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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I struggled with this book and almost gave up reading it. There'd be a glimmer of hope that something interesting was coming this way, and then it wouldn't really (but there was something there that did make me read until the end I guess). It also lost about a gazillion stars by using the phrase "mamma mia" at least three times...
all reviews in one place:
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About the Book: Loom got the fate of becoming the next shaman to his clan, something he was neither meant for, nor wanted. Now this young man will have to learn how to live between worlds, follow the threads of nature’s cycles, signs it shows, give advice and provide help in the face of challenges thrown at them by passing time. Additionally, it seems, he’ll have to learn to accept the very fact that he’s to be the shaman, and learn to do it his own way, while honoring the old ways.
My Opinion: Almost slice-of-life type of a science fiction book, where lines between outright fantasy of an alien world, alien people, blur due to knowledge it’s not just another realm. For we watch these very primitive folks, on their unexplored world, and in itself it’s quite amazing, to learn of things through the main character, who doesn’t know much himself. It feels incredibly different from us today, strange, sometimes even nasty. And different even to the image many of us likely conjure when we think of stone age tribes. It’s good. A different way to explore.
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About the Book: Loom got the fate of becoming the next shaman to his clan, something he was neither meant for, nor wanted. Now this young man will have to learn how to live between worlds, follow the threads of nature’s cycles, signs it shows, give advice and provide help in the face of challenges thrown at them by passing time. Additionally, it seems, he’ll have to learn to accept the very fact that he’s to be the shaman, and learn to do it his own way, while honoring the old ways.
My Opinion: Almost slice-of-life type of a science fiction book, where lines between outright fantasy of an alien world, alien people, blur due to knowledge it’s not just another realm. For we watch these very primitive folks, on their unexplored world, and in itself it’s quite amazing, to learn of things through the main character, who doesn’t know much himself. It feels incredibly different from us today, strange, sometimes even nasty. And different even to the image many of us likely conjure when we think of stone age tribes. It’s good. A different way to explore.
The book was slow in the first half, and I wasn't sure I'd finish it, but I was enjoying the author's descriptions of things so much that I continued on and was rewarded with the plot picking up eventually.
As this book opens, 12-year-old Loon is being sent out naked in the middle of a heavy rain storm to survive on his own in the Ice Age wilderness for a few weeks - this is part of his small tribe's adulthood ritual and also part of Loon's shaman training. Following Loon as he becomes an adult and a shaman, this book imagines humans in the Paleolithic climate with great detail and realism. It's hard to place this into a genre - "prehistoric fiction" might be closest, but it's also a survival story and might appeal to fans of post-apocalyptic speculative fiction. I found it a weird mix of riveting and slow. And, bonus: unlike my decades-old memories of the [b:Clan of the Cave Bear|1295|The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, #1)|Jean M. Auel|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385331302s/1295.jpg|1584694], there are no rape scenes.
The story is also smart and goes deep into what it means to live in a culture without writing, with only oral tradition, as well as going far into psychedelic drugs and cave painting.
The story is also smart and goes deep into what it means to live in a culture without writing, with only oral tradition, as well as going far into psychedelic drugs and cave painting.
Although it took a little while for this book to grow on me, in the end it proved to be another KSR book - I haven't read one that I didn't really enjoy. The same theme that runs through his other stories runs through here (man's connection with his environment, whether it's on Mars, or in the near future, or the Ice Age). I can't say how much of the book is fact-based, or research-based, or just plain fictitious. Robinson tends to base his stuff on solid foundations, though.
Shaman is a great time. A bildungsroman set in the ice age, with KSR's characteristic attention to scientific detail. I felt I learnt a lot about how our ancestors probably lived through this book.
I was prepared to possibly not enjoy this book based on the title. "Shaman." I'm not especially interested in "spirituality" (for want of a better term), and I worried that Shaman would be chock-full of ancient religion in a kind of cloying, pandering, sentimental way. Thankfully, it wasn't. The protagonist is a Shaman in training who doesn't even want to be a Shaman. The beliefs, traditions, and practices of the tribes are presented matter-of-factly. I never felt beaten over the head with it. It was interesting. Also, characters like Heather work as early scientists, setting up tests and experiments. Our ice-age ancestors are presented as every bit as smart and rational as 21st century humans. They only lack 30,000 years worth of discovery and developments.
I loved every encounter with Neanderthals in the book.
I've now ploughed through enough of KSR's works to be very used to his themes. The human spirit, science, reverence of nature, exploration, mysticism - they are all here. Like every other book of his I've read, festivals are big feature. If it weren't for the prehistoric setting, I bet there would've been an AI named Pauline.
I don't really understand the many reviews critiquing Shaman for having "no plot." Shaman has more plot than the Mars Trilogy, imo. It's reeally exciting, on par with thrillers in parts. I won't get into here, because SPOILERS.
I can't end this review without mentioning the sex. Jesus Christ. Sex is always part of KSR's work, and I'm no prude, but this was excessive, at least for the first half of the book. Everything is all pizzle and spurt and prong and kolby and vixen, which quickly went from amusing to annoying. If caveman porn sounds like a good time to you, check out Shaman.
I was prepared to possibly not enjoy this book based on the title. "Shaman." I'm not especially interested in "spirituality" (for want of a better term), and I worried that Shaman would be chock-full of ancient religion in a kind of cloying, pandering, sentimental way. Thankfully, it wasn't. The protagonist is a Shaman in training who doesn't even want to be a Shaman. The beliefs, traditions, and practices of the tribes are presented matter-of-factly. I never felt beaten over the head with it. It was interesting. Also, characters like Heather work as early scientists, setting up tests and experiments. Our ice-age ancestors are presented as every bit as smart and rational as 21st century humans. They only lack 30,000 years worth of discovery and developments.
I loved every encounter with Neanderthals in the book.
I've now ploughed through enough of KSR's works to be very used to his themes. The human spirit, science, reverence of nature, exploration, mysticism - they are all here. Like every other book of his I've read, festivals are big feature. If it weren't for the prehistoric setting, I bet there would've been an AI named Pauline.
I don't really understand the many reviews critiquing Shaman for having "no plot." Shaman has more plot than the Mars Trilogy, imo. It's reeally exciting, on par with thrillers in parts. I won't get into here, because SPOILERS.
I can't end this review without mentioning the sex. Jesus Christ. Sex is always part of KSR's work, and I'm no prude, but this was excessive, at least for the first half of the book. Everything is all pizzle and spurt and prong and kolby and vixen, which quickly went from amusing to annoying. If caveman porn sounds like a good time to you, check out Shaman.
Different from KSRs other work but just as incredible in-depth story telling, another masterpiece.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I've read a lot of KSR novels and this might be the one I've enjoyed the most.
a great imaging of the life in the Pleistocene
& better, and way more social-ecologically grounded than title suggests
a great imaging of the life in the Pleistocene
& better, and way more social-ecologically grounded than title suggests
KSR always writes compelling science fiction; this is a bit of a departure — it’s historical fiction set in the Neolithic period in France, about a shaman’s apprentice in a time when early humans live alongside Neanderthals, and mammoth, rhinoceros, bison, lions, leopards and other now-extinct animals are a constant presence.