The Pelbar Cycle - a Review of Sorts

The Pelbar Cycle is a series of 7 books set in post a post apocalyptic world around 3000 AD as far as I can tell, and I was attracted to this series by the book cover that I will show below.  It was entire the book cover.
Williams wrote a masterpiece series, that you can, if you will, start with any one of the first 6 books in any order and really not miss too much.  Book 7, The Sword of Forebearance, should be read as the last book, simply because it brings it all together, much like the rug in the Big Lebowski.
The story is set in post apocalyptic North America, where some disaster befell at least N. America sometime a thousand years ago.  The maps look different, names are different (the Great Lakes for instance are now all one and called the Bitter Sea).  There are areas called empty spaces that are full of radiation and death if you walk through them.  The former citizens of the US are split into several small groups such as:

The Pelbar who live along the old Mississippi River (called the Heart River), they are ruled by women
The Sentani - nomadic peoples who wander the plains
The Shumai - also nomadic people who wander the plains - known for their legendary Axemen
The Peshtak - a brutal often cruel people
The Tantal - they live on the shores of the bitter sea
The Emeri - live in the midwest of the old US

There are more but this is just a smattering of the different cultures that arose after the disaster.  One of the nice things about this series is that each book always introduces new characters and cultures, and sometime we don't even see our favourites from previous books.
The premise of the story, as told by the characters adventures, is really the coming together of these different, often hostile cultures through a time of about 25 years.  We see many parallels to real history, such as the settling down of the plainsmen into camps and farms, much like the Native Americans did, albeit in this series, it wasn't forcefully done.  We see how the cultures evolve to work with each other, how each influences one another, and essentially, it is the rebirth of civilization.  How Williams does this with the individual characters is spectacular; choosing both male and female protagonists, and using them to explore their world.  There are many elements of many stories in this series and it is all well put together.
You must wonder why I have not included much in the way of plot details in this series, but honestly, you need to read it for yourself.  You will either hate it or love it.  Each book adds more to the story of the rediscovery of North America.
This series has influenced my writing some.  In one way, it has allowed me to come to terms with characters in my books that you see in one book, but not another.  I also do not hold one character sacred over another, much like Williams.  If they die, they die.  So be it.  There were places when I originally read the books where I was like WTF?  they just killed so and so.  It makes the writing more realistic and more powerful.  And as in my writing, without revealing too much, it was this series, and Asimov's books that showed it is OK to have history not fully explained all the time, or for that matter, maybe just left a mystery.
Well, I do suggest you read this series, it is hard to find (hell I have 3 copies of the complete series for emergency puposes), but well worth it.

Yup, I actually bought it for the cover!!