SuitabookGrief and revenge
After witnessing her brother’s murder and losing other family members, Siki vows revenge and pursues warrior training.
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Book details
Tanya Landman - Author
This is an action-led coming-of-age story about grief, courage and belonging. Siki challenges expected gender roles while training as a warrior, and her personal questions connect with the wider struggle to protect Apache land and community.
After Mexican raiders attack and kill her family, Siki has no option but to join the male Apache warriors to avenge their deaths - So begins the thrilling tale of courage and survival of Siki and her tribe, the Black Mountain Apache - Although she only young, Siki is taken seriously by the elders as she has the deaths of her mother and brother to avenge. Accepted as a novice warrior she is set numerous tasks and lessons and learns to pass through the pain barrier on her way to becoming a fully-fledged warrior who will serve the Apache Nation - Risks, enemies within, and the 'white-eye' soldiers and settlers test the Apaches. Siki is also personally tested: she has to confront rumours about her absent, possibly dead father. Was he a coward? With the coming of the 'white-eyes', it is easy for readers to see how prejudices grow from simple misunderstandings; how warfare comes from misinformation, fear and differences. There are also many parallels to be drawn between the experiences of the Indigenous Americans and Indigenous Australians. Siki is an orphan of the Black Mountain Apache. Her mother was killed by Mexicans three years before and her father lost in an ambush the winter before that. When Siki witnesses the brutal murder of her little brother Tazhi, she vows to become an Apache warrior and avenge her brother's death.
Book Brief
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Sign in for personalised guidanceThis is an action-led coming-of-age story about grief, courage and belonging. Siki challenges expected gender roles while training as a warrior, and her personal questions connect with the wider struggle to protect Apache land and community.
After witnessing her brother’s murder and losing other family members, Siki vows revenge and pursues warrior training.
Siki struggles with expected women’s work and seeks acceptance as an Apache warrior, a role available to women but requiring demanding tests.
Apache communities face Mexican raiders, white soldiers and settlers, whose actions threaten their homeland and way of life.
Expect substantial danger and loss: Siki witnesses her brother’s brutal killing, remembers earlier family deaths, faces raids and battles, and undertakes physically painful tests. The community also faces harassment, warfare and displacement.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: some draft conclusions still depend on unresolved evidence.
Book information
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Buchbesprechung: Tanya Landman „Apache“ – Jugendbuchtipps.de
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Checked: 19 September 2026.
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