated as ignorant and children ripped away from families so that they could be educated the white man way. There’s a lot of view points with other characters as well. I found this book wonderful but at times long and meandering. The audiobook is fantastic.

A beautiful reflection of the Lakota culture, <i>Lone Dog Road </i> follows the adventure of two young boys as they take a long-distance quest to repair their honored great-grandfather's sacred pipe. Along the way, their path intersects with a collection of diverse people, each broken and flawed in their own unique way yet made whole through the healing of their collaboration. This book was very well done, and it will certainly be a book that lingers in the heart for many readers, especially those who enjoy slow-burn literary fiction.

For me, personally, I found the novel one that I had to have patience with, but even with that reservation, I still found myself easily cherising the characters. While I always enjoyed and appreciated the book, I did have to be in the right mood in order to want to pick it up again. I deeply enjoyed the lessons of the Lakota culture that were included and the way in which they were presented.

I listened to this book on audiobook, and while I found the narrator for Levi a bit of a challenge to get used to, I did appreciate the wide cast of narrators. While not all of the narrators are indigenous, they delivered their lines with genuine accents and pacing that made it easy to feel immersed in the story.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media, NetGalley, and Kent Nerburn for an advance copy for honest review. This was the first Nerburn book I have read and I am definitely inspired to read more.

This book is a coming of age period look at First Nation life as it intersected with “government knows best” attitudes in the 1950’s. Multiple narrators bring life to the characters, each voice adding to the feel of the book. The narrators all did well in their respective roles.

I don’t really know how to feel about this story. I couldn’t really identify with any of the characters, so much stereotyping was going on that it distracted me, and the Christianity-bashing annoyed me. Like Christianity is the only religion in the world it seems to be ok to regularly insult, question, and revise. Anyway, I don’t know how I would feel about this book were I a First Nation person. Insulted, maybe?

Three stars is the most I can offer. “Lone Dog Road” wasn’t written poorly, but neither was it exceptional. Aside from some issues with some of its ideology, the story was told decently. Not one for me, but your mileage may vary. My thanks to Dreamscape Media.

I just finished listening to a good audiobook. Lone Dog Road by Kent Nerburn is available now. Check it out.