Man, I devoured this one like a carnivore! Blood of the Tiger, Volume 1 of the Saga of the Lost Lands trilogy, by Rose Estes. [Bantam Spectra Fantasy, 1987, 198 pages] Some great, epic stone-age adventure going on here.
It follows two young men. Emri, (of a clan known as the Tigers) and Hawk (of a clan known as the Toads). They meet early in the novel, when they both survive a deadly fight with a wounded lion, and are joined by its orphaned cub. They are outcast from their tribes. Emri, by the shaman of the Lions, Mandris. Mandris kills the Chief (Emri's father) and blames it on a tiger, saying that the totem has marked him as evil and killed him.
The three journey through the wilderness for a while, surviving on only what nature offers. They explore caves, and even dig their own caves to dwell in as they travelled. This is a technique Hawk learned from the Toads. At last they decide to climb a mountain and search for safe caves there.
They end up in a lion's den, taking shelter there for many months. The lions slowly warm up to the humans, and they almost join the Pride. They supply some small game hunting, and make fire in the large den, which the lions eventually find comfort in.
Emri and Hawk get to know each individual within the pride, giving most of them names. Emri begins to see the Pride as not only savage animals, but a sort of society in their own right. He notices personality, and joy and sorrow within these animals. It is a hierarchical system that the lions keep. Emri, I can tell, is starting to question many facets of what he was taught in his old life. The same could be said for Hawk. The two teach each other much during their time together, bringing together the ways of the Tigers and the Toads. The two young men craft many supplies for survival and travel, preparing to make a return to the Tiger clan. Yet they know that Mandris and his Tiger are waiting at the foot of the mountain to kill them. Emri realizes he must challenge Mandris for his place as chief.
Seasons pass, and soon the Pride leaves their mountain den, returning to their hunting grounds, bringing Emri and Hawk with them. At the end of the novel, Mandris and Emri finally have their conflict. Mandris has been waiting for Emri, to kill him, and all possibility of Emri returning to become chief. The shaman has been feeding a wounded but ferocious tiger drugs to keep him tame. He plans to feed Emri to the tiger, blaming it again on the Totem. At the end of the novel, there is an epic fight between the massive, violent Tiger and the organized Pride of lions. In the end, after having saved the two boys, the Pride leaves them behind as they return to the den.
Many novels about Stone age humans are very speculative. Usually there's a lot of research behind such epics, and they're usually pretty dense. Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" series, Piers Anthony's Geodyssey series, Michael and Katherine Gear's First North Americans series are primary examples. Here, Blood of the Tiger is an adventure story at heart. It focuses on the action and adventure rather than finding a factual basis. Many things are written off by the characters as something merely superstitious, rather than going into hard speculation of fact. Even so, the wilderness survival elements (gathering materials, crafting useful items out of them, making fire and safe dwellings) and behavior of animals is explored in fair detail. Its fleshed out enough to be believable.
Considering its short length, there's a lot of excitement in Blood of the Tiger. This is just the sort of stone-age fiction I have been looking for for a while, adventure without getting bogged down in research. I'm exited to read Brother to the Lion and Spirit of the Hawk. I have a feeling I'll get through them pretty fast when I pick them up, they're not too long either. There's a lot on my list though.
Till the next one!
