Book review of Song of the Earth by John R. Dann, an historical fiction novel set in prehistoric Africa and Europe.
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Synopsis
Grae and the seven daughters of River Woman are the only people to survive the volcanic eruption that destroys their home. Together they find a place to settle and form a tribe. When the surrounding area is no longer sufficient to support them, the tribe separates and migrates away.
Grae leads a group north, settling in different places for a couple of years before moving on in their search for a long-term home. This group eventually ends up in what now is Europe and, when Grae dies, is led by his son, Eagle, and Grandson, Young Grae. Along the way they repeatedly come up against Neanderthals (known as wide men), hostile tribes, and evil magic.
Review
This book is decidedly odd. There is very little story arc – rather a series of loosely related events and people going about their strange lives. When trying to describe Song of the Earth, the word that springs most readily to mind is lackluster.
I found the characters difficult to keep track of. There were so many of them and a lot had very similar names to each other. It even appears that the author had trouble with this; a couple of times I thought that the character who just did something had left the tribe earlier, and when I looked back, they had.
The people invent many different things in a ridiculously fast pace, especially words. This makes it seem unrealistic, particularly when they meet other groups that they’ve never met before who already have the same technologies and use the same words.
Eagle said, “You will be chieftain someday. Perhaps you should spend more time learning how to throw your spear than thinking up new words.”
“It is not so much just thinking up new words,” Young Grae replied. “It is trying to understand strange things. If we name them better we can think about them better. We have the words ‘Sunset’ and ‘Sunrise,’ which might help us understand better why the sun disappears in the west every night and appears in the east every morning.”
Eagle said, “You are right. It is hard to even talk about things if they don’t have names. To understand strange things without names is even harder.”
I liked how the tribe had multiple enemies to contend with throughout the book. To begin with, they have to split-up and move because their environment doesn’t produce enough food for them anymore. Then, they battle against other groups of people, and at the end, there is a major showdown with Lilith and her friends.
Conclusion
Have you read this book? What did you think? Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Let me know in the comments.
