I liked Island of Ghost quite a bit, particularly as I read it not that long after the stunning exhibit, "Scythian Gold," was here at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, which included quite a bit about the Samartians too. I also have the catalog, which devotes detailed text describing the history, culture and religion of these peoples -- and I went to a series of lectures by the leading scholar that the Brooklyn Museum presented as part of the exhibit.

Dark North also looks very good, but it's not part of the NYPL's circulating collection. Maybe I can trek uptown and read it in the Humanties reading room -- which is indescribably inconvenient! particularly for novel reading.

Love, C.